This is the Auto Supply Chain Prophets Podcast.
Jan Griffiths:We're on a mission to bring you the latest insights and thought leaders leading the
Jan Griffiths:charge on supply chain transformation in our beloved automotive industry.
Jan Griffiths:This podcast is powered by QAD RedZone.
Jan Griffiths:I'm Jan Griffiths, your host and producer.
Jan Griffiths:Let's dive in.
Jan Griffiths:Hello and welcome to the 100th episode of the Auto Supply Chain Prophets Podcast,
Jan Griffiths:and we are marking this episode — this milestone episode with a conversation
Jan Griffiths:that matters right here, right now.
Jan Griffiths:We are gonna be talking about why AI Is not just the
Jan Griffiths:future — we know it's the future.
Jan Griffiths:It is the difference between the winners and the laggards.
Jan Griffiths:The people that understand agentic AI, that understand how to implement AI
Jan Griffiths:and bring it into their lives, into their institutions will be the winners.
Jan Griffiths:The big question is how?
Jan Griffiths:How do we do this?
Jan Griffiths:Well, joining us for the conversation today, I couldn't think of two
Jan Griffiths:better guests to have on the show.
Jan Griffiths:First and foremost, we have Sanjay Brahmawar, CEO of QAD.
Jan Griffiths:He is the foremost thinker of technology in the manufacturing space today.
Jan Griffiths:Sanjay, welcome to the show.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Thank you, Jan. Thank you so much for having me.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I appreciate it.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And also would say congratulations on the hundredth episode of
Sanjay Brahmawar:Auto Supply Chain Prophets.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I guess this is a major milestone and you know, also a good sign
Sanjay Brahmawar:that these kind of conversations really matter in the real economy.
Sanjay Brahmawar:They're not just theory.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So look, I'm excited about being here.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Excited about talking to Bryan.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And, particularly Bryan, especially your work through AVT has
Sanjay Brahmawar:consistently shown the progress.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I completely agree with this doesn't come from perfect
Sanjay Brahmawar:technology and perfect conditions.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It comes from systems that operate in kind of like a messy and real world
Sanjay Brahmawar:environments and with humans in the loop.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So, very excited about this conversation, Jan.
Jan Griffiths:Yes.
Jan Griffiths:And I know Sanjay, you're a big data person.
Jan Griffiths:Do you know a piece of data that only 7% of podcasts
Jan Griffiths:actually meet the 100th episode?
Jan Griffiths:Actually reach that?
Sanjay Brahmawar:Awesome.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Congratulations again.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah.
Jan Griffiths:And joining us on the mic is Dr. Bryan Reimer, research scientist at
Jan Griffiths:MIT and author of the newly released book, How to Make AI Useful: Moving
Jan Griffiths:Beyond the Hype to Real Progress in Business, Society, and Life.
Jan Griffiths:And that it is.
Jan Griffiths:Bryan, welcome to the show.
Bryan Reimer:Jan, Thanks for having me.
Bryan Reimer:Hundredth episode is a heck of an accomplishment.
Bryan Reimer:And Sanjay really excited to be here with you and learn a little bit about
Bryan Reimer:your rich history in manufacturing.
Bryan Reimer:As you mentioned, I come from a manufacturing engineering background.
Bryan Reimer:So I spent a lot of time studying that and really do see, as you mentioned,
Bryan Reimer:this messy space of where man meets machine being the future to optimize
Bryan Reimer:AI and really technology's evolution in supporting manufacturing automation
Bryan Reimer:in lots of different aspects of life.
Jan Griffiths:Let's dive right into it.
Jan Griffiths:We've said that manufacturers don't lack data, they lack action.
Jan Griffiths:This ability to take action.
Jan Griffiths:Why is that?
Jan Griffiths:Sanjay, you first, tell us.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Great question, Jan. Look, action, I think breaks
Sanjay Brahmawar:down the moment insight requires a certain amount of ownership.
Sanjay Brahmawar:When I talk to many manufacturers and C-level execs, I think manufacturers
Sanjay Brahmawar:are very good at dashboards.
Sanjay Brahmawar:But dashboards they explain yesterday.
Sanjay Brahmawar:They don't decide what happens next.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And when no one owns the next move, any kind of insight just sits
Sanjay Brahmawar:there and it will just — just wait.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So that is actually, I think the core difference between a system of record,
Sanjay Brahmawar:where you store and you record and you have data to a system of action.
Sanjay Brahmawar:While the system of record observes; a system of action actually
Sanjay Brahmawar:decides, executes and learns.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So, I think if you bring it down to the industry in automotive.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I've seen that, your research shows this clearly.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Knowing something is wrong and not acting on it is not neutral, but at
Sanjay Brahmawar:some point, insight without action is kind of worse than ignorance.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So that's where I think AI gets frustrating.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I would say frankly, irresponsible if it isn't empowered to move the system in.
