TECHNOLOGY
Ditch the Spec Sheet: Unlocking Machine Uses
What can your fancy new machine do for your shop? After all, the manuals and materials for your new toy can struggle to reflect how machines are built, configured, and operate on the shop floor. AMT’s Technology team is exploring standards-based methods to describe their real structure, configuration, and operating state so that manufacturing systems can determine what a machine is truly capable of at any given moment. The result is more trustworthy information for digital twins, higher quality machine data, and a stronger foundation for interoperability, aligning with the original vision behind MTConnect. Stay tuned for exciting updates!
INTERNATIONAL
Supply Chain Automation Drives Competitiveness
Automation in manufacturing supply chains is shifting from a focus on throughput and cost reduction to becoming a core driver of strategic intelligence that drives competitiveness. Manufacturers that leverage it to create adaptive, self-optimizing networks will gain real-time visibility, anticipate disruptions, and respond at scale – turning their supply chains into a strategic advantage rather than just an operational function.
For manufacturers managing complex, multi-tier supplier networks and just-in-time production models, automation enables supply chains that continuously sense, predict, and respond to change. This allows them to anticipate risks like supplier delays, capacity constraints, or geopolitical shocks before they impact operations. In this context, the supply chain becomes a decision engine, not just a fulfillment function.
As volatility increases, from demand swings to component shortages, manufacturers that treat automation as a strategic capability will outperform those that view it as an incremental process improvement. The competitive edge lies in building supply chains that are not only lean but also intelligent and responsive at scale.
SMARTFORCE
Automation Is Advancing, but Who Will Run It?
As capital investments accelerate in robotics, AI, and smart production systems, one challenge remains: a shortage of skilled talent to implement, operate, and maintain these technologies. Roles in automation, controls, and digital manufacturing remain especially hard to fill. The Smartforce Student Summit at IMTS 2026 helps address this gap by connecting more than 16,000 students and educators to real-world automation in action.
New this year, the Career Pathways program gives exhibitors a direct line to this talent – promoting entry-level jobs, internships, and apprenticeships to thousands of attendees. IMTS exhibitors and visitors are invited to participate and start building a workforce pipeline as advanced as the technologies driving the shop floor. Visit IMTS.com/smartforce to get involved.
ADVOCACY
SBA Launches Loan Guarantee Program To Support U.S. Manufacturing Investment
The U.S. Small Business Administration announced a new “Made in America Loan Guarantee” to expand domestic manufacturing capacity by increasing access to capital. The program uses the SBA’s International Trade Loan platform. It raises the federal loan guarantee to 90% from the usual 75% to motivate lenders to fund manufacturing investments. Eligible small manufacturers can use the funds to upgrade equipment, modernize facilities, expand, and reshore production.
The higher guarantee is meant to lower lender risk and make financing easier for manufacturers investing heavily in capital. This is especially important, as borrowing costs remain high.
The announcement signals a policy shift toward rebuilding U.S. industrial capacity. There is now more focus on supply chain resilience, domestic production, and national security.
INTELLIGENCE
Faster Machines, Evolving Work
Automation in manufacturing isn’t new – it’s cumulative. Each wave has added capability: mechanization reduced physical effort; electrification unlocked flexibility; assembly lines synchronized production; and robotics introduced reprogrammable motion. Today, data and AI extend that progression, allowing factories not just to move parts but to interpret conditions and act in real time.
What’s changed is the pace. Electrification took decades to fully transform factories while industrial robots scaled globally in roughly half that time – and digital, software-driven technologies are diffusing even faster.
As these cycles accelerate, the impact on work follows a familiar pattern. Automation does not eliminate jobs so much as it reorganizes them – shifting demand toward higher-skill, technology-enabled roles while expanding productivity and creating new opportunities across the manufacturing ecosystem.
Acceleration of Technology Adoption in Manufacturing (Illustrative From Historical Data)
The AI curve reflects synthesized diffusion trends based on published research from Paul A. David’s 1990 National Bureau of Economic Review paper, “Computer and Dynamo: The Modern Productivity Paradox in a Not-Too Distant Mirror”; IFR World Robotics; McKinsey Global Institute (2018); and McKinsey’s State of AI 2024 report.
To read the rest of the State of Automation Issue of MT Magazine, click here.
