By Audra Kir

Manufacturing has always been built on a foundation of tribal knowledge. You know the people on our floor who can tell a machine is running hot just by the sound it makes or the way the floor vibrates. For decades, that intuition was our secret weapon. But as our most seasoned experts reach retirement and new talent enters a much faster industry, that bridge is starting to buckle.

We are seeing this play out across the industry. Recent data shows that by 2030, the manufacturing sector could face a shortfall of up to 2.1 million unfulfilled jobs. This is largely driven by the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation. As of late 2025, there were already over 400,000 unfilled positions in U.S. manufacturing alone. The experience gap is not just a future risk. It is a current operational reality.

In my role leading manufacturing IT and AI, I see a way to capture that gut feeling and turn it into a tool every new hire can use. We cannot expect a person to have thirty years of experience on their first day. But we can give them the data driven shortcuts to make decisions like a veteran from the moment they clock in.

Human AI: Decoding the Gut Feeling

We often talk about intuition as something mystical, but it is just high-level mental pattern recognition. It is Human AI. When a veteran operator looks at a gauge and knows something is wrong, their brain is processing thousands of historical data points they have gathered over decades.

The challenge is that Human AI is often siloed. Much like the medical field, we have specialized doctors for different parts of the plant. A maintenance technician might only see the health of the machine, while an operator only sees the performance of the line. They are each looking at a different organ, but no one is looking at the whole body.

Connecting the Systems for a Full Picture

To move forward, we must break these silos. When maintenance data and operational data feed into each other, we finally see the full picture. A great AI tool can see all the patterns at once. It understands that a slight vibration in a bearing, which the maintenance team tracks, is the direct cause of a micro stutter in production speed that the operator is fighting.

By connecting these systems, we ensure that as maintenance improves, performance follows. Digital Twin projects are a fantastic way to bring these invisible digital ideas onto a screen. It shows the team exactly what is happening inside the machines in a way that is easy to digest. This turns abstract data into a shared visual reality.

Lifting the Floor Without Overwhelming the Person

The goal of AI is to lift the floor of performance. It enhances pattern recognition so new operators become better much faster. However, we have to be careful not to overwhelm them. One of the most powerful things about AI is its ability to filter information. We can show different people different insights from the same set of data based on what they need to see. This prevents information overload and keeps the team focused on what matters most for their specific role.

The operators are where the physical and the digital meet. Because of this, we must ensure they remain central to the process.

The Human in the Loop: Black Swans and the Law

While AI is excellent at recognizing known patterns, human intuition is still superior at capturing Black Swan events. These are the rare, unpredictable outliers that have never happened before. AI is unlikely to know how to handle a freak occurrence the first time it sees it, but it learns from how the human operator responds. Over time, the AI absorbs that human reaction and adds it to the collective digital memory of the plant.

This Human in the Loop approach is not just good practice. It is becoming a legal necessity. We are seeing a shift in how global powers approach AI and labor. The EU AI Act begins full enforcement for high risk systems in 2026. It mandates effective human oversight to ensure technology adheres to fundamental rights. Similarly, the U.S. Department of Labor has established principles centering on worker empowerment. These emphasize that AI should assist and complement workers rather than replace them.

At Hexion, we believe protecting our operators is vital. Keeping humans in the decision-making loop ensures we maintain the safety, ethics, and flexibility that only a person can provide.

Security and Strategy

My focus remains on keeping our operational data protected while making it useful. Security is the foundation that allows us to build these digital guardrails. When we keep our data connected and secure, we are building a vault of knowledge that belongs to the plant.

By bridging the experience gap with these tools, we are making manufacturing more resilient. We are not replacing the human element. We are giving every person on the floor the power to see the patterns that once took a lifetime to learn.

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