Earlier this year, Apple announced that it was partnering with Michigan State University to establish the Apple Manufacturing Academy, which offer a set of in-person and online training programs and consultancy services for small- and medium-sized businesses in the United States.
The courses cover a wide range of topics focused on advanced manufacturing, including automation, predictive maintenance, quality control optimization, and machine learning with vision.
Apple says academy sessions “focus on machine learning and deep learning in manufacturing; automation in the product manufacturing industry; leveraging manufacturing data to improve product quality; applying digital technologies to enhance operations; and more.”
The program is part of Apple’s broader plans to invest $600 billion in the US economy over the space of four years.
But has it helped? What do the attendees learn? Are they cast asunder on the seas of US manufacturing once the sessions are over?
Wired recently reported on some of the small companies that attended this program, and the publication found out that the benefits of the program isn’t limited to the free workshops. Apple employees also make site visits and provide technical supports after the sessions.
Marji Smith, president of ImageTek, a small manufacturer in Vermont says her company was developing an automated system to detect label printing color errors during production.
“Around ten” Apple engineers assisted the company in developing a computer vision system to identify color errors. Once the system was put in place, it almost immediately detected a batch of back labels with a too-pinkish beige before they left the factory. Smith says that timely catch helped her company keep a crucial customer.
“We’re not a gigantic company, and we don’t have any AI or software team,” Marji Smith, ImageTek’s president says of the 31-year-old, 54-employee business. “What Apple is doing is positively impactful for us.”
Lessons Learned, Lessons Shared
Attendees say Apple employees were quite upfront about what they had learned from past Apple “controversies,” like “Bendgate.”
You may recall that following the 2014 launch of the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple was hit by the “bendgate” controversy, where some iPhone 6 Plus owners found that the device would bend jammed into a tight pocket. Looking back, the issue was admittedly blown out of proportion by the media and the internet. However, academy participants say Apple employees were upfront about what they learned from it and other controversies.
Sadly, the Wired reports did not go into detail about those lessons, so the world may never know.
