That is where AI comes in. To break the infrastructure bottleneck and shift the industry from ambition to delivery, Microsoft is announcing an AI for nuclear collaboration with NVIDIA, to provide end-to-end tools that streamline permitting, accelerate design, and optimize operations across the industry.

This set of technologies brings disciplined engineering to the entire lifecycle of a nuclear plant—spanning site permitting, design, construction, and continuous operations. By enabling these capabilities within a connected, AI-powered foundation, we are empowering energy developers to make highly complex work repeatable, traceable, secure, and predictable—slashing development timelines and eliminating rework without sacrificing safety.

The digital foundation for nuclear at scale

The only thing that may be more complex than building a nuclear plant is designing and permitting one. Permitting alone can take years, cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and involve an immense amount of data processing and reporting. It’s not a lack of need, knowledge, or even willingness that’s holding development back, but rather the inability to progress efficiently and consistently through rigorous permitting and development processes.

Engineers can spend thousands of hours drafting, cross-referencing, formatting, searching, reviewing, and reworking materials. They have to identify and fix inconsistencies across tens of thousands of pages. It is little wonder that plants have been notorious for construction delays and cost overruns.

To break this infrastructure bottleneck, we need to move away from highly customized engineering towards repeatable, reference-based delivery—while maintaining regulatory standards and engineering accountability.

With AI, we can identify tiny documentation inconsistencies and resolve them quickly. By unifying data and simulation across the lifecycle, we ensure complex work remains:

• Traceable: Every engineering decision is digitally linked to the evidence and regulations that back it up.
• Audit-Ready: The system keeps a perfect “paper trail,” ensuring that regulators can verify safety instantly.
• Secure: High-level intelligence is applied within a governed, protected environment.
• Predictable: High-fidelity simulations map time and cost, catching delays before they happen in the real world.

This isn’t just about speed; it’s about trust. Engineers and regulators are freed to focus on what matters most: building a safe, secure, high-capacity, carbon-free power source that’s on-time and on-budget.

Here is how AI and Digital Twins can carry a project from the initial phases to efficient operations:

• Design and engineering: Digital Twins and high-fidelity simulations enable faster iteration. Engineers can reuse proven patterns and instantly see how a tiny design change impacts the entire model, creating a validated plan before breaking ground.
• Licensing and permitting: Generative AI handles the heavy lifting of document drafting and gap analysis. It unifies all project information, ensuring comprehensive applications aligned with historical permits. This allows expert regulators to focus their time on safety judgments rather than reconciling thousands of pages of text.
• Construction and delivery: While traditional 3D models only map physical space, 4D (time scheduling) and 5D (cost tracking) simulations can virtually construct the plant before shovels hit the dirt. AI and Digital Twins allow developers to track physical progress against the digital plan in real-time, catching potential delays and preventing the schedule collisions that lead to expensive rework.
• Operations and maintenance: AI-powered sensors and operational digital twins detect anomalies early, ensuring higher uptime and predictive maintenance that keeps the grid stable with human operators firmly in control.

By unifying data, traceability, and simulation across phases, AI accelerates design validation with high-fidelity 3D models and Digital Twins, improves licensing consistency through AI-assisted document workflows, and connects design assumptions to operational performance—giving operators, regulators, and stakeholders clearer, continuous visibility.

Accelerating delivery: How Aalo Atomics, Idaho National Labs, and Southern Nuclear are deploying AI for nuclear

The proof is in the progress. Our collaboration is already changing the pace of nuclear delivery.

Aalo Atomics

Aalo Atomics has reduced the time-intensive permitting process by 92% using the Microsoft Generative AI for Permitting solution, saving an estimated $80 million a year. For Aalo, the value of the Microsoft and NVIDIA collaboration isn’t just speed—it’s confidence.

“Two things matter most: enterprise-scale complexity and mission-critical reliability. We’re deploying something complex at a scale only a company like Microsoft really understands. There’s no room for anything less than proven reliability.”

—Yasir Arafat, Chief Technology Officer, Aalo Atomics

Southern Nuclear

Southern Nuclear has developed and deployed agents using Microsoft Copilot across its fleet, including engineering and licensing, to improve consistency, reuse knowledge faster, and support better decision-making in key workstreams.

