Industrial Transfer Learning: Boosting Machine Learning in Production
Abstract
In the field of production, machine learning offers great potentials to develop innovative solutions for optimization or automation. However, it faces challenges with regard to the availability of data and the high training effort of the learning models in the event of changes in the production process. In this paper, we address these challenges by introducing deep transfer learning for production. We demonstrate its potentials and benefits in a real application for predictive quality in injection molding and propose a novel approach for the continual training of neural networks across manufactured products. By creating a neural network that leverages knowledge from previous products without forgetting them, the approach shows better learning rates and more accurate predictions while requiring much less data for training. Our code is publicly available1to reproduce our results and build upon them.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The incorporation of transfer learning, using pre-trained models on extensive datasets like COCO, can accelerate the training process and improve initial performance.
“The incorporation of transfer learning, using pre-trained models on extensive datasets like COCO [47], can accelerate the training process and improve initial performance [96].”
From A Review of Passenger Counting in Public Transport Concepts with Solution Proposal Based on Image Processing and Machine Learning (2024) · cites this paper as [96]
Cites
Pan, S. J., & Yang, Q. (2010) · IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering · doi:10.1109/tkde.2009.191 · Cited by 23,387 · see citing works
Visualizing and understanding convolutional networks
Zeiler, M. D., & Fergus, R. (2014) · Lecture Notes in Computer Science · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-10590-1_53 · Cited by 15,839 · see citing works
Domain-Adversarial Training of Neural Networks
Ganin, Y., Ustinova, E., Ajakan, H., Germain, P., Larochelle, H., Laviolette, F., Marchand, M., & Lempitsky, V. (2017) · Advances in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-58347-1_10 · Cited by 8,318 · see citing works
Li, Z., & Hoiem, D. (2018) · IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence · doi:10.1109/tpami.2017.2773081 · Cited by 4,202 · see citing works
DeCAF: A Deep Convolutional Activation Feature for Generic Visual Recognition
Donahue, J., Jia, Y., Vinyals, O., Hoffman, J., Zhang, N., Tzeng, E., & Darrell, T. (2013) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1310.1531 · Cited by 4,019 · see citing works
Learning and Transferring Mid-level Image Representations Using Convolutional Neural Networks
Oquab, M., Bottou, L., Laptev, I., & Sivic, J. (2014) · 2014 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition · doi:10.1109/cvpr.2014.222 · Cited by 3,150 · see citing works
Domain randomization for transferring deep neural networks from simulation to the real world
Tobin, J., Fong, R., Ray, A., Schneider, J., Zaremba, W., & Abbeel, P. (2017) · 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) · doi:10.1109/iros.2017.8202133 · Cited by 3,124 · cited 1× · see citing works
“using a CNN for object detection [15].”
Continual lifelong learning with neural networks: A review
Parisi, G. I., Kemker, R., Part, J. L., Kanan, C., & Wermter, S. (2019) · Neural Networks · doi:10.1016/j.neunet.2019.01.012 · Cited by 3,117 · see citing works
Learning dexterous in-hand manipulation
Andrychowicz, O. M., Baker, B., Chociej, M., Józefowicz, R., McGrew, B., Pachocki, J., Petron, A., Plappert, M., Powell, G., Ray, A., et al. (2020) · The International Journal of Robotics Research · doi:10.1177/0278364919887447 · Cited by 1,643 · see citing works
Sim-to-Real: Learning Agile Locomotion For Quadruped Robots
Tan, J., Zhang, T., Coumans, E., Iscen, A., Bai, Y., Hafner, D., Bohez, S., & Vanhoucke, V. (2018) · Robotics: Science and Systems XIV · doi:10.15607/rss.2018.xiv.010 · Cited by 735 · see citing works
Using Simulation and Domain Adaptation to Improve Efficiency of Deep Robotic Grasping
Bousmalis, K., Irpan, A., Wohlhart, P., Bai, Y., Kelcey, M., Kalakrishnan, M., Downs, L., Ibarz, J., Pastor, P., Konolige, K., et al. (2018) · 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) · doi:10.1109/icra.2018.8460875 · Cited by 636 · see citing works
What makes ImageNet good for transfer learning?Preprint
Huh, M., Agrawal, P., & Efros, A. A. (2016) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1608.08614 · Cited by 591 · see citing works
Yan, J., Meng, Y., Lü, L., & Lin, L. (2017) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2017.2765544 · Cited by 479 · see citing works
Structured Domain Randomization: Bridging the Reality Gap by Context-Aware Synthetic Data
Prakash, A., Boochoon, S., Brophy, M., Acuna, D., Cameracci, E., State, G., Shapira, O., & Birchfield, S. T. (2019) · Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation/Proceedings · doi:10.1109/icra.2019.8794443 · Cited by 287 · see citing works
