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The Rise of AI Agents: Powering the Next Industrial Era
This session explores the transformative impact of AI agents on the manufacturing industry, highlighting how agentic AI is powering the next industrial era by augmenting human capacity, driving innovation, and addressing critical workforce and operational challenges. Drawing on insights from global surveys, industry reports, and real-world customer stories, the presentation demonstrates how organizations are leveraging autonomous AI agents to optimize workflows, enhance productivity, and unlock new business value. Attendees will gain an understanding of the journey toward becoming a “Frontier Firm,” where human–AI collaboration reshapes business processes, accelerates R&D, and enables scalable, agile operations, while also learning about the strategic considerations and skills required to successfully adopt and manage AI agents in the evolving landscape of industrial transformation.
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The Rise of AI Agents: Powering the Next Industrial Era
- 1. The Rise ofAI Agents: Powering the Next Industrial Era Maxim Salnikov Solution Engineering | AI-Native Development at Microsoft
- 2. I’m Maxim Salnikov •Building on web platform since 90s • Delivering AI & cloud technical and business enablement sessions for the customers and partners at scale • Speaking, training, organizing: Webdev, Cloud, Generative AI, Prompt Engineering Helping Microsoft customers to succeed with the Dev Tools, Cloud & AI
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- 5. The opportunity for agentic AIis growing… By 2028, at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI, up from 0% in 2024.* * Gartner® 2025 Top Strategic Technology Trends E-Book, Gene Alvarez and Tom Coshow, 2024, emt.gartnerweb.com/ngw/globalassets/en/information-technology/documents/trends/2025-top-tech- trends-ebook.pdf. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, 2nc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
- 6. A new waveof the challenges in manufacturing Workforce shortages and skilling gaps 1.9m jobs could go unfilled by 2033, in the US alone, if talent training, upskilling, and technology concerns are not addressed1 Infrastructure and connectivity hurdles ~$77b /yr lost due to disconnected IT/OT systems and poor data integration2, decreasing productivity by 20-30%3 Supply chain and lead time instabilities 90% of supply chains experienced at least one major disruption in 2024, due to geopolitical, cyber, or climate events4 Material costs and margin pressures 71% cite rising raw material and energy costs as a threat, slowing modernization and automation projects as a result5 Sustainability and net zero mandates €800b+/yr is needed for the EU to reach net zero6, with 70% of manufacturers globally saying targets are “unachievable” without government support7 Sources: 1) Deloitte: 2025 Manufacturing Industry Outlook, 2024; 2) IDC: Bridging the IT/OT Gap in Industrials and Manufacturing to Drive Digital Transformation, 2022; 3) IBM: Business insights from the IBM Institute for Business Value, 2024; 4) McKinsey, Supply Chains: Still vulnerable; 5) KPMG: The supply chain trends shaking up 2023, 2023; 6) McKinsey: Net-Zero Europe; and 7) Capgemini, Fit for Net-Zero
- 7. Most manufacturing leaderssee agents as the way to scale Today 12 months 18 months 87% of leaders are confident they’ll use AI agents to expand workforce capacity Data cut: “Manufacturing professionals” / Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index Survey 2025
- 8. Work Trend Index 2025 Wesurveyed 31,000 people across 31 countries, analyzed labor and hiring trends from LinkedIn, studied Microsoft 365 productivity patterns globally—and interviewed AI startups, economists, and academics shaping the future of work.
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- 10. Source: Microsoft WorkTrend Index Survey 2025 75% 75% 77% 79% 79% 80% 82% 83% 86% 87% Education Government Travel & Tourism Automotive Healthcare Transportation Financial Services Retail CPG Manufacturing Share of leaders confident they'll use agents to expand workforce capacity in the next 12–18 months Confidence in Using Agents as Digital Team Members Manufacturing
- 11. Journey to theFrontier Firm Phase 1 Human with assistant Every employee has an AI assistant that helps them work better and faster Phase 2 Human-led agents Agents join teams as “digital colleagues,” taking on specific tasks at human direction Phase 3 Human-led, agent-operated Humans set direction and agents run entire business processes and workflows, checking in as needed
- 12. A new metric:The human-agent ratio Optimal balance
- 13. Al skilling andagents are top workforce strategies in manufacturing Data cut: “Manufacturing professionals” / Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index Survey 2025 Over the next 12-18 months, manufacturing leaders are focused on: 47% Maintaining headcount but using AI as digital labor 48% Prioritizing AI- specific skilling of existing workforce 43% Investing in maintaining employee morale 50% 25% 0%
- 14. AI strategists in marketing,finance, and customer support ROI analysts Agent and data specialists AI trainers of manufacturing leaders are considering hiring for AI-specific roles 84%
- 15. In-demand skills forthe new era of work Top skills for 2025 according to LinkedIn Human strengths AI capabilities 1. AI literacy 2. Conflict mitigation 3. Adaptability 4. Process optimization 5. Innovative thinking Source: LinkedIn Work Change Report 2025.