Idaho National Laboratory

When it comes to the public sector and specifically United States Federal, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has become an early adopter of AI for nuclear technology. By using the AI capabilities to automate the assembly of complex engineering and safety analysis reports, INL is streamlining the review process and creating standard methodologies for regulators to adopt these tools safely, further speeding deployment.

Expanding the ecosystem: How Everstar and Atomic Canyon are operationalizing AI for nuclear on Microsoft Azure

Microsoft is actively expanding this secure ecosystem. Everstar—an NVIDIA Inception startup—brings domain-specific AI for nuclear to Azure to modernize how the industry manages project workflows and governed data pipelines.

“The nuclear industry has been bottlenecked by documentation burden and regulatory complexity for decades. This partnership means our customers get the secure, scalable cloud deployments they demand. It’s a significant step toward making nuclear power fast, safe, and unstoppable.”

—Kevin Kong, Chief Executive Officer, Everstar

We are also excited to highlight Atomic Canyon, whose Neutron platform is now available in the Microsoft Marketplace, allowing nuclear developers to deploy these capabilities with consistency and control through trusted procurement pathways.

Progress at the pace this moment requires

AI is enabling the energy industry to deliver more power, faster, and safely. This Microsoft and NVIDIA collaboration provides the path to do exactly that for advanced developers, owners, and operators. By turning fragmented, high-variance workflows into governed, auditable systems, we can compress timelines without compromising rigor. By unifying data, simulation, and evidence across design, permitting, construction, and operations, we are accelerating the deployment of firm, carbon-free power while strengthening regulatory confidence and operational resilience.

The AI for nuclear operations collaboration brings together NVIDIA Omniverse, NVIDIA Earth 2, NVIDIA CUDA-X, NVIDIA AI Enterprise, PhysicsNeMo, Isaac Sim, and Metropolis with Microsoft Generative AI for Permitting Solution Accelerator and Microsoft Planetary Computer to create a comprehensive, AI-powered digital ecosystem for nuclear energy on Azure.

Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Aalo Atomics will be presenting this AI-lead industry perspective at CERAWeek 2026 in a session entitled “A Digital Age for Nuclear: Aalo Atomics, NVIDIA, and Microsoft.”

Discover more

Ready to move from ambition to delivery? See how the Microsoft and NVIDIA nuclear for AI collaboration can drive change within your organization.

Contact us to learn more.

The post AI for nuclear energy: Powering an intelligent, resilient future appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

Yet despite broad cloud adoption, migration and modernization remain complex. Legacy architectures, fragmented environments, and persistent skills gaps continue to slow progress, pushing organizations to find ways to migrate faster while minimizing operational risk. 

The IDC study highlights agentic AI as a critical unlock. These intelligent systems automate assessments, orchestrate migration and modernization efforts, and optimize operations across hybrid environments—helping organizations shift from periodic, manual initiatives to continuous, adaptive modernization. This momentum is driving unprecedented growth, with IDC forecasting the public cloud services market will reach USD1.9 trillion by 2029. 

While migration frameworks may be horizontal, their real-world impact is industry-specific. Healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing each face unique constraints shaped by regulation, operational risk, and mission-critical systems. 

In this blog, we explore the key migration and modernization challenges across these three industries—healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services—through real customer stories that highlight the tangible impact cloud adoption is delivering today.

Healthcare: Modernizing securely while powering next-generation clinical experiences

Healthcare faces the toughest modernization headwinds: strict regulations (HIPAA/HITECH, HITRUST), fragmented clinical data across electronic health records (EHRs) and imaging systems, aging on-premises infrastructure resulting in high Capex, and heightened exposure to ransomware.¹ Clinical environments also demand extremely low latency and high reliability.

The IDC study notes that these constraints slow modernization—but accelerate the need for it, as organizations push to scale telehealth, imaging workloads, genomics pipelines, and AI-powered clinical workflows.¹ 

What healthcare organizations need, according to the IDC study: 

• Secure, compliant integration across EHRs, picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), genomics systems, and Internet of Things (IoT) medical devices.¹
• Elastic compute for high-throughput imaging and genomics. 
• Stronger disaster recovery and recovery time performance.¹
• Ambient documentation and AI-supported diagnostics.
• Secure clinician collaboration and modern patient digital front doors.

