Hardly a day goes by without hearing about a new AI capability. But it was the arrival of Generative AI (Gen AI), found in tools such as ChatGPT, when the actual potential benefits of AI started to go mainstream, bringing benefits for businesses and technology companies alike. While some pundits had Gen AI touching every facet of working practices, we now see some clearly defined and valuable use cases coming to the fore where Gen AI can be seen as a significant productivity tool, and nowhere more than for workers on the shop floor.
The new AI-connected worker is overcoming problems caused by skilled worker shortages and making manufacturing work appealing for Gen Z.
The value of AI in retaining an empowered workforce
Faced with a shortage of skilled workers, attracting Gen Z employees to the shop floor, traditionally regarded as dull, dirty, or dangerous (the three Ds of manufacturing), has proven to be an ongoing challenge. Then came Gen AI, with new technologies like AV and VR that have transformed the conventional shop floor into a productive – and cool – environment work.
Manufacturers need to work to the highest standards. That means training, and reskilling frontline workers with different levels of knowledge, competence, and language issues—all while keeping practices health and safety compliant for the new tech-enabled manufacturing era. Enter Gen AI and the new generation of connected worker platforms, where content creation and delivery are in their DNA.
Bringing new technologies, such as connected worker platforms and Gen AI, to the shop floor transforms the dark and dirty shop floor into a more engaging workplace. However, as more manufacturers aim to recruit Gen Z workers, ensuring all instructions are available on digital platforms is essential. Younger workers are tuned in to search for answers and instructions digitally, so making content available digitally is critical to retain these workers and empower them to take ownership of their role, which is a growing necessity for the younger workforce.
AI is empowering workers to work smarter, not harder
Frontline workers need content that can be easily and quickly understood and assimilated. That means it needs to be in multiple formats, such as text-based instructions—but creating all this content takes a lot of time and capital. And it’s not all about new content. Factories will already have thousands of existing content files, such as standard operating procedures and work instructions, but converting each one into an easily accessible location is also costly and time-intensive.
The full value of connected worker solutions can take time to materialize due to the time and effort required to import and build the required digital work instructions into the platform. This is where Gen AI steps in.
Streamlining the creation or conversion of each type of content using AI-powered content transformation will drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to provide digital or written instructions in one secure location. The ability to convert documents in a matter of minutes, into easy to comprehend Digital Work Instructions from lengthy, written standard operating procedures, will reduce deployment times, allowing for faster time to value.
Video is one of the most consumed forms of content, especially for Gen Z. When it comes to creating digital work instructions, companies shouldn’t overlook the power of video to improve user engagement. But creating video-based instructions for shop floor workers is a challenge particularly for factories that lack sufficient financial and human resources.
But AI-powered video instructions changes all that. It can pull out relevant information and sequence it into structured written steps. Images can also be helpful to provide visual context at each step.
Workers can access a step-by-side visual guide on how to carry out a task. This helps to improve troubleshooting as operators can access a broader library of content. Younger workers can also benefit from the knowledge of senior operators in a way that engages them and meets their new workplace expectations.
Immigrant workers account for 2.92M manufacturing workers in the U.S., and the majority of these workers will not speak English as their first language. Despite this, most global manufacturers struggle to ensure that critical operational content is available in their diverse workforce's languages. AI-powered transcription can break down global language barriers and encourage worker inclusion—by translating all types of content into the required language.
This is an intelligent capability that automatically translates the audio from videos into relevant subtitles in the preferred language of the user. Not only does this reduce the effort to create and maintain content, but it also improves the comprehension and retention of information leading to better safety, quality, and productivity on the shop floor.
Concise communication and comprehension is key to helping improve worker and team productivity. When you’re working in a fast-paced and loud manufacturing environment, errors are naturally going to happen. But what if workers had a tool that could intelligently interpret the user's input, and beautify it by automatically improving its grammar, vocabulary, and punctuation to ensure optimal readability.
AI can empower workers to work smarter, not harder, by providing them with intelligent search capabilities that not only grasp their inquiry's intent but also adapt to human nuances like typos or vague terms. This ensures quick and accurate responses to inquiries like how to troubleshoot a broken mixing machine with a jammed mechanism. AI makes sure they are presented with the right information at the right time.
The future of manufacturing lies in the further integration of AI capabilities within primary systems such as connected worker platforms. As the technology continues to evolve, its potential to transform the manufacturing industry becomes even more evident.