From broken toys to groundbreaking AI: This is the story of Ajith Srikanth, a young innovator who's transforming the world of manufacturing, one algorithm at a time.
Like many children, Srikanth loved playing with toys. But unlike most, he also loved fixing them. At just four years old, when a small toy bicycle broke, he wasn't interested in a replacement. Instead, he wanted to understand how to fix it.
He was nervous about telling his parents, fearing he wouldn't get another toy. So, he took matters into his own hands, using glue to mend the wheel and handlebars. Not only did he get his toy back, but he also learned a valuable lesson.
"My mom encouraged me to think like this: If you break stuff, try fixing it,” Srikanth recalls. Now a master's student in engineering at Northeastern University, he's applying this same principle to much more complex problems.
Srikanth's journey led him to the world of advanced and intelligent manufacturing. He's now using AI to revolutionize an industry that touches nearly every aspect of our lives. As a co-op at Van Dyk Recycling Solutions, a leading company in the recycling industry, Srikanth is pushing the boundaries of AI.
"I have put my leg into a lot of boats, but the learning that I got and the exposure that I got from doing something like this is just phenomenal for me,” Srikanth said. "I just saw manufacturing as this one thing. Now I see manufacturing with AI, with recycling, with sustainability and it’s a lot more big picture.”
At Northeastern, Srikanth designed a chatbot to help engineers troubleshoot manufacturing issues, like broken sensors or malfunctioning machinery. This project paved the way for his co-op at Van Dyk, which wanted a similar tool for its engineers.
"It helps people, especially service engineers, to gather information that is there in hundreds of manuals,” Srikanth explains.
But here's where it gets controversial...Srikanth didn't stop there. He quickly found ways to integrate AI into nearly every aspect of Van Dyk's operations. He also built a back-end software component that allows engineers to submit solutions to hardware problems, creating a more robust knowledge base for the chatbot.
He developed a model using cameras to improve the sorting of waste materials like plastic and glass. He even built a model that could quickly identify specific machines and their parts by pulling information from a database of over 1 million Van Dyk engineering documents.
And this is the part most people miss... This may seem straightforward, but it's incredibly impactful for Van Dyk, which has been in business for 48 years and has machines of considerable age. Srikanth is still essentially doing what he's always done: fixing things.
"That way you don’t scrap those machines; you can repair them, which saves time,” Srikanth said. “Now, they are refurbishing machines. That also saves the company the cost, it saves the environment.”
In total, Srikanth designed 13 different AI-based models and systems for Van Dyk. Faizan Jamal, an engineer at Van Dyk, highlights the impact: "AI has shifted us from reactive, manual work to proactive, automated operations. We now extract, classify, and validate data at scale, speeding up tasks like file matching, equipment tracking and document review. It’s changed how we design processes, pushing us to think in terms of automation, quality, and scalability, rather than manual effort or legacy workflows.”
Srikanth sees AI as the future of manufacturing. However, his time at Van Dyk has also taught him that knowing when to use AI is just as crucial as knowing how to use it.
"AI can only be used to help you, not build you stuff. Building stuff is upon your brain and how you compute it,” Srikanth said. “For me, and the company as well, AI is not going to take over your job. It is going to help make your job better. You need to know how to use AI to your benefit rather than one, not use it at all or two, use it so much that it costs your job.”
What do you think? Do you agree with Srikanth's perspective on the role of AI in manufacturing? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