Customer spotlight: Franciscan Health

Facing aging infrastructure and disaster recovery risks, Franciscan adopted a pragmatic workload placement strategy—moving its Epic EHR to Microsoft Azure.

The results included: 

• $45 million in savings over five years after migrating Epic to Azure.
• 90% faster disaster recovery compared to the prior environment.
• Around a 30-minute failover, reduced from hours.
• $10–$12 million per day in potential downtime risk avoided.

Learn more about Franciscan Health’s journey to migrate its Epic EHR to Azure.

Healthcare’s modernization mandate is clear: reduce operational risk, meet regulatory demands, and harness cloud AI to improve patient outcomes. 

Financial services: Enabling real-time intelligence and automated compliance

Financial institutions operate in one of the most regulated environments, including the payment card industry data security standard (PCI DSS), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), Basel capital frameworks, and know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements, and rely heavily on legacy mainframes that are difficult to modernize. Today, regulatory pressure is intensifying further as new frameworks such as the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and the EU AI Act raise the bar for operational resilience, third-party risk management, model transparency, and ongoing compliance monitoring. Under DORA, financial services firms must demonstrate continuous information and communication technology (ICT) risk management, advanced incident reporting, and resilience testing across critical systems and cloud service providers. Meanwhile, the EU AI Act introduces governance requirements for high-risk AI systems, including explainability, data lineage, human oversight, and auditability—with direct implications for fraud models, credit scoring, and customer decisioning platforms.

IDC interviews highlight accelerating demand for real-time risk analytics, fraud detection, digital onboarding, and infrastructure elasticity to support peak activity—capabilities that are increasingly mandated, not optional.¹

Key challenges the IDC study identifies: 

• Strict data residency, model risk governance, explainability, and eDiscovery requirements.¹
• Heightened expectations for operational resilience, cyber defense, and third-party risk oversight.
• Legacy systems and common business-oriented language (COBOL)-based batch processes resistant to change.
• Rapidly evolving regulatory mandates requiring continuous compliance rather than point-in-time audits.

Cloud—especially especially platform as a service (PaaS) and managed services—helps financial institutions shift from static, batch-driven compliance to continuous controls and real-time observability. By reducing batch windows from hours to minutes, modern cloud platforms enable real-time insights, automated evidence collection, resilient architectures, and policy-driven compliance workflows aligned with DORA and AI governance requirements.¹ Learn more about how Microsoft can help financial institutions navigate these requirements. 

Customer spotlight: Crediclub

To accelerate product innovation and meet expectations from Mexico’s national banking and securities commission (CNBV), Mexican fintech Crediclub modernized its databases to a serverless platform as a service (PaaS) architecture and adopted microservices.¹

The impact:

• Uptime improved from around 80% to 99.5%.
• 90% reduction in network latency through Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and dark fiber.
• Rapid deployment of new financial products via Kubernetes and DevSecOps.

For financial institutions, modernization is no longer just about efficiency—it is foundational to resilience, trustworthy AI, and regulatory compliance at scale. 

Manufacturing: Unifying IT and OT for predictive, data-driven industrial operations

Manufacturers operate in one of the most complex operating environments—defined by legacy and proprietary operational technology (OT) protocols, historically air-gapped manufacturing execution systems (MES) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, and globally distributed supply chains. Stringent low-latency requirements for safety-critical systems, intermittent connectivity at the edge, and the need to protect intellectual property further compound the challenge. The ability to modernize and unify these environments—without compromising safety, reliability, or performance—represents a critical inflection point for industrial transformation.

Unique modernization challenges according to the IDC study:

• Ultra-low latency requirements for safety-critical operations.
• Massive telemetry ingestion and time-series analytics at scale.
• Operational complexity across global, distributed supply chains.
• Secure protection of intellectual property across edge and cloud environments.

Opportunities unlocked by cloud:

• Predictive maintenance with IoT ingestion.¹ 
• Reduced unplanned downtime and improved overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
• Digital twins for plants, lines, and products.
• Computer vision for real-time quality and safety. 
• High-performance computing (HPC) simulations for engineering and design. 
• Standardized, global data models.