Bryan Reimer:Sanjay, that's some great words.
Bryan Reimer:I think that a lot of the processes in which we want to automate, which
Bryan Reimer:we wanna leverage are just too unknown to make good, strong decisions.
Bryan Reimer:So I think that we are looking right now to the lure of AI to conduct that data
Bryan Reimer:action step, that is still a step that human expertise needs to sign off on.
Bryan Reimer:So if we are not willing to make that step and sign off on the data alone that's
Bryan Reimer:largely distilled by teams and engineers at this point, and we believe that just
Bryan Reimer:because an AI algorithm programmed by a different team and a different set
Bryan Reimer:of engineers is gonna produce an action or suggested action, you know, follow
Bryan Reimer:through is not necessarily gonna be there.
Bryan Reimer:I think the big piece really comes down to trust.
Bryan Reimer:We don't have trust in others enough.
Bryan Reimer:We often don't trust our teams as well as we should.
Bryan Reimer:Way too much micromanagement out there and poor leadership.
Bryan Reimer:We don't go down to our teams and say, they're recommending
Bryan Reimer:something, with a high success rate.
Bryan Reimer:If they're recommending it to me, it's probably something I
Bryan Reimer:should be taking under advisement.
Bryan Reimer:Okay, I'm gonna automate a bunch of the actions of my team with
Bryan Reimer:AI and lots of other agents.
Bryan Reimer:And all of a sudden I'm gonna believe it more.
Bryan Reimer:And I think the decision logic will collapse because the trust isn't gonna
Bryan Reimer:be there in the AI to be any better.
Bryan Reimer:So our belief that this investment will work, probably erode and
Bryan Reimer:manufacturing is so special because the margins are so small.
Bryan Reimer:Automotive manufacturing in particular is such an interesting case study because
Bryan Reimer:we often look at giants like Ford, GM for the vehicles they produce and the
Bryan Reimer:beautiful designs we see on the road.
Bryan Reimer:But the art of these manufacturers is less than the design.
Bryan Reimer:It's in the ability to mass produce these complex systems at low margin.
Bryan Reimer:And that's truly where companies like GM, Toyota, Honda, and
Bryan Reimer:the likes really do excel.
Jan Griffiths:Is it Sanjay?
Jan Griffiths:Is it in the leadership?
Jan Griffiths:Is it trust?
Jan Griffiths:Is that a huge part of it?
Sanjay Brahmawar:I think Bryan's got a really good point here.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I think leaders in manufacturing are still asking AI to prove
Sanjay Brahmawar:itself before they trust.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And they continue to just, trust human only decisions that are, I guess, in some
Sanjay Brahmawar:ways demonstrably flawed, under pressured.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So they weren't certainly upfront in the environments where there is
Sanjay Brahmawar:some sort of inherent uncertainty.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I don't think the real bottleneck is algorithms.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It's basically the institutional mindset.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It's that fear of being wrong, the approval layers somewhat
Sanjay Brahmawar:of belief that learning must be complete before action starts.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So you know, in manufacturing that will show up as delays, manual
Sanjay Brahmawar:overrides, missed learning cycles.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I think, leaders who win to accept a hard truth: confidence
Sanjay Brahmawar:doesn't come before action.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It comes from action.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I think that's really important.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So I think that's what it is.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And, yeah, absolutely, leadership is so crucial in this transition to be
Sanjay Brahmawar:able to leverage this technology in it.
Bryan Reimer:Sanjay, that's a really great point because I think that as we
Bryan Reimer:look at the transformative change in new technology, AI, in the ability for new
Bryan Reimer:data systems to support manufacturing.
Bryan Reimer:We really look to an environment where we need to unlearn
Bryan Reimer:as much as we really learn.
Bryan Reimer:We gotta get rid of some of the handcuffs of history to move forward,
Bryan Reimer:stay flexible, use the data in new and innovative ways, and really
Bryan Reimer:cultivate that man machine interaction.
Bryan Reimer:Look, the machine can interpret and manage data in ways that
Bryan Reimer:man could never have dreamed of.
Bryan Reimer:But at the end of the day, the foundation of garbage in
Bryan Reimer:to garbage out still applies.
Bryan Reimer:And human-based decision making is really critical to building trust
Bryan Reimer:in what comes out of the machine.
Bryan Reimer:Well that's simple statistics and regression, or that's complex neural
Bryan Reimer:networks, the same really applies.
Bryan Reimer:So, I think we need to really begin to reward those who begin to
Bryan Reimer:actionize decisions in many senses, starting small, piloting narrow
Bryan Reimer:and then accelerating from there.
Bryan Reimer:Does this seem to be working?
Bryan Reimer:Great.
Bryan Reimer:Let's dive in with two feet
Jan Griffiths:now.