Process parameter optimization of plastic injection molding: a review
Kashyap, S., & Datta, D. (2015) · International Journal of Plastics Technology · doi:10.1007/s12588-015-9115-2 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Tercan, H., Guajardo, A., Heinisch, J., Thiele, T., Hopmann, C., & Meisen, T. (2018) · Procedia CIRP · doi:10.1016/j.procir.2018.03.087 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Self-citationLifelong learning of human actions with deep neural network self-organization
Parisi, G. I., Tani, J., Weber, C., & Wermter, S. (2017) · Neural Networks · doi:10.1016/j.neunet.2017.09.001 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Transfer Learning for Improving Model Predictions in Highly Configurable Software
Jamshidi, P., Velez, M., Kästner, C., Siegmund, N., & Kawthekar, P. (2017) · International Symposium on Software Engineering for Adaptive and Self-Managing Systems (SEAMS) · doi:10.1109/seams.2017.11 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Statistical transfer learning: A review and some extensions to statistical process control
Tsung, F., Zhang, K., Cheng, L., & Song, Z. (2017) · Quality Engineering · doi:10.1080/08982112.2017.1373810 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Improving the laser cutting process design by machine learning techniques
Tercan, H., Khawli, T. A., Eppelt, U., Büscher, C., Meisen, T., & Jeschke, S. (2017) · Production Engineering · doi:10.1007/s11740-017-0718-7 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Self-citationContinuous Motion Planning for Industrial Robots based on Direct Sensory Input
Meyes, R., Scheiderer, C., & Meisen, T. (2018) · Procedia CIRP · doi:10.1016/j.procir.2018.03.067 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A survey on anomaly detection for technical systems using LSTM networks
Lindemann, B., Maschler, B., Sahlab, N., & Weyrich, M. (2021) · Computers in Industry · doi:10.1016/j.compind.2021.103498 · Cited by 449 · see citing works
Machine learning and deep learning based predictive quality in manufacturing: a systematic review
Tercan, H., & Meisen, T. (2022) · Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing · doi:10.1007/s10845-022-01963-8 · Cited by 390 · see citing works
Self-citationYan, P., Abdulkadir, A., Luley, P.-P., Rosenthal, M., Schatte, G. A., Grewe, B. F., & Stadelmann, T. (2024) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2023.3349132 · Cited by 239 · see citing works
Maschler, B., & Weyrich, M. (2021) · IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine · doi:10.1109/mie.2020.3034884 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Tercan, H., Deibert, P., & Meisen, T. (2021) · Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing · doi:10.1007/s10845-021-01793-0 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Self-citationA Survey and Perspective on Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems (ICPS): From ICPS to AI-Augmented ICPS
Chae, J., Lee, S., Jang, J., Hong, S., & Park, K. (2023) · IEEE Transactions on Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems · doi:10.1109/ticps.2023.3323600 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Maschler, B., Vietz, H., Jazdi, N., & Weyrich, M. (2020) · IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA) · doi:10.1109/etfa46521.2020.9211903 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Transfer Learning as an Enabler of the Intelligent Digital Twin
Maschler, B., Braun, D., Jazdi, N., & Weyrich, M. (2020) · Procedia CIRP · doi:10.1016/j.procir.2021.05.020 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Soft Sensor Transferability: A Survey
Curreri, F., Patané, L., & Xibilia, M. G. (2021) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app11167710 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Regularization-based Continual Learning for Anomaly Detection in Discrete Manufacturing
Maschler, B., Pham, T. T. H., & Weyrich, M. (2021) · Procedia CIRP · doi:10.1016/j.procir.2021.11.076 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Virtual Quality Gates in Manufacturing Systems: Framework, Implementation and Potential
Filz, M.-A., Gellrich, S., Turetskyy, A., Wessel, J., Herrmann, C. A., & Thiede, S. (2020) · Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing · doi:10.3390/jmmp4040106 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Opportunities for machine learning to accelerate halide-perovskite commercialization and scale-up
Kumar, R. E., Tiihonen, A., Sun, S., Fenning, D. P., Liu, Z., & Buonassisi, T. (2022) · Matter · doi:10.1016/j.matt.2022.04.016 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Predicting hospital readmission risk in patients with COVID-19: A machine learning approach
