Prasad Akella

Professional

I have archived some of the talks, webinars, and interviews that I have given as well as articles that I have written over the years. Not surprisingly, many of the talks from earlier in my career weren’t recorded or are not available in a digital format. In which case, where possible, I have saved the corresponding presentation as a pdf file below.

Talks & Interviews

See the world's first cobots in action, General Motors. Detroit. 1999.
AI for manufacturing. MIT Technology Review's EmTech Now. 2021.
How MLOps helped AI rise, Drishti. Predict 2022. 2022
Drishti — a real world example of quality transformation. Veeva Quality Summit. 2018.
How AI can fix systemic quality and material shortage issues. Quality Digest. 2021.
Drishti combines AI & video to improve manufacturing ops. Power & Motion. 2022.
Automation + Work, Human + Machine, A16Z podcast. Menlo Park. 2019.
Human + Machine = Operational Excellence, Drishti. Automatica @ Munich. 2022.

Webinars

Introducing video analytics and AI-powered production for industry 4.0. 2020.
How to operationalize data for industry 4.0. 2021
How to introduce new AI technologies into the factory. 2020.
Attracting, Training, Retaining Manufacturing Talent with New Tech for Industry 4.0. 2022.
Where digital meets lean in Industry 4.0, Drishti. 2021
Rethinking ROI models for manufacturing and industry 4.0. 2022.
How AI extends the Toyota Production System (TPS). 2021.
How AI + video analytics is transforming standardized work and the Toyota Production System. 2022

Presentations

  • How MLOps helped AI Rise, Predict 2022 [pdf] [video 1] [video 2]
  • Human + Machine = Operational Excellence, 2022 [pdf] [video]

Articles

  • A Custom Belt In Under 60 Minutes: Are Manufacturers Capable Of Keeping Promises?, Forbes, 11 Oct. 2023 [article][pdf]
  • CNNs and GenAI aren’t the only AI games in town for supply chain planning, Forbes, 31 Jul. 2023 [article] [pdf]
  • How do you build a product that has 10 billion variations?, Forbes, 26 Jun. 2023 [article] [pdf]
  • Besser als lean (Better than lean), SPS Magazine, Nbr. 13, pp. 86-87, 1 Dec. 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • Manufacturing’s labor challenge: How technology can train, attract and retain workers, Forbes, 26 Oct. 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • New Math For New Technologies In Manufacturing, Forbes, 20 Sep. 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • AI has arrived, so what next?, TechBullion, 24 May 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • Drishti combines AI and video to improve manufacturing operations, Power & Motion, 5 May 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • Why labor-based ROI models can stymie innovation and how to fix it, Forbes, 3 May 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • In manufacturing, adaptability is the only way forward, Design World, 29 Apr. 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • Automation won’t fix a false sense of lean maturity, IndustryWeek, 8 Mar. 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • The rising TIDE: New capabilities quotients are required when you’re swimming in data, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • How video analytics is transforming manufacturing, DataQuest, 22 Feb. 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • AI will mature to solve real operational problems in 2022, Embedded Computed Design, 11 Feb. 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • Artificial intelligence-powered video analytics, Aerospace Manufacturing and Design, 3 Feb. 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • Can AI help manufacturers maintain high quality amid uncertainty?, QualityDigest, 24 Jan. 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • Three questions you need to answer to make the best use of data in Industry 4.0, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2022 [article] [pdf]
  • How MLOps helped AI rise (aka, a from-the-trenches view of MLOps), Predict 2022, 20 Jan, 2022 [abstract] [slides] [video][mp4]
  • Adaptability – Not Efficiency – May Be Critical Factor for Manufacturing, Spiegel, 21 Dec. 2021, Design News [article] [pdf]
  • You can’t have Industry 4.0 without training 4.0, Forbes, 8 Nov. 2021 [article] [pdf]
  • When man meets machine: Using AI to improve productivity of factory worker, Forbes India, 3 Nov. 2021 [article] [pdf]
  • Lean and data: Two journeys on the path to lean leadership, Drishti, 19 Oct. 2021 [article] [pdf]
  • Interview with Dr. Prasad Akella, CEO of Drishti, Innovating with Scott Amyx, 20 Sep. 2021 [interview] 
  • Vision AI in manufacturing, MIT EmTech Next 2021, 10 Jun. 2021 [conference] [slides]
  • Using AI to bring out the best in people, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Smart Manufacturing, 31 May 2021 [article] [pdf]
  • The relationship between machines and humans with Prasad Akella, Periera, The Gemba Academy Podcast, GA 355, 21 Jan. 2021. [podcast]
  • Akella on the intersection of AI and manual assembly ops, Vasilash, on Automotive, 12 Dec. 2020, [interview] [pdf]
  • The butterfly defect: Do you know the true cost of your defects?, QualityDigest, Day. 20 Dec. 2020, [interview] [mp4]
  • Industry executive explains why the future of manufacturing will be human-machine collaboration, not robots replacing human workers, Gilder, Thomas Insights, 11 Aug. 2020. [interview] [pdf]
  • Craftmanship transcends space and time, IndustryWeek, 3 Mar. 2020. [article] [pdf]
  • Scaling brilliance on the shop floor, IndustryWeek, 23 Dec. 2019. [article] [pdf]
  • OK computer: why the machine age still needs humans, World Economic Forum, weforum.org, 19 Aug. 2019. [article] [pdf]
  • Drishti Technologies’ computer vision algorithm makes humans efficient, YourStory, Krishna, Chaudhury, 24 Jun. 2019. [interview] [mp4]
  • Data lake or data swamp?, IndustryWeek, 03 May 2019. [article] [pdf]
  • Automation + Work, Human + Machine, Akella, Daugherty, Chen, a16z podcast, 5 Nov. 2018. [podcast] [mp3]
  • GM cobot pioneer: Lessons to learn from Rethink, The Robot Report, 5 Oct. 2018. [article] [pdf]
  • Interview: Prasad Akella, Gutierrez, insideBIGDATA, 6 Sep. 2018. [interview] [pdf]
  • Intelligent poka yoke: When lean manufacturing meets deep learning, IndustryWeek, 14 Jun. 2018. [article] [pdf]
  • Should manufacturers video plant floor worker performance?, Manufacturing Leadership Council, 21 May 2018 [article] [pdf]
  • Why Robots won’t inherit the plant, IndustryWeek, 15 May 2018. [article] [pdf]
  • Why stopwatches are threatening manufacturing’s resurgence, Reliable Plant, May 2018. [article] [pdf]
  • Robot nirvana? Not in my lifetime, Industry Today, 20 Mar. 2018. [article] [pdf]
  • 7 steps to monetize your shares in a company, Akella, Smith, Forbes, 19 Jun. 2014. [article] [pdf]
  • What to do when your subsidiaries need to integrate with headquarters, Akella, Zelinger, SAPInsider, pp. 104-105, Dec. 2011. [article] [pdf]
  • How SMEs are democratizing access to their data, Akella, SAPInsider, pp.58-59, Sep. 2011 [article] [pdf]
  • SAP’s best kept secret, Akella, SAPInsider, pp. 54-55, Jun. 2011. [article] [pdf]
  • Cobots—A new generation of assembly tools for the line worker, Akella, Peshkin, SPIE Newsletter, Apr. 1997 [article] [pdf]