85% of Manufacturers Double Down on AI

Ed and Alvaro dive into the latest State of Production Survey published by Industry Week, and the results are eye-opening. With survey data collected from 500 manufacturing executives, this report reveals some wild contradictions: everyone's freaking out about tariffs and recession fears, but they're also doubling down on AI investments like there's no tomorrow. Plus, Europe is apparently schooling us Americans when it comes to AI adoption. Ouch.

And of course…half a million manufacturing jobs go unfilled every year. (You’ve heard them say it before!) That’s a 3-4 million job gap in the next five years. But here's the twist – AI might actually be the solution, not the problem. Ed breaks down the "AI confidence gap" (spoiler: everyone's investing but struggling to prove ROI), Alvaro explains why sustainability is suddenly the hot new goal, and they both geek out over why machine + process data together is the real "killer app."

Key Topics:

• AI adoption jumping from 71% to 82% in just one year

• Why 96% are worried about recession but confident in manufacturing's future

• Europe vs US: who's winning the AI race?

• The golden wrench award story you didn't know you needed

• Why Ed thinks this is nothing short of an industrial revolution

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Mentioned in this episode:
State of Production Health 2025

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