Customer-Side Playbook for Deploying AI in Manufacturing

Manufacturers do not need another generic AI presentation. They need a practical deployment model that shows how AI moves from idea to daily use on the shop floor, in engineering, in quality, and across operations.In this session, Adam Marsh of Ledge Inc. and Ameet Sonalkar, acting as customer-side CTO for Anstadt, will walk through a real-world approach to deploying AI tools inside a manufacturing business.

The discussion will focus on how to identify the right use cases, build trust with teams, capture tribal knowledge before it disappears, and convert scattered operational information into practical tools that employees can use every day.The session will use a fireside-chat format with live examples and working scenarios. Adam will share the deployment strategy and lessons learned from building AI tools across manufacturing and quality environments. Ameet will provide the customer-side perspective: how leadership evaluates opportunities, how teams decide what is safe to automate, and how a company can roll out AI without losing control of its process knowledge, data, or decision-making.

The presentation will cover practical applications such as document search, quality and compliance support, SCADA-adjacent operational intelligence, maintenance/process knowledge capture, customer and supplier communication workflows, and internal AI assistants trained around company-specific procedures.

Attendees will leave with a clear framework for moving beyond AI experimentation and toward a governed, useful, human-centered AI rollout that preserves knowledge, improves responsiveness, and creates measurable business value.

Key Takeaways

• How to identify AI use cases that are practical, safe, and valuable in manufacturing environments.

• How to capture tribal knowledge and convert it into reusable operational memory.

• How to roll out AI tools with employee adoption, governance, and leadership alignment.

• How customer-side and technology-side leaders can collaborate to build AI systems that support real work rather than create another disconnected software project.

• How to structure a first-year AI roadmap for manufacturing organizations.