Afrash, M. R., Kazemi-Arpanahi, H., Shanbehzadeh, M., Nopour, R., & Mirbagheri, E. (2022) · Informatics in Medicine Unlocked · doi:10.1016/j.imu.2022.100908 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Deep industrial transfer learning at runtime for image recognition
Maschler, B., Kamm, S., & Weyrich, M. (2021) · at - Automatisierungstechnik · doi:10.1515/auto-2020-0119 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Regularization-based Continual Learning for Fault Prediction in Lithium-Ion Batteries
Maschler, B., Tatiyosyan, S., & Weyrich, M. (2022) · Procedia CIRP · doi:10.1016/j.procir.2022.09.091 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Insights and Example Use Cases on Industrial Transfer Learning
Maschler, B., Vietz, H., Tercan, H., Bitter, C., Meisen, T., & Weyrich, M. (2022) · Procedia CIRP · doi:10.1016/j.procir.2022.05.017 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Self-citationBraig, M., & Zeiler, P. (2022) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2022.3233220 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Transfer Learning Applied to Characteristic Prediction of Injection Molded Products
Huang, Y.-M., Jong, W., & Chen, S. (2021) · Polymers · doi:10.3390/polym13223874 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Radovan, A., Mršić, L., Đambić, G., & Mihaljević, B. (2024) · Eng · doi:10.3390/eng5040172 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Gellrich, S., Filz, M.-A., Wilde, A.-S., Beganovic, T., Mattheus, A., Abraham, T., & Herrmann, C. A. (2021) · Procedia CIRP · doi:10.1016/j.procir.2021.11.153 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Knoll, J., & Heim, H. (2023) · Journal of Manufacturing Processes · doi:10.1016/j.jmapro.2023.03.076 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Towards Deep Industrial Transfer Learning for Anomaly Detection on Time Series Data
Maschler, B., Knodel, T., & Weyrich, M. (2021) · IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA) · doi:10.1109/etfa45728.2021.9613542 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Gaugel, S., & Reichert, M. (2023) · Sensors · doi:10.3390/s23073636 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Unlocking a self-driving research workflow for perovskite photovoltaics
Xie, L., Zhang, Y., Peterkes, N., Li, X., Guo, Y., & Zhou, Y. (2025) · Matter · doi:10.1016/j.matt.2025.102097 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Investigation and Empirical Analysis of Transfer Learning for Industrial IoT Networks
Yadav, P., Rishiwal, V., Yadav, M., Alotaibi, A., Maurya, V., Agarwal, U., & Sharma, S. (2024) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2024.3499741 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
A Novel Semi-Supervised Learning for Industrial Edge Computing Platforms in Quality Prediction
Nain, G., Pattanaik, K. K., & Sharma, G. K. (2024) · SN Computer Science · doi:10.1007/s42979-024-02968-1 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Maschler, B., Müller, T., Löcklin, A., & Weyrich, M. (2022) · Procedia CIRP · doi:10.1016/j.procir.2022.09.095 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Exploring the time-lagged causality of process variables from injection molding machines
Tripathi, S., Mittermayr, C., & Jodlbauer, H. (2023) · Procedia Computer Science · doi:10.1016/j.procs.2022.12.314 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Ramezankhani, M., Harandi, M. T., Seethaler, R., & Milani, A. S. (2023) · International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing · doi:10.1080/0951192x.2023.2257623 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Yan, P., Abdulkadir, A., Luley, P.-P., Rosenthal, M., Schatte, G. A., Grewe, B. F., & Stadelmann, T. (2023) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2307.05638 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
In-domain versus out-of-domain transfer learning for document layout analysis
Nardin, A. D., Zottin, S., Piciarelli, C., Foresti, G. L., & Colombi, E. (2024) · International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition (IJDAR) · doi:10.1007/s10032-024-00497-4 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Transfer Learning Framework and Use Cases for Battery Manufacturing Systems
Wang, Y., Klenner, M., Turetskyy, A., Herrmann, C. A., & Thiede, S. (2024) · Procedia CIRP · doi:10.1016/j.procir.2024.10.118 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Transfer Learning for Battery Cell Manufacturing: Review On Applications, Challenges, and Benefits
Klenner, M., Wang, Y., Lindner, M., Thiede, S., Herrmann, C. A., & Turetskyy, A. (2025) · Batteries & Supercaps · doi:10.1002/batt.202500327 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Machine learning model of acoustic signatures: Towards digitalised thermal spray manufacturing
Viswanathan, V., McCloskey, A., Mathur, R., Nguyen, D. T., Faisal, N. H., Prathuru, A. K., Llavori, I., Murphy, A., Tiwari, A., Matthews, A., et al. (2023) · Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing · doi:10.1016/j.ymssp.2023.111030 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Simulation-to-Reality based Transfer Learning for the Failure Analysis of SiC Power Transistors