Customer spotlight: ASTEC Industries

ASTEC unified fragmented systems across its rock to road value chain—from aggregate processing through asphalt production and paving—by adopting Azure, modernizing to timeseries databases, and building a universal connectivity platform using Azure IoT Hub, Azure Events Hub, and Power BI.¹

The results:

• Realtime operational visibility across fleets.
• Predictive maintenance for reducing downtime.
• New digital services supported by connected equipment.

Manufacturing’s modernization imperative: unify OT and IT, scale real-time intelligence, and enable global efficiency. 

Microsoft’s approach: Continuous, intelligent, collaborative modernization 

Microsoft’s strategy is grounded in a simple principle: modernization should be continuous, intelligent, and collaborative. The IDC study emphasizes that successful enterprises adopt a balanced, multipath migration strategy, blending rehost, replatform, refactor, and software as a service (SaaS) substitution based on workload criticality.¹

Microsoft enables this approach through a comprehensive set of tools and offerings, including Azure Copilot and GitHub Copilot. Agentic automation enables:

• Discovery and dependency mapping.
• Security assessment and 6R recommendations.
• Application refactoring, code remediation, and modernization. 

Azure Migrate provides unified discovery, assessment, migration execution, and modernization services. Azure Accelerate complements this with a coordinated framework that includes:

• Guided deployments through Cloud Accelerate Factory.¹ 
• Funding and Azure credits for planning, pilot, and rollout. 
• Expert partners and tailored skilling programs.

The IDC study concludes that organizations using Microsoft Azure for migration and modernization achieve lower operational costs, improved resiliency, faster modernization timelines, and stronger security postures—especially in regulated industries.¹

Looking ahead: Agentic modernization as the foundation for AI-ready enterprises

Across all industries, IDC’s findings are consistent: agentic AI is emerging as the new force multiplier for modernization, enabling organizations to keep pace with rising complexity, regulatory demands, and competitive pressure. 

Healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing each face unique constraints—but cloud modernization remains the foundation for innovation, operational excellence, and enterprise AI. 

Microsoft’s approach gives organizations the unified automation, intelligence, and tooling they need to modernize securely and at scale. 

• Explore how Azure Copilot accelerates cloud migration.
• Discover GitHub Copilot for app modernization.
• See how Azure Accelerate supports transformation.

¹ IDC White Paper, Cloud Migration and Modernization Strategies for Healthcare, Financial Services, and Manufacturing, February 2026.

The post Modernizing regulated industries with cloud and agentic AI appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

This year, Microsoft had a clear focus at DTECH 2026: help utilities move from pilots to production by unifying IT and OT data, applying AI where it measurably improves reliability, affordability, and productivity and do so with the security and governance necessary for critical infrastructure.

Microsoft-led sessions explored moving beyond experimentation to focus on how utilities are turning unified data and AI into repeatable, operational outcomes. The takeaways from DTECH this year point to the next chapter of grid modernization—one defined by execution at scale, not pilots. 

What utility leaders reinforced: Keeping pace with change

Utility leaders consistently pointed to the increasing speed of change across the grid. Planning and operations are being pushed to respond faster as load growth becomes larger, more concentrated, and more volatile. Electrification is reshaping peak demand profiles, while capital programs are under pressure to deliver measurable value earlier—even as timelines continue to compress. 

At the distribution level, operational complexity is increasing. Distributed energy resources, electric vehicles, flexible demand, and new market programs are turning distribution systems into highly dynamic environments that demand better visibility, orchestration, and cybersecurity. Utilities are managing bidirectional power flows, evolving protection schemes, and the reality that smaller, distributed assets can have outsized system-level impacts—raising the bar for visibility, orchestration, and cybersecurity.

As a result, resilience is no longer episodic; it is a daily operating requirement. Fragmented data and manual coordination continue to limit situational awareness and slow response during major events.

Industry leaders were realistic about these constraints. Equipment lead times, workforce availability, and regulatory requirements mean that near-term reliability gains often come from improving how existing assets and systems are planned and operated. As a result, progress is increasingly measured by how effectively insights are translated into operational decisions, supported by secure and scalable platforms.

Trusted data as the foundation for AI in operations

Utilities generate vast amounts of data across assets, outages, telemetry, imagery, work management systems, and customer platforms. In many organizations, this data remains distributed across systems with inconsistent definitions, varying latency, and uneven governance.