Bryan Reimer:We got to trust a little bit.
Bryan Reimer:We gotta try a little bit before we're actually gonna succeed
Bryan Reimer:in actually finding the system optimizations that we're looking for.
Jan Griffiths:It reminds me a lot of the days of business process outsourcing.
Jan Griffiths:Remember that?
Jan Griffiths:Back in the nineties where it was a race to get your business process,
Jan Griffiths:define it, and then throw it over the wall to a low cost country?
Jan Griffiths:And what happened?
Jan Griffiths:Many companies failed because they failed to do the work.
Jan Griffiths:The basic foundational work of mapping the process and understanding
Jan Griffiths:the decision making loops and how all that needed to work, and then
Jan Griffiths:streamlining it and then putting it out to another low-cost country.
Jan Griffiths:I think the same is true for AI.
Jan Griffiths:You better understand your processes and how decisions
Jan Griffiths:are made before you apply AI.
Jan Griffiths:Is that a good analogy?
Bryan Reimer:It is really a good analogy, Jan. And I think that's why
Bryan Reimer:in many senses a lot of the Chinese manufacturers are succeeding is because
Bryan Reimer:they are making authoritarian decisions based upon good data, not perfect data.
Bryan Reimer:And they're actualizing them, and they're moving forward here in the
Bryan Reimer:United States, and to some degree in Europe, maybe not quite as bad as
Bryan Reimer:Europe as it is here in the States.
Bryan Reimer:Decision paralysis is the name of the game.
Bryan Reimer:We can't make a decision, and that is costing us critical in
Bryan Reimer:markets of accelerated change.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I fully agree.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I think, you have to change the ways of working.
Sanjay Brahmawar:You're right, Jan. It's not about just throwing the process across.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It's actually, fundamentally the way you do things becomes different.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And that requires a different mindset.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It requires an ability to think.
Sanjay Brahmawar:How things will be different, and then go and act upon that.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Manufacturing needs to think a little bit around what we
Sanjay Brahmawar:call in software industry, MVP.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It's like a Minimum Viable Product.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Now, you would never manufacture a product and like send it
Sanjay Brahmawar:out 90% working or something.
Sanjay Brahmawar:But, as you're starting to use new things and new ways of
Sanjay Brahmawar:working, one has to iterate.
Sanjay Brahmawar:You cannot wait for perfection and it'll be too late.
Sanjay Brahmawar:People would've gone, you would've lost the competitive
Sanjay Brahmawar:edge and the moment is gone.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So it's important to start.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Start small, start experimenting, allow the teams build that different
Sanjay Brahmawar:mindset and then, go and act up on it.
Jan Griffiths:When you talk about mindset, it's something
Jan Griffiths:that struck me about you, Sanjay.
Jan Griffiths:Many months ago we did an interview at an event, at a user group event.
Jan Griffiths:And you had, I think, just come out with launching an ERP in 90 days.
Jan Griffiths:Is that correct?
Jan Griffiths:90 days.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Yes, indeed.
Jan Griffiths:And at the time, you know, I've been in this a long time.
Jan Griffiths:I've been in manufacturing automotive a long time.
Jan Griffiths:And I looked at you and I'm thinking, "Is this guy nuts?" But that's exactly
Jan Griffiths:the kind of thinking that we need.
Jan Griffiths:We need people — leaders to challenge the norm to say, you know what?
Jan Griffiths:This is happening.
Jan Griffiths:We're doing it.
Jan Griffiths:We're doing it.
Jan Griffiths:And then you rally a whole team around a mission like that, and guess what?
Jan Griffiths:It happens.
Jan Griffiths:And I believe it's happening.
Jan Griffiths:Is that right?
Sanjay Brahmawar:Yes.
Sanjay Brahmawar:You know, Jan, that's the whole point.
Sanjay Brahmawar:We said, look, we can either bury our heads in the sand and just say, "Oh,
Sanjay Brahmawar:you know, nothing's gonna happen." Or we can leverage AI and actually
Sanjay Brahmawar:take it to the advantage of our mid manufacturers and our clients.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And so what we've done is we've build Champion Pace, which is effectively
Sanjay Brahmawar:working backwards and saying, "Hey, gone are the days where it used to
Sanjay Brahmawar:take two years or 18 months to deploy an ERP. No, mid-market manufacturers
Sanjay Brahmawar:got 18 months to 24 months to wait." So what if we change that to 90 days?
Sanjay Brahmawar:90 days is the benchmark.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And so let's work backwards and say, "How can AI help us to do things
Sanjay Brahmawar:like data migration, configuration, custom extensions, all of that much
Sanjay Brahmawar:faster?" And the reality is that the technology exists to be able to do that.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I can tell you we've done exactly that and you can see that we just announced
Sanjay Brahmawar:together with our client tentacle.
