AI is everywhere. According to consultancy, KPMG, 66% of people and 78% of organizations use AI regularly. 23 gigawatts of electricity will be burned to power AI in 2025 – one GW is enough to power a million homes.
40% of current jobs are going to be exposed to the impact of AI. Some will be lost. Others will be transformed. In the manufacturing, fabrication, and job shop space, the AI revolution is accelerating faster than anticipated.
Hence, the FABTECH Expo 2025 brought together plenty of experts who are harnessing AI in their companies. For example, Scott Sawyer, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Paperless Parts, delivered a session on the show’s opening day on “The Next Wave of AI in Manufacturing: Purpose-Built AI for the Shop Floor.”
He laid out how his business is harnessing AI and how it has integrated it into its existing framework: developing software to help fabricators and manufacturers digitize and optimize time-intensive processes such as quoting and estimating. He is upgrading his various tools and applications to bake AI into all areas of his product line.
“Manufacturers need to understand that it takes industry expertise to transform AI into an effective solution,” said Sawyer.
The Four Basic Truths for AI in Manufacturing
Sawyer laid out the four basic truths that apply to AI in manufacturing:
AI is overhyped. There are millions of Google searches on AI every single day.
Yet it is the most important innovation in decades.
The term can mean anything or nothing as it is used in lot of different ways.
AI is a technology, not a solution.
He zeroed in on the last two bullet points. People define AI in many ways and indeed, there are many different forms and applications of AI. At the high end are what are known as large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. But there are plenty of other ways AI can be used in industry.
As AI is not a solution, but a technology, it is up to the manufacturing industry to determine the solutions that are most applicable and that will bring the best return on investment or bring about the greatest increase in efficiency.
He outlined use cases for AI in manufacturing such as incorporating it into areas such as computer aided design/manufacturing (CAD/CAM), design iteration, augmented reality headsets, process control/optimization, and one way he uses it with his business – to identify request for quotes (RFQ) and their many attachments and specifications to organize them more efficiently.
“AI can help your front office surface objective information faster so you can make informed decisions,” said Sawyer.
In the engineering sphere, AI can be used to simplify complex blueprint drafting and 3D modeling tasks. For example, it is possible to use it to type in plain English the type of 3D model you want and then have AI generate it. Alternatively, it can streamline Bill of Materials (BOM) management. AI can be trained to take a thousand lines from a BOM and organize them within a couple of hours – something that might take a human a week or more.
FABTECH will return to Las Vegas for the first time in a decade, taking place October 21–23, 2026. Sign up to receive notifications when registration opens.