If you look across manufacturing right now, AI is starting to appear everywhere. ERP systems are adding AI features. CMMS platforms are talking about predictive analytics and automated insights. Nearly every software vendor in the industry is trying to embed AI into their existing systems.

"On the surface that sounds like progress. But when you look a little closer, there is a deeper problem."

Most of these systems were built more than 20 years ago. At the time they were designed, AI wasn’t really part of the conversation. The way information flows through those platforms reflects that era. Data entry fields, rigid forms, complicated workflows and systems that were never really designed with the tradesperson on the floor in mind. The reality is that the user experience for capturing knowledge from the people who actually run and maintain the machines is often outdated. And that matters more than ever now.

Because as we step into 2026, one thing is becoming very clear. Knowledge is power. The factories that can capture knowledge from their frontline workers and actually use it are going to be in a very different position to those that can’t.

The Hidden Cost: Not Understanding Your Frontline

One of the biggest hidden costs in manufacturing today is not fully understanding the people who are on the floor every day. Frontline workers spend more time with the equipment than anyone else in the organisation. They see the subtle changes. They hear the strange noises. They notice the little behaviours that a machine develops before something goes wrong.

And if you’ve spent any time in manufacturing, you’ll know there’s something else at play too. A lot of tradespeople develop what I’d call a genuine love for the machine.

It might sound strange to someone outside the industry, but anyone who has worked around equipment long enough knows exactly what that means. When you’ve spent years keeping a piece of machinery running, you start to develop an instinct for it. You understand its personality. You know when something feels off.

That type of knowledge is incredibly valuable.

But it’s also something you can’t hire for. You can’t simply recruit it from outside. It’s built through experience, through time on the floor, and through a real sense of ownership over the equipment. The challenge is that much of this knowledge never gets captured. It lives in conversations, in notebooks, or inside someone’s head.

And when that person moves on, retires, or changes roles, that knowledge often disappears with them.

Capturing Knowledge in the Way People Naturally Communicate

This is where a shift in how we capture information becomes really important.

Every person communicates differently. Some people prefer to write things down. Others are far more comfortable speaking. Some people explain things visually with photos or quick sketches. If we want to capture the real knowledge from the floor, we need to give people the flexibility to communicate in the way that works best for them.

• That might mean voice-to-text notes while standing next to a machine.

• It might mean attaching photos of a worn component.

• It might mean typing a quick observation after a shift.

The important part is not forcing everyone into the same rigid documentation style.

When workers are given the ability to document issues, fixes, and observations in the way that feels natural to them, something interesting happens. The barrier to sharing knowledge drops significantly.

Instead of documentation being seen as another administrative task, it becomes a natural extension of the work itself.

And over time, that creates a much richer picture of what is actually happening on the floor.

Miscommunication Is One of Manufacturing’s Biggest Problems

Another challenge that shows up in almost every factory is miscommunication.

Information gets passed between shifts. A problem is mentioned briefly during a handover. A note is written somewhere. A maintenance job is logged in a system that only certain people look at. Before long, the same issue is being interpreted in three different ways. This is where having a single source of truth becomes incredibly important.

When information from the floor is captured properly and centralised, it becomes much easier for everyone to understand what is really happening. Operators, technicians, engineers and managers can all see the same information and work from the same understanding.

Instead of knowledge being scattered across whiteboards, spreadsheets, text messages and separate systems, it becomes part of a shared operational picture.

And that reduces one of the biggest friction points in manufacturing operations.

The Multilingual Reality of the Modern Factory

In Australia, the manufacturing workforce is incredibly diverse.

Many factories rely on skilled workers who have migrated from overseas. These workers often bring exceptional technical ability and experience with them. But sometimes they are asked to explain complex mechanical issues in a language that isn’t their first language.

That can create a real barrier...

Imagine trying to explain a subtle mechanical fault in a second language while standing on a noisy production floor. It’s not easy.

Now imagine if that same worker could simply speak about the issue in their own language, describe what they’re seeing, and have that knowledge captured clearly. That changes things!

When systems allow people to communicate in their mother tongue and translate that information in a way that feels natural to everyone else, it removes a huge amount of friction. The key point is that it needs to feel native to the user. Not like a translation tool bolted on as an afterthought, but something that genuinely supports how people work and communicate.

'When that happens, you start unlocking knowledge that might otherwise never be shared.'

Knowledge as a Competitive Advantage

Over time, factories that capture more frontline knowledge will begin to build something incredibly powerful. A growing library of real operational experience.

Not theoretical documentation. Not just maintenance schedules or procedures. But genuine insight into how the machines behave, what failures actually look like, and what solutions have worked in the past.

When that knowledge is structured and accessible, it becomes possible to generate far better insights.

• Patterns start to appear.

• Root causes become easier to identify.

• Forecasting becomes more accurate.

And decisions start to improve because they’re based on real operational history rather than guesswork.

In the long run, the competitive advantage may not simply come from producing more units per hour. It may come from understanding your factory better than anyone else understands theirs.

The organisations that capture the most knowledge from the people closest to the machines will likely be the ones that move faster, solve problems quicker, and adapt more effectively as manufacturing continues to evolve.

"And in a world where AI is becoming part of every system, the quality of the knowledge you feed into those systems will ultimately determine the value you get out of them."

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