These conditions slow analysis, create conflicting views of performance, and limit the ability to move from insight to action. Without a consistent and trusted data foundation, AI initiatives struggle to scale beyond isolated use cases. 

Microsoft is focused on helping utilities establish governed data foundations that support analytics and AI across planning, operations, field work, and customer engagement. By enabling scale across use cases—rather than building one‑off pipelines—utilities can align around shared definitions, apply consistent security controls, and collaborate without duplicative effort. 

This matters because the highest value use cases are inherently cross domain. Outage performance, capacity planning, and major event readiness all depend on data that spans systems and organizations. A unified data foundation allows AI to support these decisions with clarity, traceability, and operational relevance. 

From siloed AI solutions to agentic operations

Another notable theme at DTECH 2026 was the growing interest in agent-enabled workflows. Utilities are looking beyond standalone AI tools toward systems that can support multi-step workflows across planning, operations, and field execution, while maintaining appropriate oversight by subject matter experts across the workforce.

The focus is squarely on practical outcomes. Earlier risk identification, clearer paths from signal to action, and stronger coordination across teams are driving interest in these approaches, as utilities seek to move faster.

Human oversight remains foundational. Operators and engineers expect AI systems that surface options, explain their rationale, and reference trusted data—while operating within clearly defined governance boundaries. In regulated, safety‑critical environments, this human‑in‑the‑loop model must align with role‑based access, operational constraints, and established safeguards.

Partner innovation making modernization deployable

Grid modernization depends on strong ecosystem collaboration. No single entity can deliver it alone. What matters is interoperability—how solutions work together across planning, operations, outage restoration, field productivity, and major event response.

That focus was clear in the announcements from Microsoft and our partners at DTECH 2026:

• Dragos—Microsoft and Dragos announced an expanded partnership focused on helping organizations modernize and secure their cyber-physical operations. By combining Dragos’ OT threat intelligence and detection capabilities with Microsoft’s cloud, AI, and security platforms, utilities can strengthen the safety, reliability, and resilience of the critical systems that power businesses and communities. 
• GE Vernova on Azure—GridOS Data Fabric and DDLR are now on Microsoft Azure, combining GE Vernova’s operational expertise with Microsoft’s cloud, AI, and analytics.
• Hitachi—Hitachi Energy’s Ellipse EAM is being combined with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Fabric, Copilot, and Microsoft Foundry to create a unified solution that manages data, analytics, and business operations, supports asset operations, and provides visibility of equipment across entire networks for more reliable services, safer operations, and fewer emergency repairs.  
• Itron—The new Itron Intelligent Edge Operating System (IEOS) Connector for Microsoft 365 Copilot uses trusted grid-edge data to redefine grid edge intelligence by applying AI at scale to optimize operations, enhance predictive insights, and enrich customer experiences.
• Schneider Electric—Microsoft’s AI, cloud, and data capabilities are integrated in the One Digital Grid Platform, enabling operations to move from prediction to execution in minutes.

These developments reflect continued progress toward reference architectures and reusable patterns that reduce bespoke integration and support broader adoption across utility environments.

Security and resilience built into modernization

Security remains a core consideration as IT and OT environments converge and connectivity at the edge increases. Utility leaders emphasized the importance of approaches that function across hybrid architectures and reflect operational realities.

Identity, access management, monitoring, and governance must be consistently applied across cloud, edge, and on‑premises systems. Resilience improves when operators have timely visibility, clear decision paths, and automation that supports established operating practices.

What comes next

DTECH 2026 highlighted a clear direction for grid modernization; utilities are prioritizing:

• Trusted data foundations spanning IT and OT.
• AI and agent-enabled capabilities embedded in operational workflows.
• Secure architectures designed to support reliability, governance, and resilience.

Microsoft will continue to work alongside utilities and industry partners to advance these priorities and support grid operations that can adapt to increasing complexity while delivering reliable outcomes for customers and communities. 

Turn insight into action

• Explore the possibilities of AI transformation with Microsoft
• Read the latest International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook
• Learn how to achieve more in the energy and resources industry with trusted data and AI solutions from Microsoft
• Explore the Reinventing the Utility Playbook: AI Agents for Grid Growth, Storm Response, and the Workforce 2.0 DTECH 2026 session
• Learn more about the AI-Powered Utilities: The Next Wave of Innovation DTECH 2026 session

The post DTECH 2026: How Microsoft and our partners are accelerating AI innovation for utilities appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

Manufacturing’s moment: Why AI, why now?

