How AI is helping P&G ensure its packaging is reusable or recyclable
21 June 2024
Procter & Gamble is integrating AI to reduce waste and improve energy efficiency through enhancing its manufacturing operations. Dragonfly AI tells us how.
Slimmer & Slicker Ops
The whole world is shifting to sustainable manufacturing, because the earth is crying out for it and because consumers demand it.
2030 seems to be the big year of promise, with Kellogg's, PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz, Unilever, and Nestlé all striving to cut or reduce virgin plastic usage by 20% or more by this time.
Procter & Gamble is integrating AI to reduce waste and improve energy efficiency through enhancing its manufacturing operations. It’s pretty clever because instead of making promises about reducing plastic usage, the work is starting at the heart of production.
AI-Driven Waste Reduction
The premise is simple; use AI to do better.
P&G analyzes its packaging designs by evaluating which ones have the highest material usage and then optimizes that to be material efficient.
The golden goose here is that materials are not being compromised, they are being optimized. With AI, P&G has developed a lightweight packaging that uses fewer materials so that the product is protected but the least amount of material is being used.
The results so far indicate a massive saving on materials and millions of pounds in plastic saved annually. For transparency, P&G are 79% of the way to their goal of all consumer packaging being reusable or recyclable.
Enhancing Energy Efficiency
Procter & Gamble are already doing enough to toot their own horn but there’s more.
Remember what you read a bit earlier about the heart of it all? P&G monitor energy consumption in real-time using a network of sensors which focus on temperature, pressure, and energy usage. AI then analyzes this to indicate any inefficiencies. Nifty right?
Beyond that AI-driven predictive analytics help P&G forecast energy demand based on historical data and AI optimizes the operation of energy intensive equipment thanks to smart energy management.
Lest we forget the feedback loops.
P&G has achieved significant energy savings and improved product quality thanks to effectively controlling temperature and humidity levels during laundry detergent production.
That deserves a slow clap.
Overcoming Logistical Nightmares
As with all great things there are hurdles, P&G found several when shifting to a more AI-focused approach such as integrating diverse data sources into a unified system, scaling AI models to operate across the number of factories and different types of equipment and implementing real-time processing in fast-paced manufacturing environments.
Safe to say, they had their fair share of headaches.
P&G leaned into strategic solutions and established advanced data cleaning, developed scalable frameworks, and experimented with real-time analytics platforms for immediate feedback.
They embraced the nightmares and switched it up on them because the outcome was worth the treacherous walk to get there.
P&G Gets Slick
Procter & Gamble are leaping hurdles to create AI-driven processes that reduce waste and develop efficient processes because the goal is to hit 100% sustainable materials.
This is just another example of how AI can be used for good. One fifth of global carbon emissions comes from manufacturing, so the more brands doing a P&G move, the better!
PS: Hear P&G talk more about sustainable practices here.