Did you know that 63% of workers struggle to complete repetitive tasks that take them away from more meaningful work? Further, “employees spanning manufacturing (65%), auto (63%), and energy (60%) industries are concerned that stress at work will stay the same or get worse.”
On top of this, many manufacturing workers see a gap between technology and training which is cause for concern. 36% feel that they are not equipped or adapting to digital technology or solutions, while 54% have had to adapt with no formal training or practice.
These statistics show that there is work to be done to balance the need for new technology and provide adequate training to adopt the technology. However, truth be told, this issue existed long before generative AI and Copilot burst onto the scene. Yes, the struggle to find this balance still exists, but it requires rethinking and distruption.
Rethinking Technology Interaction
When Microsoft published its Work Trend Index Report in May 2023, the main question at the top was “Will AI Fix Work?” In the report, Microsoft shared this fascinating discovery from its findings:
“The data shows that business leaders are looking to empower people with AI rather than replace them—they’re 2x more interested in using AI to increase productivity than to cut headcount. In fact, reducing headcount was last on the list of what leaders would value from AI. After ‘increasing productivity,’ leaders’ top hopes for AI are to: help employees with necessary but repetitive tasks, increase employee wellbeing, eliminate employee time spent on low-value activities, enhance employees’ capabilities, and accelerate employees’ pace of work.”
What does this really tell us? The intention of AI for many leaders is that it is a productivity assistant to people and not a bot taking over someone’s job.
Further, as indicated in the report, “every employee needs AI aptitude.” This means that new skills are required for a new way of working and that “‘analytical judgment,’ ‘flexibility,’ and ‘emotional intelligence’ top the list of skills leaders believe will be essential for employees in an AI-powered future.”
All of this points to the need for adaptability and rethinking how interaction is not only with technology, but with other people. Communication is the central element — communication through technology like AI by creating the best prompts or asking the right questions, and communication with co-workers by also asking the right questions and providing an environment that fosters openness.
Once good communication is in place, then technology adoption is much easier and the willingness to learn new technology skills.
Disrupting Manufacturing with AI
Risk. That word brings a different connotation to mind depending on who you talk to. For manufacturing companies and leaders, risk is a constant factor. According to Microsoft’s report “Six Trends That Are Shaping Supply Chain Transformation for Manufacturers”, “68 percent of supply chain executives report that they have been constantly responding to high-impact disruptions over the last three years, and most did not have time to recover before the next disruptive event hit them.”
Further, about “2.7 billion skilled individuals keep manufacturing operations going [while] their attrition and retirement rates are on the rise.” This means that tremendous pressure is on workers and leaders in the manufacturing industry to balance technology with the right people and equipping them with the skills necessary to do their job.
To help address these challenges, Microsoft introduced Dynamics 365 Guides and enhanced Dynamics 365 for manufacturers by combining both with the power of Microsoft Copilot.
- The results in Dynamics 365 are:
- Modernized service operations with AI to close work orders faster.
- Delivering end-to-end personalization to customers and improving efficiency.
- Increasing visibility into your product genealogy across steps in the supply chain.
- The results in Dynamics 365 Guides are:
- Transforming the real world into a prompt and an anchor for AI.
- Keeping human agency at the center of the product.
- Radically transforming how computing technology can help frontline workers take action in the real world.
In addition, Microsoft introduced a “private preview of manufacturing data solutions in Microsoft Fabric and copilot template for factory operations on Azure AI, under the Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing.”
In essence, “Copilot template for factory operations helps manufacturers to create their own copilots for front-line workers utilizing the unified data. Front-line employees can use natural language to query the data for knowledge discovery, training, issue resolution, asset maintenance and more. For example, if a factory plant manager wants to understand why a machine is breaking, they can query the copilot to get insights and resolve the issue in just days, instead of weeks.”
Not stopping there, Microsoft added new Copilot capabilities in Dynamics 365 Field Service:
- Find pertinent information about work orders using natural language in the Dynamics 365 Field Service web app.
- Copilot can assist in retrieving work order details, summarizing them, and presenting them in an easily digestible format.
- Copilot can also go beyond searching work orders to searching other Microsoft Dataverse records, including accounts, contacts, opportunities, and more.
- In addition, organizations can now configure the data that Copilot uses to generate work order summaries in Dynamics 365 Field Service to meet their specific business needs.
“The introduction of Copilot in Dynamics 365 Field Service, with its powerful summarization capabilities, is a game-changer. Not only does it benefit our leaders, but it also streamlines internal communications, aids finance, and helps customers stay up to date. By automating this process, we reduce manual work and ensure critical information isn’t overlooked.”
– Amit Nene, Business Applications Director, BW Packaging Platform, Barry Wehmiller
Closing Thoughts
Real change is happening for manufacturers because of AI technology like Microsoft Copilot. However, some are still trying to understand how AI plays a pivotal role in the flow of work (rethinking it) and the impact that it’s having in the industry (disrupting it).
The challenge is ensuring that leaders in manufacturing don’t overlook the AI opportunities such as empowering workers with information, increasing communication skills, tapping into insights, and delivering better outcomes for customers.
In closing, here are a couple of questions to consider:
- How would you characterize your interactions with AI technology like Copilot?
- Does your manufacturing company have an AI initiative in place?
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