Today, AI isn’t just a buzzword or a distant promise. It’s a practical lever for manufacturers to unlock new value, drive efficiency, and build resilience for the future.

At Microsoft Ignite 2025, our team explored how industrial AI is reshaping the economics of manufacturing. Drawing from real-world customer stories and the latest research, we’ll unpack where the ROI is real, what’s driving it, and how you can take the next step on your own AI journey.

u003cpu003eDrive measurable outcomes with AIu003c/pu003e

Return on Intelligence: Scaling Business Value with Industrial AI

Get the e-book

From siloed data to intelligence on tap

Every manufacturer knows the pain points: unplanned downtime, inefficiencies that eat into margins, and supply chain blind spots that disrupt delivery. Too often, these issues are compounded by fragmented systems and a lack of real-time data visibility. The result? Slow decision-making and missed opportunities.

But the landscape is changing. According to a 2025 commissioned  Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact™ study on the economic impact of industrial transformation with Microsoft AI, manufacturers that invest in unified data platform and bring together data across IT and Operations Technology (OT) systems could see the following benefits¹:

• Up to 50% reduction in defects
• Up to 50% fewer inventory shortages
• Up to 40% decrease in frequency of equipment failures
• Up to 457% projected ROI over three years

Take KUKA, a global automation leader. Facing fragmented systems and a growing robotics skills gap, KUKA turned to Microsoft Azure AI and Microsoft Foundry Models. The result? Programming time cut by up to 80%, democratizing robotics and accelerating workflow deployment. With predictive insights and real-time analytics, KUKA broke down data silos and empowered teams to innovate faster.

Sustainability: A greener, more profitable path

Manufacturers today are under intensifying pressure from regulators, customers, and their own boards to reduce emissions, increase energy efficiency, and eliminate waste. Yet many sustainability challenges stem from the same root problem: disconnected systems that make it difficult to measure, optimize, and scale improvements across facilities.

But the momentum is shifting. According to the Forrester study on the economic impact of Microsoft’s industrial AI capabilities, manufacturers see AI as a critical lever to drive measurable environmental and financial gains by optimizing energy usage, refining processes, and reducing carbon emissions. With Microsoft AI solutions, surveyed manufacturers who are Microsoft Azure customers expect to achieve:

• 78% expect to reduce energy consumption
• 88% expect to improve energy efficiency
• 53% expect to reduce CO₂ emissions

Take Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy management with ambitious sustainability goals to reduce environmental impact and improve efficiency across its operations. By integrating Azure OpenAI and Azure Machine Learning into its EcoStruxure platform, Schneider gained real‑time insight into energy usage, carbon‑related performance, and optimization opportunities. The impact? AI‑powered models that surface efficiency recommendations, accelerate sustainability decision‑making, and help facilities cut waste at scale. And because EcoStruxure underpins thousands of customer deployments, these AI‑powered insights also lets its customers pursue their own sustainability goals with greater speed, accuracy, and measurable operational improvements.

Empowering people: AI as a workforce multiplier

Labor shortages, rising workload complexity, and persistent training bottlenecks continue to stretch manufacturing teams thin. Many frontline and knowledge workers spend too much time searching for information, navigating outdated systems, or performing repetitive tasks that slow productivity and sap morale.

But AI is shifting this dynamic. Manufacturers are adopting intelligent assistants, predictive tools, and automated workflows that free employees to focus on higher‑value work. According to recent industry data, organizations are already seeing material gains:

• 66% of repetitive tasks automated
• 70% of organizations report productivity gains
• 75% reduction in onboarding time

Take Audi AG, a global automotive leader navigating rising internal demand for support and process guidance. To alleviate mounting human resources and IT strain, Audi launched its first AI-powered self-service assistant using Foundry that was deployed in just two weeks. The impact? Faster access to information, fewer routine queries, and more time for teams to focus on meaningful, high-value work. Audi’s example shows how AI doesn’t replace people but amplifies them.

The agentic era: What’s next?