Sanjay Brahmawar:They went live last week.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And, we can show that these things can be done in 90 days soon.
Bryan Reimer:Sanjay, what I love about that is you're starting with the problem
Bryan Reimer:and saying, "Here is the problem we need to solve." Okay, what tools are out there?
Bryan Reimer:And AI is a tool that can help with lots of problems.
Bryan Reimer:But too often we are looking with this enormous technology that we dream
Bryan Reimer:of in Jetsons, like science fiction, is a solution looking for a problem.
Bryan Reimer:And leadership today, needs to make some strategic decisions on where do we invest,
Bryan Reimer:which means that we have to downplay some priorities to make those investments work.
Bryan Reimer:And, things that draw out and take 18 months or two years to occur.
Bryan Reimer:Create more complexities along the way than saying, "Okay, we are going
Bryan Reimer:to figure out how to get back to Mars or the moon in the next two years.
Bryan Reimer:We don't have three, we don't have four. We are doing it in two years."
Bryan Reimer:And look, that's how the modern space race started.
Bryan Reimer:But too often in manufacturing and in many other areas fell to have
Bryan Reimer:that leadership and that vision.
Bryan Reimer:Today leadership really means observing, seeing the reality clearly,
Bryan Reimer:and then making a decision to act.
Bryan Reimer:And we just see that too infrequent in today's, day and age.
Jan Griffiths:What is the biggest blockage in manufacturing leadership
Jan Griffiths:thinking in automotive, right now, to prevent them from thinking
Jan Griffiths:like a tech CEO, like Sanjay.
Jan Griffiths:What's blocking the thinking?
Jan Griffiths:Is this a myth?
Jan Griffiths:Is there a lie they're telling themselves?
Jan Griffiths:What is it from your experience?
Bryan Reimer:In my experience, we're looking for solutions without action.
Bryan Reimer:We hate to be held accountable for bad decisions, so we end up
Bryan Reimer:delaying, delaying and delaying.
Bryan Reimer:Usually we know what we should do.
Bryan Reimer:And we think about it for too long, and that's not days and hours.
Bryan Reimer:That's Months and years.
Bryan Reimer:So if we wanna make change, we need to really think about our microcosms and
Bryan Reimer:dividing that up and enabling teams to prove, "Okay, we can walk in a new
Bryan Reimer:way." And then worry about running.
Bryan Reimer:But too often we are so stuck on, we have to solve everything
Bryan Reimer:and find a new way to run.
Bryan Reimer:No, build a sandbox.
Bryan Reimer:Enable a subset of your team to figure out how to optimize that sandbox and
Bryan Reimer:when you feel like you can begin to move your progress from that sandbox
Bryan Reimer:outside, make the decisions to do it.
Bryan Reimer:But it doesn't mean recharting and rebuilding the entire
Bryan Reimer:assembly line overnight.
Bryan Reimer:Yeah, there's going to be lots of hurdles.
Bryan Reimer:Supply chain challenges over the last few years, who would've predicted?
Bryan Reimer:Those are gonna continue to come.
Bryan Reimer:And flexible, resilient organizations, strong leadership is gonna overcome that.
Bryan Reimer:Great, I can't get the supply or the microchips I need today, we're
Bryan Reimer:gonna figure out how we have to overcome that, and we are gonna
Bryan Reimer:solve this problem tomorrow.
Bryan Reimer:And that's not right now.
Jan Griffiths:Sanjay, what do you think blocks the thinking?
Sanjay Brahmawar:I think the biggest, I would say, and As you were saying, what
Sanjay Brahmawar:is true and what's not true, I think what's not true is that the frontline is
Sanjay Brahmawar:resisting AI because they're afraid of it.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I don't think so.
Sanjay Brahmawar:You know, I'm going to meet my clients almost every week,
Sanjay Brahmawar:and I go onto the shop floor.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I really wanna walk the shop floor.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I want to talk to the people on the front line.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I want to discuss with them, how they use capabilities.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And the reality is they don't resist AI.
Sanjay Brahmawar:What they do resist, Jan, is actually, they resist tools that slow them down,
Sanjay Brahmawar:second guess them or create more work.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So I think the whole point is, when AI removes friction, you get rid of
Sanjay Brahmawar:manual data entry, firefighting, rework.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Then, adoption is not a change management problem.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It's actually quite automatic.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And so this is why, when in QAD RedZone when we start,
Sanjay Brahmawar:we start from the front line.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Champion AI doesn't supervise the operators, amplifies them.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Gives them early signals, better context.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Allows them to execute faster.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So you are kind of almost, people trust automation when
Sanjay Brahmawar:it respects their expertise.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I think in plants and in vehicles, I think adoption always
Sanjay Brahmawar:follows usefulness, not mandates.
Sanjay Brahmawar:You tell somebody you have to use AI, that's not the way it's gonna work.
