‘There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip’ might very effectively describe the hole between AI hype and enterprise actuality. At CEAT, although, it’s much less discuss and extra tangible outcomes.
“At CEAT, AI is delivering tangible worth throughout the worth chain and we’ve seen a number of AI use circumstances transfer from ideation to full-scale manufacturing, delivering tangible enterprise worth throughout the worth chain—from product improvement and manufacturing to provide chain and buyer engagement,” Debashish Roy, Chief Digital Transformation Officer, CEAT tells ET Enterprise AI.
In manufacturing, one standout initiative is the AI-powered closed-loop mixer management system, which makes use of AI to cut back course of deviations and enhance compound high quality. “This has led to a ~20 per cent improve in mixer productiveness, a 18 per cent discount in cycle time variation, and vital enhancements in compound high quality, scrap discount, and power effectivity,” Roy shares.
Equally, an export container optimisation instrument has compressed order-to-dispatch turnaround time by 54 per cent and tripled lead-time efficiency by matching demand forecasts with optimum plant dispatch.
On the manufacturing facility ground, CEAT layers AI on its good manufacturing facility spine—utilizing laptop imaginative and prescient for automated tyre inspection, predictive upkeep to chop downtime. “We’re additionally constructing in-house GenAI and agentic AI instruments to ship real-time engineering insights and actionable shop-floor analytics, empowering groups with better pace and precision,” says Roy.
Recognition has adopted. CEAT grew to become the primary tyre model globally to be named a Lighthouse Manufacturing unit by the World Financial Discussion board for its Business 4.0 adoption.
Rewiring with AI
The availability chain has additionally been rewired. CEAT’s provide chain cockpit, primarily an information twin, brings real-time visibility throughout operations. “AI/ML-based demand forecasting achieves as much as 80 per cent accuracy throughout a fancy product combine, serving to align manufacturing and stock,” Roy highlights. The corporate’s AI-led container planning maximises utilisation for worldwide shipments, whereas a ‘Observe n Hint’ system integrates with enterprise useful resource planning (ERP) for logistics visibility. The following frontier for CEAT is demand sensing that may reply dynamically to short-term market fluctuations, says Roy.“At CEAT, we’re harnessing AI to raise each B2B and B2C buyer experiences,” says Roy. On the shopper facet, AI-powered chatbots and WhatsApp assistants simplify guarantee registration and after-sales help. For sellers, an clever WhatsApp bot built-in into the vendor portal accelerates question decision. And behind the scenes, an agentic AI advice engine nudges gross sales groups with region-specific inventory maintaining unit (SKU) insights.
In R&D, CEAT is prototyping AI-driven tread design fashions in collaboration with a associate. This will probably scale back time-to-market for brand new merchandise by 10–15 per cent , says Roy. It’s additionally partnering with IITs on quantum computing-powered molecular simulations for compound discovery, advancing each innovation and sustainability.
CEAT’s sustainability lens exhibits up in operations too. Its predictive fashions for leakage detection within the curing space to optimise steam utilization have trimmed power conversion prices by 20 per cent .
Cultural Basis
Past the tech, Roy emphasises CEAT’s cultural basis. “As a proud Deming Grand firm, CEAT has embedded TQM (complete high quality administration) rules on the core of its digital transformation,” he says. The Deming Grand Prize is among the highest honours in TQM, awarded by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) to organisations demonstrating excellence in high quality administration. Cross-functional ‘Digital SQUADs’ convey enterprise and digital groups collectively, with hackathons and innovation sprints encouraging co-creation. “Our ‘develop earlier than you inform’ strategy — beginning with fast PoCs (proof of ideas) and scaling confirmed options — has been key to driving belief and measurable outcomes,” Roy notes.
On governance, CEAT balances a central digital centre of excellence with a federated execution mannequin throughout manufacturing, gross sales, provide chain and R&D. For brand new frontiers like agentic AI, the corporate is constructing traceable reasoning, immediate filtering, and guardrails to make sure security and compliance. “With the rise of GenAI and agentic AI, we’re enhancing controls to forestall undesirable information publicity or unauthorised system interactions,” says Roy.
So, what’s the one takeaway for CXOs seeking to transcend AI hype? Roy doesn’t mince phrases: “Don’t begin with expertise—begin with the worth chain that issues most to what you are promoting. The important thing query isn’t ‘The place can I take advantage of AI?’—it’s ‘How can AI increase this course of to allow quicker, smarter, and extra constant selections?’”
That mindset, he insists, is what separates experiments from outcomes.