Manufacturers are moving beyond task‑level automation toward a new operating model where AI works alongside teams to coordinate decisions, optimize workflows, and adapt to changing conditions in real time. This next era isn’t about experimenting on the margins, but about treating AI as a core capability that strengthens every part of the enterprise.

Platforms like Azure OpenAI, Microsoft Fabric, Foundry Models, and Microsoft 365 Copilot are already helping organizations make that shift. And the economic signal is strong. Forrester’s Total Economic Impact study attributes the financial upside of the broader Industrial AI value stack to improvements across operations, productivity, and supply chain performance:

• Up to 457% projected ROI over three years

These gains compound as AI becomes embedded across the business, accelerating impact as intelligent systems take on more routine work, surface insights faster, and support teams in making better decisions at every stage of production. Manufacturers who fail to operationalize AI risk falling behind peers who are building intelligence directly into their processes, products, and customer experiences.

A practical path forward: How to get started

To fully realize this next chapter, manufacturers need a clear, actionable roadmap grounded in governed data, scalable AI systems, and measurable business outcomes.

Here’s a practical roadmap from aspiration to action:

• Identify high-impact use cases: Focus on areas like predictive maintenance, supply chain optimization, and quality control where AI can deliver quick, measurable wins.
• Define success metrics: Set clear key performance indicators (KPIs) to track ROI and impact across teams and facilities. What gets measured gets managed.
• Leverage proven platforms and partners: Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use established AI platforms like Azure and work with partners who understand both technology and manufacturing.
• Start small, scale fast: Begin with urgent, actionable business challenges. Build on proven frameworks and architect for scale. As Audi AG showed, operational AI can be deployed at enterprise scale in weeks, not years.
• Invest in data foundations: Migrating legacy systems to the cloud and breaking down data silos are essential. Unified, AI-ready data is the backbone of successful industrial AI initiatives.

Learn how industrial AI can transform your business

Industrial AI is no longer a vision for the future, but a proven source of measurable value today. The manufacturers pulling ahead are the ones building AI into how they operate, scale, and compete. Whether you’re laying the groundwork or accelerating existing initiatives, now is the moment to turn momentum into impact.

Return on Intelligence: Scaling Business Value with Industrial AI

Deeper insights, real-world case studies, and a practical roadmap

Download the e-book

Start your journey toward smarter, more resilient, and more competitive manufacturing.

¹ New Tech: The Projected Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft Artificial Intelligence Solutions For Industrial Transformation. Results are over three years for a composite organization based on interviewed and surveyed customers.

The post The ROI of AI in manufacturing: Where adoption becomes advantage appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

We’re thrilled to announce the public preview of the Product Change Management agent template—an AI-powered solution that transforms how manufacturers manage the process of change across equipment, products, processes, and more. Built on Microsoft Copilot Studio, the agent automates workflows and connects systems, helping teams cut approval times from weeks to days, reduce errors, and bring innovations to market, faster.

Learn how Copilot Studio can help build and customize agents that work for your operations.  

Reenergizing change management with AI

Engineering change management (ECM) is how manufacturers manage change without causing production chaos. Changes move through a complex, controlled path with requests reviewed, approved, and rolled out to multiple stakeholders and systems. Whether responding to market shifts, regulatory updates, or quality improvements, manufacturers initiate millions of change requests each year.

Today, ECM is slow. While highly collaborative, the process is easily bogged down by siloed information, manual steps, and disconnected processes. When it breaks down, costs from scrap, stoppages, and delayed product launches pile up.

The Product Change Management agent template addresses these pain points by infusing intelligence, automation, and orchestration into this otherwise manual process. The agent provides a managed solution that can be tailored to specific business needs—accelerating deployment while ensuring consistency and governance. Connecting people, data, and systems together with Microsoft AI, it simplifies execution—cutting approval times to days, improving uptime, and ensuring change traceability.

Powering AI change management end-to-end

The Product Change Management agent template is an AI-powered orchestrator, built in Copilot Studio. It autonomously manages engineering change processes through a series of specialized sub-agents, collaborating with your team to ensure every change is executed efficiently and accurately. Using Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Teams, the agent shifts manual tasks to focused reviews and refinement—delivering faster, safer changes with fewer errors and less review turmoil, while maintaining compliance and alignment. maintaining compliance and alignment.