Sanjay Brahmawar:You've gotta create and show them the usefulness.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I think then it's not a change management problem.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah.
Jan Griffiths:And what I love about the way that you've approached that, Sanjay, with connected
Jan Griffiths:workforce is, you're all about putting the data in the hands of the individual,
Jan Griffiths:but you used essentially like an iPhone, iPad technology that's user friendly.
Jan Griffiths:And I can't tell you how many years I've spent on shop floors where, people just,
Jan Griffiths:either the data is on some manual board, and then somebody wipes up against the
Jan Griffiths:whiteboard and you've lost the data and then, "Oh yeah, but that was yesterday's.
Jan Griffiths:We just haven't updated the board yet."
Jan Griffiths:And it's so on and so on and so on.
Jan Griffiths:But when you actually put technology in the hands of the people and
Jan Griffiths:you use a system that they're already familiar with, genius.
Jan Griffiths:Adoption will follow.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Absolutely.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I mean, I think you can see them feeling proud about, not
Sanjay Brahmawar:having to use paper again.
Sanjay Brahmawar:They just talk about they can use their iPad in front of them and show you,
Sanjay Brahmawar:"Hey, look, I'm working on this line.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I can show you what are the things that I have to do before the
Sanjay Brahmawar:changeover, after the changeover.
Sanjay Brahmawar:What are the issues that I'm gonna have during the production run?
Sanjay Brahmawar:How do I prevent those issues?"
Sanjay Brahmawar:And there's a certain sense of pride of being empowered that the frontline
Sanjay Brahmawar:worker says they don't need the supervisor to tell them what to do.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I think this is where, in our words, the magic happens, that's when you
Sanjay Brahmawar:get 26% more productivity is when the individual feels that they kind of almost
Sanjay Brahmawar:are so enabled to do their job better.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I think that is where AI plays such an important role.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I personally believe this whole thing is around making the frontline
Sanjay Brahmawar:three to four x more powerful.
Sanjay Brahmawar:To me, Champion AI has gotta be their, in some ways, their Iron Man suit.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It should allow them to be really able to perform at three to four x.
Bryan Reimer:You know, Jan, just listening to this, it is so synergistic
Bryan Reimer:with the framework around "How to Make AI Useful," in my new book and
Bryan Reimer:really looking at AI as the amplifier.
Bryan Reimer:Building trust that you are upskilling your workforce, empowering them with
Bryan Reimer:data to make decisions, to carry out their roles more efficiently.
Bryan Reimer:People like being part of the process and, the hard part of AI is so much of
Bryan Reimer:the show and below trying to oversell its capabilities, the fear of job loss,
Bryan Reimer:the feel of an organization trying to automate away my employment opportunities.
Bryan Reimer:That is not the path that I see is one of value to AI on automation today.
Bryan Reimer:I think what Sanjay's really talking about is the real true value point, the
Bryan Reimer:utility of AI in making us as humans.
Bryan Reimer:Better employees, socially, better personal lives, all the
Bryan Reimer:things that we want to improve.
Bryan Reimer:Using a little automation to move away the boring activities just a little
Bryan Reimer:bit and using a lot of amplification to make us better structured and better
Bryan Reimer:positions to make stronger decisions.
Bryan Reimer:And that's, to me, the true value of AI.
Bryan Reimer:And it's really fun to see it being implied that way,
Bryan Reimer:in the manufacturing world.
Bryan Reimer:And we will see if, which way it seems to go in the driving world
Bryan Reimer:where we seem to be back to trying to prioritize AI as being able to drive a
Bryan Reimer:little bit too much for us right now.
Bryan Reimer:So, it just see different sectors balancing this so differently right
Bryan Reimer:now, but I think the true value proposition is around making us, as
Bryan Reimer:humans, better parts of the system.
Jan Griffiths:I have a question for both of you.
Jan Griffiths:I gotta ask you this question 'cause there's burning a hole in me.
Jan Griffiths:I'm gonna go to Sanjay, first.
Jan Griffiths:Why are you so passionate about manufacturing?
Jan Griffiths:You are a tech guy.
Jan Griffiths:Why are you so passionate about manufacturing?
Jan Griffiths:There's far more sexier areas in the business to be in, and it doesn't
Jan Griffiths:get a lot of love or attention.
Jan Griffiths:So why Sanjay?
Jan Griffiths:Why are you so focused on manufacturing?
Sanjay Brahmawar:Oh, great question, Jan. I mean, look, I started my career on the
Sanjay Brahmawar:shop floor, in Honda assembling engine.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So, I just had that love for manufacturing where people are
Sanjay Brahmawar:actually building, engineers come together to really design and build
Sanjay Brahmawar:real products and real technology.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So, that love has been there for some time.
