Michelle: The survey had a lot of great stuff in it. Can you tell us a few of the highlights you thought of this year?

Vick: I guess if we think about in terms of what were the key takeaways, the top five, if you will, I would say the first one essentially is just an acute and persistent labor shortage. People are saying product recalls seems to be just continues to be high, I guess, despite as much oversight or vigilance people have done. AI investment is rising.

So, I guess it's the decade of the AI is true across all kinds of verticals and manufacturing is no different. We're also seeing a rapid rise in quality related initiatives in the market from our prospects and customers. And then finally, I would say safety incidents while they continue to impact quality, but their overall numbers are decreasing. So those are the five things that we have seen.

Michelle: The AI number was great. 99% of people wanted to do it. Do you think the 1 % who said no will eventually get there or do you think it is just they're worried about it?

Vick: I'll give you an analogy. What percentage of people around the world or even in the continental North America still use landlines?

I would say it's dwindling. So sooner or later, it's going to come back and you're going to become mainstream. So that 1 % is one of those people who will probably be using AI. They just won't call it AI or they just won't know they're using AI. It's a very small percentage. AI is here to stay. It's not going anywhere. If anything, ranging from the investments that are going on, but also in terms of the rapid rise that we have seen.

As you said, we're up from 47% in 2024, and the respondents have essentially gone up in terms of people who are adopting it. It's only gonna go better. So even if the minority are 1%, some of them may never admit it, but others will probably use it without realizing they are AI powered now.

Michelle: That makes sense. The landline analogy is a good one. Kind of hard to say goodbye, but eventually I think most people do. You have to. So, in light of the survey results, is there anything you think quality professionals should be aware of with today's manufacturing environment?

Vick: Well, let's look at where the geopolitical and geoeconomic situations are. What's the most, I guess, Googled or AI checked word these days? It's tariffs.