What
Manufacturing Dive interviewed plant and industry leaders about the AI boom. Most U.S. manufacturers have tried AI in some form, but many are still running pilots. One AI vendor co-founder estimated that nearly 90% of AI projects don’t survive their first year, mostly because AI isn’t built into how the plant actually runs. Some companies are now shifting spend from models and platforms toward people, data cleanup, documentation and clear ownership. One manufacturer runs pilots alongside permanent cross-functional teams.
So What
That 90% is one executive’s estimate, not a measured rate, but it matches the pattern in other research: pilots fail at integration, not at intelligence. A model nobody owns, running on data nobody documented, in a process nobody redesigned, will stall no matter how good it is.
Now What
Before the next AI purchase, ask who owns it, what data it depends on and where that data is documented. Then tie it to a number the plant already tracks: downtime, yield, scrap or maintenance cost. If you can’t name the owner and the metric, you’re buying a demo.
Source: Manufacturing Dive, Oct 15, 2026
#ArtificialIntelligence #ManufacturingIndustry #OperationalExcellence #AIStrategy #Leadership
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