Sanjay Brahmawar:But most importantly, I like the interface of technology and manufacturing.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I like to see how technology can play a role in helping and supporting
Sanjay Brahmawar:manufacturing with delivering these amazing products to the end users.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Now, one thing I would say, which connects with Bryan's work is
Sanjay Brahmawar:actually I think we, and when I say 'we', I say, I think you know.
Sanjay Brahmawar:All parts — the academia, the manufacturing sector and all.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And us as software, we need to do a better job at actually helping manufacturers
Sanjay Brahmawar:and the people who work in manufacturing, understand the impact of AI.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I think today, this whole fear mongering and, this constant conversation
Sanjay Brahmawar:around job losses, and all, this is the only news that is gets covered.
Sanjay Brahmawar:This is the only conversation that happens.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Where the truth is what we have just been discussing.
Sanjay Brahmawar:The power to create a three x and a four x. The power to be able to enable people
Sanjay Brahmawar:and make them a lot more empowered.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I think the most importantly, as I said today in manufacturing,
Sanjay Brahmawar:US manufacturing, there's a deficit of half a million jobs.
Sanjay Brahmawar:By 2033, this deficit's gonna be 2 million.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Where are we going to get these amazing people to work in manufacturing today?
Sanjay Brahmawar:Well, we've gotta excite young generation to come into manufacturing, and I
Sanjay Brahmawar:think AI plays an amazing role there.
Sanjay Brahmawar:When you create, systems like for example, RedZone that we have
Sanjay Brahmawar:created, which are based on iPads and the new ways of working.
Sanjay Brahmawar:That's how you excite the young generation to come in and work in manufacturing.
Sanjay Brahmawar:You can't offer them blue screens, green screens, and the old ERPs and excite
Sanjay Brahmawar:them to come and do those mundane tasks.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So I think that's also a very important part and I guess that's where my
Sanjay Brahmawar:passion comes out also because I feel that we can do a great job here.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Tech sector and software sector can do a great job.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah.
Jan Griffiths:Bryan, same to you.
Jan Griffiths:You are very passionate about manufacturing.
Jan Griffiths:Why?
Bryan Reimer:It's process improvement.
Bryan Reimer:It's just taking a process that could be optimized and using the
Bryan Reimer:tools that we have to implement that.
Bryan Reimer:It's learning about the experience, learning from the teams that are actually
Bryan Reimer:doing the work and saying, "Okay, here's a better approach that we can try to
Bryan Reimer:adopt. Now, we need to listen to the boots in the ground, especially with AI."
Bryan Reimer:Often I think the best strategy is much like Sanjay's described, is packaging
Bryan Reimer:it into existing workflows, not trying to reinvent workflows at the same
Bryan Reimer:time, introducing it as small add-ons.
Bryan Reimer:That can, you know, this is gonna get me a one x know, 1.1
Bryan Reimer:%. Okay.
Bryan Reimer:Then we'll add to that.
Bryan Reimer:Rewarding accuracy in performance of these systems, and ensuring that our workforces,
Bryan Reimer:are listening to the positive aspects of what we can accomplish as opposed to being
Bryan Reimer:shaded by the fear that unfortunately the media seems to drive it in the market.
Bryan Reimer:Again, negative news sells.
Bryan Reimer:I think that is a problem that we need to move beyond.
Bryan Reimer:I think we need to be talking about the positive attributes
Bryan Reimer:of what AI is to bring.
Bryan Reimer:We need to ensure that our workforces understand what we're investing in
Bryan Reimer:those, so that they are along and bought into the process improvements
Bryan Reimer:and contributing as part of that engine.
Bryan Reimer:I think one of my fears moving forward is we look at economic
Bryan Reimer:slowing in certain sectors.
Bryan Reimer:We are gonna blame a lot of layoffs on AI and that is gonna
Bryan Reimer:drive more fear into the market.
Bryan Reimer:And I think that's something that we need to move away from.
Bryan Reimer:We need to look at the power of AI to amplify and we need to be
Bryan Reimer:honest with ourselves when we need to do workforce reductions.
Bryan Reimer:It's not because of AI most of the time.
Bryan Reimer:It's really because of other processes or other business outcomes that we
Bryan Reimer:need to be more transparent with.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah, as our audience is listening to this, they're probably
Jan Griffiths:thinking, "Well, this is great", and I'm sure it's resonating, and they're
Jan Griffiths:saying, "Yep, agree, agree, agree." But in the back of their mind, they're
Jan Griffiths:going, "Oh, but where do I start?
Jan Griffiths:What do I do first?"
Jan Griffiths:So if you're leader.
Jan Griffiths:In the automotive supply chain, and we use supply chain in the broadest
Jan Griffiths:sense, encompassing operations, purchasing, logistics, all of it.
Jan Griffiths:But if you are a leader, listen to this right now and you wanna get,
Jan Griffiths:I dunno, a 60-day, 90-day win.
Jan Griffiths:Where do you start?
