Upskilling the industrial workforce for the age of AI
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What is the overall vision for AI‑driven digital transformation in industrial workplaces?
Welcome to Industry Optimize, the AVV podcast. I'm Fran Scott, presenter, pyrotechnician, and engineer at heart, and I am your host. Now, today we are looking to the future. We'll be exploring how digital innovation and AI might transform the industrial workplace and what that means for workplace skills and experience. Now, with around 78% of Organizations around the world now adopting artificial intelligence, which is actually up from 55% in 2023, AI is rapidly becoming central to our working lives. And the world of industry, of course, is no exception to this. And initiatives such as EU's Apply AI strategy are focused on accelerating AI deployment for sectors. including manufacturing and energy. Yet, with highly specialized skills and often challenging workplace environments, the world of industry does present unique challenges for this deployment of the AI.
And so, how can employers upskill their workforce to increase productivity and confidence? And how do we make sure the next generation of engineers, scientists, and bright minds working on technology and innovation? are ready to meet these challenges of tomorrow. Later on we will be hearing from this next generation themselves, and here is a little sneak peek.
I'm quite sure AI will become part of our functionality. I think in the future it's only going to be more useful in terms of how it's going to be integrated in our everyday workflow and helping us to maximize our effort and our expertise.
So, how can industry balance the expectations of the engineers of the future with the needs of today's workforce? And what's holding back adoption of digital and AI technologies? And how can these barriers be overcome? With me here to discuss all of these questions is David Lincoln, who is the digital lead for measurement and analytics at AB. David, thank you so much for joining me and in the studio.
Yeah, thanks a lot, Fran. Really, really pleased to be here today and really excited about this conversation.
Let's start by sort of setting the context. bigger shift is this transition to digital and AI compared to how industry has typically operated. You know, what are the most significant innovations that you're seeing in your work and how do you help customers achieve more?
I think there is a significant shift. I mean, it's been 15 years since Industry 4.0 was first announced at Hanover Messer. And really, what Industry 4.0 described is really a a a revolutionary concept at the time that basically we take this operational technology environment, which has basically operated as an island, it's never been connected before, and we connect it. It's too much. the IT network. And essentially what you're able to do then is you're able to take data from the operational technology environment and you're able to then figure out what's valuable from within it. You're able to, you know glean insights into how things are performing and you're able to enhance productivity and and also you're able to work remotely from where the plant is.
So it was a revolutionary concept.
This merging of O T and IT together.
I i exactly. And and in the middle you have this IoT layer where the Internet of Things. So you're you're connecting these two environments and then you're building applications that add value. So I think it's a significant shift because if you look at how things were done up to that point, people were working in uh yeah, in a silo. So basically everything that happened in the plant. all of the information was held in that plant and essentially there wasn't this ability like there is now to be able to utilize that data and figure out better ways of working. And utilize new software tools and condition monitoring systems and so on and predictive analytics to improve how things are working. So it's a shift from a technology perspective, but it's also a shift in how people are working.
And essentially the technology that I see as most important now is the generative AI. I mean, certainly over the past few years. Is this a technology that's come through and it's really changing how we interact with uh machines and with data and it's providing that insight and natural language approach to how we um you know view and and and query different structured data sets.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the overall vision for AI‑driven digital transformation in industrial workplaces?
0:07–6:33
2
How are current skill gaps and safety challenges hindering AI adoption on the plant floor?
6:33–8:52
3
What do engineering students at Imperial College expect from AI and digital tools in their future careers?
8:52–14:13
4
How does ABB’s Measurement & Analytics division describe the shift from isolated OT to integrated digital ecosystems?
14:13–36:10