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AI is gaining fresh momentum nationwide, spearheaded by the Administration. On January 23, 2025, the President issued an AI Action Plan pursuant to Executive Order 14179, "Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence." It called for the removal of regulatory barriers that impede AI innovation and directed the development of a plan to achieve the policy goal of sustaining and enhancing "America’s global AI dominance" to promote "human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security."

Last August, the U.S. Departments of Labor, Commerce, and Education issued a 27-page "America’s Talent Strategy" that reinforces the Administration’s commitment to "dominate the AI frontier," as "AI is transforming work faster than the workforce system can adapt and workers will require new skills to share in the prosperity that AI will create."

Manufacturing is one of the leading sectors in the economy to adopt AI at an accelerating rate. According to a 2024 Innova survey of 125 C-Suite manufacturing leaders, AI use within the manufacturing sector is experiencing a rapid surge—from 59% adoption in 2024 to nearly total adoption projected within two years. According to a Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC) 2025 Survey, 68% of manufacturers state that AI will be "foundational to future competitiveness."

"Industrial AI" is focused on harnessing real-time data to feed learning processes that can predict, automate, and interpret actions from large and complex data sets. (Rockwell Automation, 2025 10^th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing Report.)

Within leading manufacturing companies, 81 percent of C-Suite Executives engage with AI, 79^% of Senior Plant Leadership, 71% of Departmental/Functional Leaders, while only 49% of Factory Floor Supervisors/Team Leaders engage with AI—an "alarmingly low" number according to the MLC Survey team.

A May 2025 study by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), AI in Manufacturing, found that manufacturers "are responsibly developing and deploying AI to innovate and drive economic competitiveness."They use AI primarily for the following:

• Efficiency: Manufacturers harness AI to streamline processes
• Safety: AI technologies are deployed to proactively identify and mitigate potential safety hazards, ensuring a secure working environment for employees
• Product development and design: AI plays a pivotal role in accelerating product development cycles, enabling innovative design iterations and enhanced product customization.
• Training: AI-driven training modules and simulations empower manufacturers to upskill their workforce and enhance employee performance efficiently
• Supply Chain: AI integration in supply chain management enhances visibility, efficiency and responsiveness across the entire supply chain ecosystem.

Seventy-two percent of the NAM-surveyed manufacturers report reduced costs and improved operational efficiency after deploying AI technology, while 51% report improved operational visibility and responsiveness after deploying AI technology. Forty-one percent report improved process optimization and control after deploying AI technology.

In making decisions about where to locate new factories, the availability of a skilled workforce is a key consideration (Site Selection Group, March 14, 2024). As noted above, "America’s Talent Strategy" reports that "AI is transforming work faster than the workforce system can adapt and workers will require new skills to share in the prosperity that AI will create."

One of the most important resources available to manufacturers for helping workers to acquire these "new skills" are high-quality certifications. Long the nation’s "Gold Standard" for certifying manufacturing front-line technicians in industry-wide core technical competencies, the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC), first added AI to its list of rapidly-emerging "Industry 4.0" technologies, led by AI, in 2021, but also including 5G, 3D, Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), Autonomous Robots, Augmented Reality, Nanotechnology, Data Analytics and Advanced Materials.

Rather than preparing individuals to be specialists in any of these technologies, the goal was to provide a basic understanding of technologies relevant to their work on the factory floor, including AI.

Given the rapid acceleration in the use of AI within the nation’s factories, MSSC formed an AI Study Group of leading experts to expand the list of AI skills and knowledge needed by front-line manufacturing production technicians for potential certification. Study Group Members:

• Leo Reddy, AI Study Group Chair
• Tyler Kennedy, MSSC
• Paul Aiello, FANUC America Corporation
• Kate Kreamer, Advance CTE
• Bill Bonvillian, MIT
• John McFetridge, Software Consultant
• Samuel Bottom, Snap-on Inc.
• Craig McAtee, NCATC
• Jan Bray, Bray Strategies
• Harry Moser, Reshoring Initiative
• Paul Perkins, Amatrol Inc.
• Phil Jones, Target
• Jon Gustafson, Lockheed Martin Corp.
• Rich Ramey, A3
• Kendall Hawkins, Rockwell
• Neil Reddy, MSSC
• Todd Round, IBM Consulting (ret.)

That Group has identified 18 functions with manufacturing as top priority skill areas for AI:

• Quality Control & Error Reduction
• Real-time Adaptability
• Worker Safety
• Data Literacy
• Robotics & Automation
• Predictive and/or Preventive Maintenance
• Mass Customization
• Programming & Coding Awareness
• Scheduling Human-machine Collaboration
• Delivery Deadlines & Order Prioritization
• Cybersecurity Awareness
• Material Availability & JIT Inventory Control
• Continuous Learning
• Machine Utilization & Maintenance Sched.
• Communication Skills
• Minimization of Changeover & Setup Costs
• Ethical AI

One of the members of the AI Study Group is Paul Perkins, President of Amatrol Inc., lead provider of online courseware to MSSC. Amatrol is a global leader in career and technical education (CTE) training solutions and in the production of manufacturing training equipment that enables prospective certificants to demonstrate competencies hands-on. Paul is in the process of identifying specific AI skills and knowledge items under the 18 AI focus areas that might be added to MSSC’s signature Certified Production Technician (CPT) program.

The U.S. faces significant global competition in the use of AI in manufacturing. According to the Rockwell Report on the AI Global Manufacturing Outlook, global trends mirror those in the U.S., with 95% of leading manufacturers worldwide having invested in, or planning to invest in, AI within the next five years. AI/Machine Learning technologies rank #1 among technologies used to address the labor shortage, and 55% plan to use AI/ML for quality control within the next 12 months.

East Asia is rivaling the U.S. in AI manufacturing global leadership. Taiwan’s TSMC, China and South Korea are rapidly deploying AI across their manufacturing sectors—setting a new global benchmark and challenging reshoring efforts in the U.S. China operates over 30,000 smart factories.

Leading firms like Xiaomi and BYD outperform Western rivals through fully automated production lines. (Source: The Diplomat, "The Rise of AI Manufacturing in China and South Korea," May 2025.)

These developments heighten the urgency of preparing the U.S. workforce with enhanced AI skill sets throughout the U.S. industrial base. The May 2025 NAM report provides welcome assurances that America’s manufacturing sector is responding responsibly.

At the factory floor technician certification level, the MSSC has concluded that it is time to expand the AI content significantly within its CPT certification program. These certification offerings will motivate and equip factory floor production technicians to enhance their use of AI.