DIGITAL MANUFACTURING
Ganesh Bukka brings nearly three decades of experience in the manufacturing and asset management sectors to his role as Vice President of Hitachi Digital Services( HDS).
Working with IT and OT systems across industries such as energy, utilities, transportation and discrete and process manufacturing, he applies this experience at HDS to integrating its deep legacy in OT systems with modern IT practices.
Ganesh guides digital transformation initiatives by leveraging his consulting expertise and Hitachi’ s rich OT history, helping to enhance value through digital solutions.
Today his role frequently centres on the possibilities of one particular technology: AI.
Here, Ganesh shares how HDS is helping manufacturers to harness it to drive profound operational and organisational change.
Q. HOW IS HDS ADVANCING MANUFACTURING THROUGH AI?
» We’ re leading the charge in evangelising AI within the manufacturing landscape, identifying core use cases that drive improvements in Cost of Poor Quality( COPQ), Overall Equipment Efficiency( OEE), and Integrated Supply Chain Management.
One significant example is Hitachi Rail’ s advanced digital factory being constructed in Hagerstown, Maryland in the US.
This facility, designed to build rail cars for the Washington Metro Authority, is designed around an AI-first approach that sees AI, robots and human workers collaborate to ensure high-quality production and sustainability.
The AI built into the operations eliminates human dependency for quality control, leveraging AI / ML and computer vision technologies to enhance product quality continuously.
The integration of AI across the manufacturing value chain has transformed the process, improving sustainability and efficiency.
Q. WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE SURROUNDING AI ADOPTION IN MANUFACTURING?
» It revolves around data. Specifically, data quality, availability, integration with legacy systems and the capability to process real-time data effectively.
These issues often lead to high capital costs, which can be a deterrent for many manufacturers.
To address these challenges, HDS has invested heavily in Industry Cloud frameworks like HARC OT and its proprietary Edge IoT platform, HGDI( Hitachi Global Data Integration).
These help to resolve data quality and integration issues, while partnerships with companies like NVIDIA and AWS enhance our ability to process data in real time.
Investments like these have significantly accelerated AI adoption, particularly with customers such as Hitachi Rail and a leading global automotive OEM.
88 August 2025