STC member SEBi has entered into an explorative collaboration with Brunel University to see how or if artificial intelligence can help businesses retain ‘human knowledge’ for future use.

Their knowledge transfer collaboration – potentially groundbreaking – aims to help in particular SMEs and larger tech companies, both in the UK and globally.

“Every company is affected by ‘lost knowledge’ and is talking about how to retain it as a growing portion of the UK’s engineering workforce approaches retirement,” commented SEBi’s Joint MD Jim Wetherell.

He continued: “Brunel are an ideal fit for us in this research. They have a great background in AI whilst we are renowned for our engineering and manufacturing solutions, but many of our staff are of an older generation.

“It makes perfect sense therefore that we explore ways that companies could retain information that isn’t necessarily written down – the sort of knowledge that has been generated through decades of experience but not necessarily written down or inputted onto a computer.”

Doug Anderson, Director of Design, explained that the collaboration is looking beyond ‘surface level’ knowledge amongst engineers that is perhaps already available on search engines.

“What we’re looking at is the more niche knowledge you only get from speaking to someone with years of experience in manufacturing or tooling,” said Doug.

“More of the large bureau-style companies in injection moulding and machining are creating content to educate people with their libraries of information, but it’s all surface level knowledge.

“We’re concentrating on the stuff that people with years of experience still might not know but in a format that is accessible to anyone in the business, of all skill levels and backgrounds. 

“For example, how certain additives can improve shelf life or strength or biodegradable qualities, or speed up processes and help reduce costs – the ‘tricks of the trade’ that humans have discovered but which haven’t been shared online.

“With all the advancements being made with AI, it will be interesting to discover practical ways of capturing information from existing staff and encapsulating all that in a system that a company can keep secure and which its next generations of staff can utilise.”

Pictured are Simon Collins and Jim Wetherell, joint MDs at SEBi.

By Carl McKellar