Agencies speak on manufacturing state, says AI will play important role in employment

Inside the Innovation Lab of NTT Data, an AI-led technology services company, innovation is top of mind.Prasoon Saxena with NTT Data says AI will play an important role in the growth of manufacturing.“What we also need to do is to cross-skill our talent, so that they can leverage the technology to perform better, but generally speaking, AI is going to help the humans to do better on their jobs in the manufacturing plants,” Prasoon Saxena said.There are an estimated 433,000 open jobs in the manufacturing industry. President Donald Trump imposed some tariffs, saying it would bring more manufacturing back to the United States.The National Association of Manufacturers(NAM) and the Manufacturing Institute shared insight during their recent State of Manufacturing Tour in North Texas. NAM’s CEO and president, Jay Timmons, was asked if the industry can handle more manufacturing in the United States.“That is a great question,” Timmons said. “So, it’s yes, comma but. So yes, we’re obviously ready for it, because manufacturing really does power an economy. But one of the challenges that we have, and one of the things we’re talking about here today, do we have 433,000 open jobs in the sector.

So, you can have all the plans you want. You can have a strategy for making things, but if you don’t have the people to do it, then you run into a problem.”That’s why both organizations are pushing manufacturing as a lucrative job option to students.“I’d say our workforce is resilient, and there’s so much opportunity ahead, but we need to make sure that we are upskilling the current workers and training the future workers so that manufacturing can seize the moment,” Manufacturing Institute president Carolyn Lee said.Part of that training includes AI. They call it a valuable tool and successful workers will be those who learn to use it.“AI will change how we operate, but it will be additive,” Timmons said. “So, the humans that are on the shop floor, or, frankly, in any type of job anywhere, the humans will be able to use AI to do their jobs more effectively and more productively, and their value as a result will be even higher.”