Kamm, S., Bickelhaupt, S., Sharma, K., Jazdi, N., Kallfass, I., & Weyrich, M. (2022) · IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA) · doi:10.1109/etfa52439.2022.9921681 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Li, Q., Ji, Y., & Yang, T. (2025) · Measurement Science and Technology · doi:10.1088/1361-6501/ade90c · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Yan, P., Abdulkadir, A., Aguzzi, G., Schatte, G. A., Grewe, B. F., & Stadelmann, T. (2024) · IEEE Swiss Conference on Data Science (SDS) · doi:10.1109/sds60720.2024.00027 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
GAN-based Homogenous Transfer Learning Method for Regression Problems*
Wang, B., Kato, S., & Kano, M. (2023) · IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications (CCTA) · doi:10.1109/ccta54093.2023.10252827 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
A Framework to Optimize Laser Welding Process by Machine Learning in a SME Environment
Piat, J.-R., Dafflon, B., Bentaha, M. L., Gerphagnon, Y., & Moalla, N. (2023) · IFIP advances in information and communication technology · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-25182-5_42 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Regularization-based Continual Learning for Anomaly Detection in Discrete ManufacturingPreprint
Maschler, B., Pham, T. T. H., & Weyrich, M. (2021) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2101.00509 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
The Transfer Learning Models for Face Recognition: A Survey
Abbas, Z. H., & Shaker, S. H. (2022) · International Conference on Advances in Engineering Science and Technology (AEST) · doi:10.1109/aest55805.2022.10412930 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Aichroth, P., & Liebetrau, J. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-42060-4_4 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Intelligent parameter determination and quality control of an injection molding process
Nahvi, S., Schumann, M., Dix, M., & Klimant, P. (2024) · Procedia CIRP · doi:10.1016/j.procir.2024.08.297 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Utilizing Artificial Intelligence for Virtual Quality Gates in Changeable Production Systems
Wilde, A.-S., Czarski, M., Schott, A., Abraham, T., & Herrmann, C. A. (2023) · Lecture notes in production engineering · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-18318-8_49 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Towards Deep Industrial Transfer Learning: Clustering for Transfer Case Selection
Maschler, B., Knodel, T., & Weyrich, M. (2022) · IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA) · doi:10.1109/etfa52439.2022.9921601
Čiapas, B., & Treigys, P. (2024) · IET Computer Vision · doi:10.1049/cvi2.12302
Research on Industrial Small Sample Object Data Enhancement Strategy for Robot Vision
Li, X., Wan, G., Jiang, M. X., Tao, X., Wang, Q., & Qin, H. (2024) · International Conference on Robotics, Control and Automation Engineering (RCAE) · doi:10.1109/rcae62637.2024.10834198
Maschinenübergreifendes Transferlernen zur Übertragung von Formfehlerprognosen
Denkena, B., Heide, K. M., Osterkamp, L., & Silva, M. (2026) · Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb · doi:10.1515/zwf-2026-1064
Context-aware Transferability Estimation for Industrial Transfer Learning
Wang, Y., & Thiede, S. (2026) · Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing · doi:10.1007/s10845-026-02911-6
Slowing Down Forgetting in Continual Learning: Evidence from Manufacturing
Janetzky, P., Schlagenhauf, T., Klar, M., & Feuerriegel, S. (2026) · ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD) · doi:10.1145/3770855.3818481
- Authors
- Tercan, H., Guajardo, A., & Meisen, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Wuppertal (DE)
- RWTH Aachen University (DE)
- Venue
- 2019 IEEE 17th International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN)
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Published
- 2019-07
- Pages
- 274-279
- ISSN
- 1935-4576 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3003183227
- Cited by
- 50
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 2.20
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- IEEE International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN) (publishedVersion)
- RWTH Publications (RWTH Aachen) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering › Digital Transformation in Industry
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Data Stream Mining Techniques
- Keywords
- deep transfer learning, injection molding, predictive quality, continuous training, artificial neural networks, data scarcity, production process optimization, manufacturing automation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review