Implementing machine learning: chances and challenges

Abstract Finding and implementing a suitable machine learning (ML) solution to a task at hand has several facets. The technical side of ML has widely been discussed in detail, see, e. g., (Heizmann, M., A. Braun, M. Hüttel, C. Klüver, E. Marquardt, M. Overdick and M. Ulrich. 2020. Artificial Intelligence with Neural Networks in Optical Measurement and Inspection Systems. at – Automatisierungstechnik 68(6): 477–487). This contribution focusses on the industrial implementation issues of ML projects, particularly for machine vision (MV) tasks. Especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), resources cannot be activated at will in order to use a new technology like ML. We take this into account by, on the one hand, helping to realistically evaluate the opportunities and challenges involved in implementing ML projects for a given task. On the other hand, we consider not only technical aspects, but also organizational, social and customer-related ones. It is discussed which know-how a company itself has to bring into an ML project and which tasks can also be performed by service providers. Here, it becomes clear that ML techniques can be used at different levels of detail. The question of “make or buy” is therefore also an entrepreneurial one when introducing ML into one’s own products and processes, and must be answered with a view to one’s own possibilities and structures.