WEBINAR : Preparing Manufacturing for the AI Revolution
Release Date: 12/17/2025
Advanced Manufacturing Now
America’s manufacturing sector continues to face a critical skilled labor shortage—but one highly capable talent pool often goes overlooked: military veterans. In this episode of Advanced Manufacturing Now, host Rachel Thomas, editor at SME Media, is joined by Michael McConnell, senior editor at SME Media, to discuss his upcoming February feature in Manufacturing Engineering & Technology magazine.
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Solving the Unstructured Data Challenge: Preparing Manufacturing for the AI Revolution Industry 4.0 has illuminated the transformative impact of real-time shop floor data. However, vast repositories of historical engineering and supply chain data, traditionally confined to back-office systems, continue to be underutilized. To fully leverage the capabilities of AI, integration of these disparate data sources is imperative. This includes critical information residing in various forms, such as sensor readings, machine logs, customer feedback, and especially legacy 2D drawings, handwritten...
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info_outlineSolving the Unstructured Data Challenge: Preparing Manufacturing for the AI Revolution
Industry 4.0 has illuminated the transformative impact of real-time shop floor data. However, vast repositories of historical engineering and supply chain data, traditionally confined to back-office systems, continue to be underutilized. To fully leverage the capabilities of AI, integration of these disparate data sources is imperative. This includes critical information residing in various forms, such as sensor readings, machine logs, customer feedback, and especially legacy 2D drawings, handwritten notes, and "tribal knowledge" trapped within the minds of experienced professionals. Traditional data processing methods often struggle to make sense of this hidden treasure, leading to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and a hindrance to true digital transformation.
American manufacturers are facing immense pressure, from intensifying global competition and economic uncertainty to skilled labor shortages and the impending retirement of senior engineers who hold decades of undocumented institutional knowledge. To thrive, manufacturers must unlock the full potential of their data and embrace the AI revolution.
This webinar will delve into how manufacturing companies can overcome these pervasive unstructured data challenges and strategically prepare for an AI-driven future. Join us to discover how to transform fragmented data into actionable insights, enhance cross-functional collaboration, and drive unprecedented efficiency and innovation.
What You'll Learn:
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The Criticality of Unstructured Data: Understand why traditional data processing methods fail to extract valuable insights from diverse unstructured sources, from drawings to machine logs.
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AI as a Game-Changer: Explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI), including machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), is emerging as a key enabler for structuring and utilizing unstructured data, augmenting human capabilities, and driving manufacturing evolution.
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Building a Data Foundation for AI: Discover how to digitize your entire archive of drawings, including old hand-drafted and scanned documents, and link them with crucial supply chain, quality, and procurement data to create a comprehensive "data lake".
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Democratizing Knowledge with AI-Powered Insights: Learn how advanced search capabilities, including patented similarity search (based on part shape) and keyword search, can empower all employees, from new hires to seasoned veterans, to instantly find relevant designs, pricing history, and supplier information, reducing reliance on individual memory or tedious manual searching.
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Achieving Tangible Business Outcomes: See how solving the unstructured data challenge directly leads to reduced costs, optimized supplier relationships, faster RFQ responses, improved design quality, accelerated time-to-market, and enhanced decision-making across procurement, engineering, and sales.
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Navigating the Future of Manufacturing: Gain insights into how embracing AI and a data-driven culture can position your organization at the forefront of the industrial revolution, fostering continuous improvement and sustainable growth.
This webinar will provide practical strategies and real-world examples, demonstrating how transforming your data assets can create new value and drive long-term success.
Meet Your Presenters:
- Chris Cope, VP of Engineering at CADDi: As VP of Engineering at CADDi, Chris will highlight strategies for leveraging AI to transform unstructured data and illuminate pathways for enhanced collaboration across engineering, procurement, and manufacturing teams.
- Aaron Lober, VP of Marketing at CADDi: Bringing deep expertise in the transformative power of manufacturing intelligence platforms, Aaron will highlight how cutting-edge technology directly addresses industry pain points and unlocks competitive advantages.
- Philip Carpenito, Former Chief Procurement Officer at L3Harris: As a leader in procurement for a major industrial organization, Philip will share invaluable insights into the strategic challenges and opportunities within complex supply chains, emphasizing the critical role of data-driven decision-making in optimizing procurement processes and supplier relationships.
Don't miss this opportunity to revolutionize your approach to data and prepare your manufacturing operations for the AI revolution.
Speakers: Chris Cope: VP of Engineering, CADDi | Aaron Lober: Vice President of Marketing, CADDi | Philip Carpenito: Former Chief Procurement Officer, L3Harris
Sponsored by: CADDi
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