Jan Griffiths:A few little stepping stones just to start.
Jan Griffiths:'Cause we all know, that's the tough part is just starting, right?
Jan Griffiths:Is whether it's going to the gym, whatever you're doing, it's that first step.
Jan Griffiths:What's that first step look like?
Jan Griffiths:Sanjay, I go to you first.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I think that's the right mindset, Jan. First,
Sanjay Brahmawar:thinking these 90-day sort of sprints or 90-day spans is really good.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Now, this is the way we've designed, example, Champion AI.
Sanjay Brahmawar:We've thought about offering agentic capabilities in three buckets.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Bucket number one is what we call role-based personas.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And in fact, what we've done is we've actually mapped out all the personas
Sanjay Brahmawar:in manufacturing, whether you are a logistics scheduler, a planner, shift
Sanjay Brahmawar:supervisor, or a plant operator.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Whatever your role is.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Each of these person, they have a certain set of tasks, or let's say
Sanjay Brahmawar:a certain set of, I would call them mundane activities that they do
Sanjay Brahmawar:in the ERP or any kind of system.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And what we've done is we've created agents that help these particular
Sanjay Brahmawar:personas do the job much more efficiently or much more effectively.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And so, they can, for example, tell the agent to overnight create five views that
Sanjay Brahmawar:they need to start the job in the morning.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Normally they would come in the morning, they would spend a lot of time
Sanjay Brahmawar:in the system creating these views.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Well, overnight the agents done the job, it's ready.
Sanjay Brahmawar:They can come in, they can start working and making decisions.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Working on things that have real value and impact.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I think that's a very good place to start, because it's also really
Sanjay Brahmawar:helps the employee, the shop floor worker, truly get the value of AI or
Sanjay Brahmawar:start seeing what's the value of AI.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So that's number one.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Number two, bucket is where we attack some complex problems.
Sanjay Brahmawar:For example, you've gotta think about what has true impact to
Sanjay Brahmawar:the working of a mid-market manufacturer, or let's say their P&L.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And so we chose inventory carrying costs.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It's sort of the top three cost categories in in for a mid-market manufacturer.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And as Bryan said, these manufacturers are working on very low margins.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Automotive tier one, tier two are working on literally, 5 to 6% margins.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So if you can cut down inventory carrying costs by like, say, 15 to 20%, that's
Sanjay Brahmawar:a big impact to their profitability.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And what the agent does, it looks across the entire supply chain.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It thinks about your inbounds, your inventory at hand, your different
Sanjay Brahmawar:schedules, production schedules.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And it starts recommending adjustments to the replenishment levels.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Things where a human being would be more cautious because they're
Sanjay Brahmawar:so concerned about stockouts and so they overcompensate.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And the system measures all of that and comes up with the recommendations.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And we've run these with our clients for over three, four months now to see,
Sanjay Brahmawar:"hey, on an average the agent could save 30% inventory carrying costs." Major
Sanjay Brahmawar:impact to the P&L of the manufacturer.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So that's bucket two.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And then the last one I would say is the implementation agents, where you
Sanjay Brahmawar:can implement things much faster.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Data migration, this is the 90-day champion pace, where you can do things.
Sanjay Brahmawar:So I think, organizations start with the persona based agents.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Use one or two very important agents that can actually help you with specific
Sanjay Brahmawar:problems that you wanna solve, and then, you go into the implementation sphere.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I think that's a good way to start.
Jan Griffiths:I love that.
Jan Griffiths:It's a very comprehensive answer.
Jan Griffiths:Thank you.
Jan Griffiths:And when you talk about persona based agents, if I can just bring
Jan Griffiths:it down a level, simply think about what your people are doing.
Jan Griffiths:What processes are they following and what decisions are they making?
Jan Griffiths:And when you actually map that out as a very, very basic starting point,
Jan Griffiths:the results might surprise you.
Jan Griffiths:Right?
Sanjay Brahmawar:Absolutely.
Jan Griffiths:Bryan, where would you recommend people start?
Bryan Reimer:I think it's about empowering your organization, to
Bryan Reimer:find the points of optimization.
Bryan Reimer:Allowing them to leverage the modern AI tools.
Bryan Reimer:Obviously within corporate governance, but creating the low risk
Bryan Reimer:environments for teams to experiment.
Bryan Reimer:I mean, the best experts, the folks doing the work.
Bryan Reimer:So the more we allow them to experiment in low risk environments with modern
Bryan Reimer:tooling and, Sanjay's talking about some phenomenally interesting tooling,
Bryan Reimer:without fallout or repercussions.
Bryan Reimer:The more we can find where this works for my organization, your
Bryan Reimer:organization, and so forth.
Bryan Reimer:When we find things that do make sense and we need, as we talked about earlier,
Bryan Reimer:make those decisions to spin this off into larger product directions.
