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Can manufacturing demand keep up with labor supply? That’s the challenge facing manufacturers of all sizes these days. According to a 2024 report from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, manufacturers could need as many as 3.8 million new workers by 2033, but they could fall short of filling these roles by nearly 1.8 million.
As for those workers who are already on the job, they’re often bogged down by time-wasting administrative tasks, with 70% of manufacturers stating that they employ manual data entry.
But what if there was a way to enhance the manufacturing workforce, to equip employees so manufacturers could meet the evolving demands? What if manufacturers could increase the productivity of their labor pool, without necessarily increasing their headcount by the same proportion? Agentforce for Manufacturing is here, ready to lend a hand.
Agentforce: Manufacturing’s AI “Swiss Army Knife”
Launched by Salesforce in September 2024, Agentforce is a suite of autonomous AI agents that work as highly skilled digital assistants. With its natural language interface, Agentforce is as easy to talk to as the colleague on the shop floor.
Related Article: The Ultimate Guide to Agentforce
Unlike older generation AI chatbots and copilots that depend on human requests, Agentforce AI agents can function on their own. They’re able to manage and complete a sequence of tasks—not just a single operation. AI agents can gather and analyze data, make decisions and take action, all in real time. This means manufacturers can save valuable time, and money, across their enterprise. Here are just a few examples:
Keep Assets Up and Running
Straight out of the box, Agentforce for Manufacturing can simplify proactive maintenance. Using advanced algorithms and machine learning models, it’s able to summarize asset telemetry, create quotes, produce work orders, and draft email summaries—helping manufacturers avoid asset downtime before it happens.
Keep Production on Track
Manufacturers can also use Agentforce’s AI agents to adjust production schedules, so they can stay in sync with customer demands, existing inventory, and resources. Because AI agents can analyze massive amounts of data in real time, Agentforce can also deliver valuable insights that can lead to improved and optimized manufacturing processes. For example, Agentforce AI agents can continuously monitor production lines, to identify potential quality issues as they arise—enabling manufacturers to address them sooner rather than later. Altogether, these capabilities can help manufacturers reduce errors, decrease waste, and increase savings.
Automate Time-Consuming Tasks
As mentioned earlier, well over two-thirds of manufacturers are collecting data manually. Agentforce can lighten the manual data entry load by automating order processing, service scheduling, and contacting customers to schedule regular maintenance. The time-savings can be impressive. For example, one manufacturing customer reported that Agentforce reduced the time to process an order from 16-24 hours down to less than an hour. Imagine the potential that can be unleashed by reducing the administrative burden of a single action by 24x and then repeating those savings across the manufacturing process.
Related Article: Digital Transformation in Manufacturing Industries
Agentforce for Manufacturing brings agentic AI to the Salesforce apps that manufacturers already use, such as Manufacturing Cloud and Field Service. Powered by the Data Cloud and Atlas Reasoning Engine, Agentforce pulls data in real-time from ERPs, IoT systems, field knowledge, as well as websites, enabling AI agents to take immediate actions.
Because Agentforce is built on the Salesforce platform and works with the Salesforce apps a manufacturer already has, manufacturers can rest easy knowing their data stays safe.
Agentforce: Manufacturing a Smarter Future
Manufacturers face unprecedented growing pains, as demand fluctuates, labor pools shrink, and the data they manage increases exponentially. With all these factors at play, managing the future can feel unpredictable. However, now, with Agentforce, manufacturers can count on having powerful AI agents always on hand, ready to respond in real time. It places a nearly limitless digital workforce at their fingertips to supercharge manufacturing capabilities, enabling employees to focus on more strategic tasks, while increasing productivity, reducing costs and improving customer service across the enterprise.
With its prebuilt AI agent solutions, Agentforce is ready to go to work and generate value for manufacturers immediately. However, for unique use cases, it’s easy to build a customized AI agent in a matter of a few clicks—no coding needed.
From OEMs to CPG companies, organizations across the manufacturing sector can benefit from a next-gen tool that’s always thinking about how to optimize operations across the enterprise. The digital workforce of AI agents is ready to start building a smarter future for manufacturers. With Agentforce, boundless potential never clocks out.
Reach out to our Salesforce experts today to see how Agentforce can optimize your manufacturing processes.