- 16. Becoming Frontier inmanufacturing Enrich employee experiences By equipping the workforce from the shop floor to the top floor with AI agents Reinvent customer engagement With AI agents supporting sales and marketing operations and field service teams Reshape business processes By solving persistent factory and supply chain challenges with AI Bend the curve on innovation Through AI-accelerated R&D, engineering, and product design
- 17. Leverage AI agentsto enable workers and transform operations across all areas of the manufacturing industry value chain Optimize design and engineering workflows with enhanced discovery Enable informed development and production by making R&D, asset, and process information discoverable Accelerate product development through generative design Improve efficiency with real-time iterative product designs and computer-aided design (CAD) models in real-time Streamline application lifecycle management with coding assistance Enhance software development with AI-assisted PLC programming and coding for connected products Transform factory operations with real-time data visibility Unify facility and factory data to enable production visibility, conduct root cause analysis, & improve worker collaboration Improve frontline worker productivity and safety with real-time insights Empower manufacturing frontline and service workers with AI solutions that provide relevant information to the task(s) at hand
- 18. Siemens leverages aquality feedback agent to close feedback gaps between field and factory workers Read full story here DOW accelerates the development and formulation processes with a product discovery agent. Read full story here Schneider streamlines equipment software development with a PLC code generation agent Read full story here Read full story here IPG manages and optimizes production with data contextualization and factory operations agents Read full story here PTC’s Codebeamer enables efficient engineering by providing powerful development requirements agent Read full story here
- 19. HARTING & Siemenspartnered to enable generative engineering with a prototyping acceleration agent A joint showcase between Microsoft, Siemens and HARTING Microsoft Azure OpenAI Parse text into structured requirements HARTING Identification of existing solutions and generation of new connectors Siemens NX Creation of engineering data Accelerated innovation
- 21. AI is already transforming Manufacturing 75%Manufacturers have begun experimenting with or deploying AI use cases into production1 83% Manufacturers are confident that AI solutions and agents will help expand capacity2 $60B Estimated to be unlocked in productivity in product research and design workflows3 1. MIT Technology Review: Taking AI to the next level in manufacturing, April 2024 2. Microsoft, Frontier Firm – Manufacturing, July 2024 3. McKinsey: Generative AI fuels creative physical product design but is not magic wand, March 2024
- 22. …but it canbe challenging to show ROI Work Trends Index 59% 60% worry about quantifying the benefits of AI leaders worry their organization’s leadership lacks a plan and vision to scale and operationalize AI
- 23. The five driversof AI value Organization & Culture Business Strategy Applied AI Experience AI Governance Technology Strategy aka.ms/AIStrategyRoadmap
- 24. Organization & Culture • Doyou have a defined operating model to industrialize the adoption and use of AI? • Do you have top-down support? Business Strategy • What business outcomes are you driving? • How can AI help you achieve those outcomes? Applied AI Experience • Do your people have diverse experiences and skills with AI? • Is your organization collaborating to build experience? AI Governance • Are you implementing processes and controls that are transparent? • Are you governing data privacy and security? Technology Strategy • Do you have access to quality data? • Is your infrastructure set up to help you scale? It all starts with the right questions
- 25. Develop a ServiceModel approach to better enable IT and business operations to use and build AI Implement the framework so the CoE Team can grow with AI usage across the organization Provide a one stop approach to educating, nurturing, adopting, and maintaining AI across the Enterprise Ensure you can manage the growth of the platform based on your needs today and into the future Establishing AI Center of Excellence
- 26. Take your next stepswith Agentic AI transformation Assess your AI readiness Explore and prioritize use cases Establish a Center of Excellence Architect & design solutions
- 27. …and the firststep is • Follow the latest Agentic AI advancements • Know more about AI Agents and how to build them • Get inspiration for AI transformation from our use cases and scenario library