4 ways AI is enabling the future of industrial work
With the help of AI, manufacturers and industrial companies are transforming complicated business processes and demanding operational workflows. AI is scaling human craftsmanship and expertise and amplifying knowledge in complex enterprises. It is breaking down information silos, enabling faster decisions and helping frontier manufacturing companies better absorb market shocks.
The examples below from around the world illustrate ways very different companies are using AI to enhance digital transformation and reap benefits.
Japan’s ARUM turns craftsmanship into scalable AI for precision manufacturing
For decades, Japan’s precision manufacturing has depended on the tacit knowledge of its master craftspeople. But these skilled machinists are becoming harder to find, due to a labor shortage.
Instead, ARUM Inc has used AI to embed their skills into code, translating design expertise into digital intelligence.
ARUMCODE, which runs on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and uses GitHub Copilot, automates the process of converting computer-aided design (CAD) files into machine instructions, within minutes. These instructions — specifying which cutting tools to use in what sequence to shape a part — could only be created by skilled machinists previously. With that expertise now embedded in code, even less-skilled workers can operate machining centers and keep the factories running.
The software also powers TTMC, ARUM’s automated machining center that makes customized parts enabling one worker to oversee multiple machines.
Meanwhile, in the works is KAYA, a prototype conversational AI interface for TTMC Origin, built using Azure AI Speech and Azure OpenAI in Microsoft Foundry. KAYA gives step-by-step machining instructions in natural language, guiding junior workers to make precision parts.
Cemex rolls out AI agent to support executive decision making
Mexico‑based Cemex, one of the world’s largest building materials companies, has deployed an AI‑powered financial agent to support executive decision-making.
The tool, known as LUCA Bot, is in use by about 100 senior leaders and is trained on thousands of internal data points, including sales figures and plant‑level performance across Cemex’s global operations.
Designed to deliver fast, reliable financial insights, LUCA Bot supports the company’s digital controllership strategy through a natural‑language chat interface on web and mobile devices. Executives can drill down by business line, region, country or plant, allowing granular, on‑the‑go analysis.
Officially launched last year after a trial phase, the agent has reduced reliance on emails, calls and manual report searches, while improving visibility into monthly goals and results. Built in Microsoft Foundry with Azure OpenAI models, LUCA Bot is seen as a foundation for broader efficiency gains as Cemex expands its use of AI across the organization.
From Christchurch to today: Pairing AI with underground data helps New Zealand build better
The 2011 Christchurch earthquake exposed a hard truth: New Zealand lacked a centralized view of the ground beneath its buildings. Decades of geotechnical data was fragmented, slowing rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of the quake.
In the years since, the government has created the New Zealand Geotechnical Database (NZGD), a national repository of crucial information like soil composition, water levels and sample analysis for thousands of sites across the country.
Today, the NZGD is hosted on BEYON, which leverages Microsoft’s cloud platform Azure. BEYON is the digital twin platform developed by the engineering firm Beca to address the data issue highlighted by the 2011 earthquake. Engineers can now query, filter and access complex ground data in minutes using BEYON’s AI assistant, developed using Azure OpenAI in Microsoft Foundry.
What began as a response to disaster has become a foundation for faster, better decisions. By combining complex underground data with AI, Beca is changing how New Zealand builds, and rebuilds, above ground.
A Saudi smart factory breaks through bottlenecks
Obeikan Investment Group’s Rigid Plastics division, which makes bottles and caps for everything from dairy to detergents, began its transformation on the factory floor. Plant manager Rex Del Mundo once spent hours untangling handwritten logs and debating the root of production glitches. With the in‑house O3sigma platform — built on Microsoft Azure and infused with machine learning and Copilot — those tense, backward‑looking meetings have become a few minutes of precise, real‑time insight.
With an engineering background and devotion to Lean principles, CEO Abdallah Al‑Obeikan pushed the Saudi company to connect 1,200 machines and 280 assembly lines, yielding a 30% efficiency boost and millions of dollars in savings.
What started as an internal necessity has now spun off into a global software venture, also called O3sigma. For longtime engineer Khmaïess Al Jannadi, the change is revelatory: Machines finally “talk,” thanks to sensors that generate data. And O3sigma listens — pinpointing defects in minutes instead of days. AI isn’t a luxury, but survival, he says.
Images top to bottom:
- Takaaki Sakashita, general manager of ARUM Inc’s software development team, acts as a bridge between old-school machinists and software programmers. Photo by Noriko Hayashi for Microsoft.
- Satoshi Murakami, general manager of ARUM Inc’s cloud system engineering department, with a TTMC automated machining center. Photo by Noriko Hayashi for Microsoft.
- Carlos Mantilla, Cemex IT architecture director, with members of his team at Cemex’s headquarters in Monterrey, Mexico. Photo by Octavio Hoyos.
- Engineering geologist Olivia Ellis-Garland, at a building site in Auckland, New Zealand, describes the Microsoft Azure-powered New Zealand Geotechnical Database (NZGD) as “our gateway to the ground.” Photo by Jack Ellis for Microsoft.
- Rex Del Mundo, right, the plant manager at Obeikan Rigid Plastic, speaks with a production line employee. Photo by Chris Welsch for Microsoft.
Catherine Bolgar writes about AI and innovation at Microsoft, from advances in quantum computing to how AI is helping ordinary people. Previously, Catherine wrote about technology and business for a number of publications, and she was an editor at the Wall Street Journal in New York and Brussels. She taught high school math in Kenya, where she learned Swahili. She currently lives in France. You can contact Catherine on LinkedIn.