Ep.16 - Making AI Accessible for Industrial Users

Next Generation Manufacturing

In this episode, Jay Myers, CEO of Next Generation Manufacturing Canada, interviews Humera Malik, the founder and CEO of Canvas AI. They discuss the challenges faced by industrial companies in managing and utilizing their data and how AI can help solve these problems. Humera shares her journey from the telecom world to the industrial IoT world and explains how she founded Canvas AI to connect users with their data and make AI accessible to engineers and plant floor personnel. She highlights the importance of providing a layer of interaction with the data and focuses on three key areas: helping users work with their data, making the technology accessible to non-data scientists, and helping users complete the data analysis journey. Humera also discusses the solutions Canvas AI has developed for asset management, process optimization, and sustainability, and the importance of building trust with AI systems. The episode concludes with a discussion on the adoption of AI in Canadian manufacturing and the growth plans for Canvas AI.

About Humera:

Humera Malik is the founder and CEO of Canvas AI. With a background in the telecom and industrial IoT industries, Humera has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by industrial companies in managing and making use of their data. She founded Canvas AI to provide a platform that connects users with their data and makes AI accessible and usable for engineers and plant floor personnel. Humera is passionate about empowering users to solve their own problems and has developed solutions focused on asset management, process optimization, and sustainability.

Canvass AI aims to empower process engineers on the plant floor to make data-driven decisions quickly and accurately.

Key Takeaways:

• Canvas AI provides a platform that connects users with their data and makes AI accessible and usable for engineers and plant floor personnel in the industrial sector.

• The solutions developed by Canvas AI focus on asset management, process optimization, and sustainability, helping users solve recurring problems and institutionalize knowledge.

• Building trust with AI systems is crucial, and Canvas AI achieves this by demonstrating the efficiency and effectiveness of their solutions in solving real-world problems.

• Canadian manufacturing companies have been conservative in adopting AI, but programs like the one with Next Generation Manufacturing Canada can help accelerate adoption and showcase the value of AI solutions.

• Canvas AI's growth plan is centered around making their platform a de facto tool for industrial engineers, empowering them to use AI in their day-to-day operations and problem-solving.

Notable Quotes:

• "The problem I saw was, in the industrial sector, everybody was spending so many bizarre figures of about a trillion dollars spent into infrastructure built, and then another gazillion dollars spent on building the infrastructure to store data, which I called data hoarding. And then on top of that, what happens next? Nobody kind of was working on it." - Humera Malik

• "The intent really was how to empower the user to solve their problem, because they are the domain experts. All they need is how to make better use of their data." - Humera Malik

• "We focus on where we see we can provide value, so our qualification process is more refined and we really know how to score who fits the best and then take them through this journey." - Humera Malik

Connect with Canvass AI:

Website: https://www.canvass.io

Connect with Ngen: [e-mail]

Website: Ngen.ca, careersofthefuture.ca,

Instagram: @ngencanada

Twitter: Ngen_canada

Linkedin: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/ngmcanada.com