Alex Willson knows how to grow a pecan and turn it into a cake, but he is not so great at analyzing shipping logistics.

The president and CEO of Sunnyland Farms in Albany is running an agricultural business that dates to 1948 — not the kind of operation one associates with cutting edge technology.

Yet Willson said he was able to harness artificial intelligence to boost his bottom line about 8%, even 10%.

He had help from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Sunnyland used to pay several shippers to send its candied or salted nuts to consumers across the country.

Willson felt like he could get a better deal, either by renegotiating with the shippers or opening a warehouse out West to consolidate costly shipments.

Then, an intern from Tech showed him the best move. The intern, with help from the federally funded Georgia AIM project, fed “reams and reams and reams” of his company’s shipping data into an AI-powered program that produced leverage for Willson. Knowledge is power, he said, and the Tech intern showed him how his shipping patterns could translate into a better deal with just one of the shippers.

The innovation also freed up time. Instead of staging pecan products at multiple locations for each of several shippers, the goods now go to one spot. 

The project has subsequently helped with other data analysis that has, in turn, boosted sales and saved money and time.

“I’m thinking more strategically instead of just putting out little fires all day,” Willson said.  He said his managers and workers also have more time to try out ideas for increasing revenue or reducing costs.

Georgia AIM stands for Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing, a program that started four years ago with $65 million in federal seed money.

State and private investment has increased that to $82 million, said Donna Ennis, a Tech administrator who is helping to lead Georgia AIM Week, a series of demonstrations across the state through Friday.

On Monday, middle and high school students visited Carrollton-based Southwire, a manufacturer of wire, cable, tools, electrical components and many other products.

On Tuesday, the show is moving to the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins. On Wednesday the topics include cybersecurity in Augusta and hydroponics and other agricultural advances in Albany. Thursday features robots at the University of Georgia, and career-related events for students in LaGrange, Dublin and Savannah.

The week culminates with manufacturing tours in Savannah.

“This is a program that is striving to make manufacturing cool again,” said Enis, who wants to disabuse people of the notion that factories are dull, dirty, dark and dangerous.

“That’s how people generally think of manufacturing, but manufacturing is not like that anymore,” she said.

Capitol Beat is a nonprofit news service operated by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation that provides coverage of state government to newspapers throughout Georgia. For more information visit capitol-beat.org.