Hitting the right notes: how traditional guitar manufacturing is embracing AI

When traditional, hand-made skills combine with the latest digital technology, amazing things can happen. Just ask Northern Ireland-based guitar manufacturer, Lowden Guitars, which has been working with Storm Reply to transform its business.

Storm Reply, part of the Reply Group, is a dedicated arm of Amazon Web Services, primarily focusing on engineering, architecture, product development and systems integration.

FAQs

• What solutions do Storm Reply offer manufacturers?
• How are manufacturers embracing AI?
• What does the collaboration between Lowden and Storm look like?
• What are the top tips for integrating emerging technologies within a traditional manufacturing processes?
• What pitfalls need to be avoided when implementing emerging technology?

For the last five years Storm Reply has developed its offering and products around industrial IoT for manufacturing and covers everything from operational efficiency to predictive maintenance.

More recently, the company has been enhancing its ability to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to help manufacturers improve or create new products.

Changing needs of manufacturers

Manufacturing is on the cusp of a huge digital transformation, with technology set to change the whole landscape of the sector. Matt Mould, a Partner at Storm Reply added: “A number of manufacturers have already set out a road map and in a lot of cases, have implemented a digital transformation strategy. In addition, a new wave of manufacturers are now accelerating digital adoption due to the increased accessibility of hardware and technology.”

He added that barriers to entry are becoming lower and lower, particularly around cloud services targeted at industrial IoT, and there has been a distinct shift towards manufacturers taking ownership of their own data, their digital landscape and around developing their own unique solutions.

A key driver behind this shift is that much of the complexity of vendor solutions is starting to be removed and having one cloud platform that operates both in the cloud, at the edge and on-premise in manufacturers’ facilities, is becoming more commonplace.

Another driver is the ability to improve the visibility of operational efficiency. Once data can be provided centrally, it can be leveraged to identify for example, the full capacity at any given hour, day, month or year; hugely beneficial in organisations with individual siloed operations. “With IoT and a digital strategy, visibility into operations can be done efficiently, quickly and without the laborious process of bringing all that data together”, added Matt.

Storm and Lowden

Lowden Guitars is a guitar manufacturer based in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, and is renowned for its handcrafted acoustic instruments that blend traditional craftsmanship with innovative design.

The brand has been favoured by numerous acclaimed musicians, including Eric Clapton and Damien Rice. In 2019, the company launched the ‘Sheeran by Lowden’ range, a collaboration with Ed Sheeran aimed at making quality guitars more accessible to aspiring musicians. This partnership, along with the company’s commitment to excellence, earned Lowden Guitars the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.

Storm’s partnership with Lowden came off the back of an already existing relationship with AWS. The Irish part of AWS is connected to many businesses in Ireland, and knowing that Lowden had an interest in intelligent, connected products and IoT, AWS put the two entities together.

Matt continued: “We follow a very well-trodden path with any customer. We understand their challenges, wants and needs. And we then prove the technical feasibility with them. And as a premier AWS partner, we can help customers to get ideas qualified quickly.

“The hope of course, is for a business to develop a way forward quickly, but sometimes they may fail fast on an idea and have to stop, rethink and go back. We can unlock funding for businesses like Lowden in order to develop pilots, proof of concepts and minimum viable products.”

App development

Customer loyalty, maintaining the quality of the product and creating a stronger connection with customers is essential to Lowden and so Storm Reply helped the company to develop the MyLowden endto- end connected solution that enables customers to GPS track the location, temperature, vibration and humidity of their guitars.

Despite Lowden’s guitars being very traditional, hand-made instruments, there is still a universal consumer expectation around connected products. Most purchases now come with some kind of connected service, and consumers are far more familiar with features such as over the air updates; making a purchase on one day and then having additional features drop at a later date is now commonplace.

The application developed by Storm will be available on Android and iOS and allows customers to register their guitar, qualify proof of ownership, access the instrument’s warranty and service history for insurance purposes.

“Customers can also check the condition of the guitar to ensure it is being maintained at its optimum level. For a session guitarist, your instrument is your main tool for your income, so you need to make sure it’s in the best possible health, and is serviced and maintained properly”, added Matt. “This connected product offers customers conditional monitoring of what is a very traditional classic piece of instrument making. Luxury brands and retailers are all thinking how they can make their customer feel more aware of the condition of their product, especially if it’s a high-value item?”

Aaron Lowden Managing Director, Lowden Guitars

“Over the years we have found that the typical Lowden owner has dreamed of owning their custom guitar for years before they finally take ownership of the instrument. When the guitar leaves our workshop and falls into the hands of its player, that is when the real partnership begins.

“Inspired by the hand-kept ledger documenting all the guitars our Founder and my father George Lowden has created throughout his 50 years as a luthier, this breakthrough platform highlights a real collaborative effort to draw on the rich heritage of Lowden Guitars infusing cutting-edge technology to continue to push the boundaries into the future.

“We are delighted to offer Lowden owners a way of truly documenting the journey of their guitars through the MyLowden platform, and we believe this added insight, knowledge and ability to document milestones on their guitars will further enrich the treasured relationships between Lowden players around the world and their guitars.

“Working with the teams from Storm Reply, ubloquity and AWS was a real pleasure as they helped us bring this idea to life. In addition to tracking the guitar’s physical environment and condition through built-in sensor technology, MyLowden will also identify the guitar’s location and usage – all of which is written and stored on an immutable register for proof of ownership.

“The ability to document important studio or song-writing sessions and performances throughout the instrument’s history will significantly add to the emotional value of the guitar for their owners or for future buyers of preloved instruments.

“On a practical level, MyLowden will also offer a gateway to warranty and insurance services and insights for maintaining optimum condition and performance. For our global network of trusted retailers, it can reinforce proof of sale, service records and more, and for the Lowden team, the platform provides an additional route to connecting with players after they take ownership of their guitars through added opportunities for education, collaboration and engagement.”

George Lowden Founder and Luthier, Lowden Guitars

“Lowden’s reputation has been established on quality craftsmanship and superior tone and playability over the past five decades. Our team continue to seek ways to continue the innovative spirit on which our brand was built.

“As we look to the next generation of guitar players, we are proud to continue to find ways to push the boundaries between craft and technology and are grateful to partners like AWS, ubloquity and Storm Reply as we continue our journey to creating heirloom instruments which will live on for generations to come.”