Bryan Reimer:Using AI where possible as the equalizer.
Bryan Reimer:Amplifying the team's capabilities, the team is going to be much more invested in
Bryan Reimer:amplifying itself than replacing itself, that's gonna help when the leadership
Bryan Reimer:and frontline workers are fostering trust and transparency within the organization.
Bryan Reimer:They're gonna learn from each other and they're gonna be more
Bryan Reimer:forthcoming to improve the processes.
Bryan Reimer:And, the AI and data telemetry side is only a tool set that is
Bryan Reimer:helpful in improving the processes.
Bryan Reimer:Everybody on a team is going to have to work through their part to improve
Bryan Reimer:processes as efficiently as possible.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah.
Bryan Reimer:You gotta have buy-in from the entire system.
Bryan Reimer:Which means that in many senses, individuals in the organization
Bryan Reimer:can't protect information.
Bryan Reimer:They gotta democratize it, they gotta share it so other
Bryan Reimer:people can iterate from that.
Bryan Reimer:It is all about team based environments, where the team has gotta succeed.
Bryan Reimer:And then leadership, and when you move up in the organization, ensuring that
Bryan Reimer:they're there to support, encourage, and build transparency to make quick,
Bryan Reimer:rapid decisions to improve processes.
Bryan Reimer:I think that we will never make every decision perfect.
Bryan Reimer:But building the environment where we are trying, we are trying to make good data
Bryan Reimer:driven decisions, and when we make a bad decision, we correct paths and we move on.
Bryan Reimer:Blending the strengths of the data and forensics we have
Bryan Reimer:and our expertise as leaders.
Jan Griffiths:And I would close with a question to our audience,
Jan Griffiths:and it's this: Ask yourself this question about your own leadership.
Jan Griffiths:Are you ready to put data and decision making into the hands
Jan Griffiths:of your frontline employees?
Jan Griffiths:If there's some hesitation in that answer, then there's some
Jan Griffiths:work that needs to be done.
Jan Griffiths:But it is also clear to me that we need to bring more conversations like this
Jan Griffiths:across the airwaves where we are talking about real people, real pain points.
Jan Griffiths:Bryan, you said it many times, we're solving problems.
Jan Griffiths:Let's talk about problems that we're actually solving, using
Jan Griffiths:that approach, using AI and let's amplify these conversations
Jan Griffiths:so that people can hear them.
Jan Griffiths:So let's drown out the noise, the bad news cycle about AI and the fear about AI.
Jan Griffiths:And let's really amp up the positive stories about ai.
Jan Griffiths:I say we do that.
Jan Griffiths:Are you with me?
Bryan Reimer:Absolutely.
Jan Griffiths:Sanjay?
Jan Griffiths:You with me?
Sanjay Brahmawar:Absolutely.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Fully aligned and I love this conversation, Jan. Because think
Sanjay Brahmawar:about the work that Bryan's doing and how aligned it is with how
Sanjay Brahmawar:we see everyday in manufacturing.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I firmly believe Agentic AI and AI is not about replacing people.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It's actually about, augmenting, empowering.
Sanjay Brahmawar:It's about elevating the human judgment when it matters the most.
Sanjay Brahmawar:I think there's so much potential here.
Sanjay Brahmawar:And I think, perhaps the best way is to actually share some success stories.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Bringing some good examples to the table, but there's so much
Sanjay Brahmawar:positive to be able to share also.
Bryan Reimer:Jan, I think we got to remember that manufacturing reemerges
Bryan Reimer:as a success story and a competitive advantage across the automotive industry.
Bryan Reimer:It goes up and down over time.
Bryan Reimer:I think the modern revolution in AI has the potential to shape the next
Bryan Reimer:wave and the competitive advantage of the automotive industry using AI as a
Bryan Reimer:part of that manufacturing optimization to build the next wave in success.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah.
Jan Griffiths:And we are actually rebranding the podcast to Auto Supply Chain
Jan Griffiths:Champions podcast, to do exactly that.
Jan Griffiths:To focus on champions, people who are solving problems.
Jan Griffiths:And that's exactly what we're gonna continue to do.
Jan Griffiths:So thank you both for joining me at the mic today.
Jan Griffiths:Bryan, always a pleasure.
Bryan Reimer:Thanks for having me.
Jan Griffiths:Sanjay, great to have you on the show.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Thank you so much, Jan, and congratulations
Sanjay Brahmawar:once again — a hundred episodes.
Sanjay Brahmawar:Awesome.
Jan Griffiths:Thank you.
Jan Griffiths:We want to hear from you, our listener.
Jan Griffiths:Tell us, what are your challenges right now?
Jan Griffiths:What conversations do you want to hear across the airwaves on this podcast?
Jan Griffiths:Drop us a comment on our podcast website.
Jan Griffiths:The link is in the show notes.