How AI is reshaping manufacturing roles

Jen Fietz

Guest Columnist

July 13, 2026

For too long, manufacturing conversations have focused on headcount – how many people are needed and where costs can be cut.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is shifting the discussion to a more strategic question: What work should people be doing to drive growth? 

That shift is no longer philosophical.

It is an operational decision that is separating manufacturers who scale from those who stall, and it is happening right now.

Ready or not: The AI shift is already underway

Demand is rising for workers who can program a programmable logic controller (PLC), operate mechatronics-driven lines, interpret data systems and navigate computer numerical control (CNC) operations.

These are technical career paths AI is actively creating.

Yet, The Manufacturing Institute projects that roughly 1.9 million manufacturing jobs could go unfilled by 2033, driven not by a lack of people but by a widening gap between available workers and the skills modern manufacturing demands.

Wisconsin is already experiencing this change.

The Badger State has seen a net decline of roughly 9,500 manufacturing jobs because of changing workforce needs. 

Manufacturing still represents nearly one in six Wisconsin jobs and contributes more than $65 billion to the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

More than 50% of manufacturers already use AI in their operations.

The bottom line is that AI is raising the value of human work – it’s not replacing the humans needed to do that work.

Role redesign is not a headcount strategy – it’s a growth strategy

When AI absorbs routine, repeatable tasks, your people can move toward judgment, problem-solving and higher-value technical work.

That is the active redesign of what a manufacturing role of the future looks like.

The companies that understand this are using it to create elevated positions that attract a new generation of talent while maximizing the team already on the plant floor.

The smartest manufacturers do not roll this out all at once.

They start small.

They run focused pilots.

They build internal buy-in through early wins rather than layering technology on top of a problem they have not fully diagnosed.

When roles align with higher-value work, the whole organization performs better and scales faster.

There is a familiar trap to avoid here: manufacturers stuck in what we call the growth insanity cycle, chasing new tools and tactics without ever aligning strategy, systems and teams around a common goal.

Role redesign fails the same way when it is treated as a one-off fix.

The manufacturers who break through ask a better question: What should our people do as AI evolves?

Then they build the roles of the future around that answer.

The talent gap is real and widening

New roles demand new competencies.

Workers who can read and interpret data, operate intelligent systems and adapt quickly as automation and AI-driven processes evolve are in short supply.

The gap is not narrowing on its own.

Roughly 82% of companies – per The Manufacturing Institute – report that employees lack the skills to use AI effectively.

Still, just 19% of manufacturers currently offer AI-related training.

Technology alone will not close the gap.

Manufacturers need strong, intentional partnerships with technical colleges and high schools, and that means moving from awareness to action.

On the technical college side, that looks like structured apprenticeship programs that give students real-world exposure to the roles AI is creating.

On the high school side, it means manufacturers showing up as active partners, helping spark genuine interest in skilled trades and modern manufacturing before students ever step onto a plant floor.

Northeast Wisconsin already has a model worth rallying behind.

The Howard-Suamico School District’s (HSSD) Career and Technical Education Community Advisory Team brings together a cross-sector group of industry partners specifically to help shape the next generation of the regional workforce.

I serve on this committee, and the work underway is significant.

HSSD is building a 55,000-square-foot Career and Technical Education (CTE) Innovation Center at Bay Port High School designed to serve as a national model for what CTE centers can look like.

The center will support student pathways across trades and construction, health care, culinary arts, modern manufacturing and robotics: the very careers the industry needs people entering right now.

This is the kind of collaboration that moves the needle.

When manufacturing leaders sit alongside educators at the table, building programs tied directly to the roles AI is creating, workforce development stops being a talking point and starts being a competitive strategy.

Career paths need to evolve

Enthusiasm for AI is outpacing the training infrastructure to support it.

Investing in the people already on your floor is the clearest path to filling the roles AI is creating. 

The manufacturers seeing real traction have shifted to a skills-based model: hiring, training and advancing people for capabilities that grow alongside the technology.

A modern workforce strategy rests on three pillars: ongoing upskilling, stronger educational partnerships and redesigned career paths that evolve with AI.

What it cannot be is a standalone program disconnected from the broader business.

Training in isolation moves the needle temporarily, but it stalls the moment it loses its connection to strategy, operations and revenue goals.

The resistance challenge is real.

According to The Manufacturing Institute, 72% of companies report that employees who are comfortable with existing systems resist AI adoption.

That is why adaptability and continuous learning must be designed into evolving roles.

Aligning strategy, systems and teams around that goal is what turns scattered training into career paths that build a durable competitive advantage over time.

NE Wisconsin manufacturers can be a leader in the AI landscape

Northeast Wisconsin has the manufacturing base, the education partnerships and the infrastructure to lead this shift rather than chase it.

The foundation is in place.

What separates leaders from laggards is alignment and execution.

Manufacturers who connect their workforce strategy directly to their growth goals will build something competitors cannot easily replicate.

Those who treat AI as a standalone initiative will cycle through the same frustration as every other disconnected tactic they have tried.

The manufacturers who come out ahead will not be the ones who adopted AI the fastest.

They will be the ones who aligned their workforce strategy, their operations and their growth goals around what AI actually makes possible.

That means treating role redesign as a strategic discipline and not a reaction to a labor shortage.

It means building career paths that evolve rather than job titles that expire.

It means recognizing that workforce development only delivers lasting results when it is connected to the full system: strategy, execution and team alignment working together.

The competitive edge AI creates belongs to manufacturers who lead the shift with intention, not the ones who simply install the technology and wait for results to follow.

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