Some key capabilities set it apart:

• Automated workflow orchestration. Accelerate approvals by coordinating the entire change process, from request to closure, autonomously. Embedded into Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams, the agent initiates impact analysis, routes approvals, and updates records—keeping stakeholders informed.
• System of record synchronization. Keep engineering and operations systems aligned. The agent ensures updates are consistently reflected across product lifecycle management (PLM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, eliminating rework and maintaining alignment from design through delivery.
• Collaborative stakeholder engagement. Simplify communication across engineering, quality, and operations with natural language interfaces and intelligent routing. This ensures that the right people are engaged at the right time, reducing bottlenecks and accelerating approvals.
• Data-driven impact analysis. Evaluate proposed changes across inventory, suppliers, and production. The agent surfaces real-time insights to guide decision-making and flag potential risks early—empowering teams to act.
• Built-in compliance and traceability. Document and audit changes at every step. The agent enforces governance policies, tracks decisions, and supports regulatory compliance without adding complexity.

In short, product change management lays the agentic foundation for manufacturing digital threads—enabling agility, transparency, and reliability for every stakeholder.

Transforming change management at Coca-Cola Beverages Africa

Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) is the eighth largest authorized Coca-Cola bottler in the world by revenue, and the largest on the continent—operating in 14 countries. Serving more than 800,000 customers, CCBA accounts for 40% of all Coca-Cola ready-to-drink beverages sold in Africa through a host of international and local brands.

With thousands of stock keeping units (SKUs), multiple packaging formats, and a relentless focus on sustainability, CCBA runs one of the most complex beverage supply chains in Africa. Agility is critical especially when managing formulation and packaging changes that ripple across multiple production lines, inventory systems, and financial models.

Every year, CCBA makes more than 1,000 changes to its bottle molds alone, often driven by material availability or sustainability initiatives. Historically, these changes relied on manual workflows: engineers drafting requests, planners emailing spreadsheets, and multiple handoffs across departments. This process was slow, error-prone, and risky. A single misalignment could mean production downtime, inaccurate cost data, or compliance gaps. The Product Change Management agent template from Microsoft is transforming this process.

Acting as a digital orchestrator, the agent brings intelligence, speed, and reliability to the CCBA change lifecycle. Here’s how:

• Smart initiation. When a planner or engineer triggers a change, such as switching a supplier or updating a packaging component, the agent immediately identifies all affected products and plants. It auto-drafts the request, applies the standard template, and fills in known details like part numbers and descriptions—eliminating repetitive manual work.
• Automated routing. The agent ensures the request moves to the right reviewers in the correct sequence, removing guesswork and delays. Notifications flow through familiar tools like Teams and Outlook, alerting stakeholders when action is required.
• Instant system updates. Once approvals are complete, the agent updates Microsoft Dynamics 365 in real time, syncing bill-of-material data. It confirms changes immediately, rather than days of manual checks.

The Product Change Management agent is streamlining equipment management across CCBA’s capital assets and products, enabling faster identification of impact areas and responsible individuals, and improving operational efficiency

—Joshua Motsuenyane, Chief Information Officer, CCBA

While this strategic collaboration is still new, CCBA is already seeing results. Actions that once took days of back-and-forth now happen in hours or less. Product change management also represents a major milestone in its Frontier Firm journey—making change management a focus across one of Africa’s most dynamic manufacturing networks.

Creating the future of change management in manufacturing, together with partners

AI-powered change management is now imperative. As changes proliferate across more assets and systems, manufacturers need governed, AI-guided workflows to maintain speed and quality. Discrete manufacturers—building complex products from computers to cars—feel it the most: disconnected systems and manual handoffs slow adoption, raise error rates, and suppress productivity. PTC and Microsoft are changing that.

Together, we’re building an agentic architecture that bridges operations and engineering systems, enabling faster decisions with enterprise visibility. Enabled by technologies such as model context protocol (MCP), native PLM agents in Windchill and ERP agents in Dynamics 365 interoperate to surface problem reports, collate data from multiple systems, and drive automation in PLM workflows such as change impact analysis, where data governance rules are established, ensuring AI agents work in the right context and within the right controls.

Ready to simplify change and accelerate execution?

Product Change Management agent template

Join the public preview

In combining Microsoft for Manufacturing with expertise from partners, we can deliver better, more comprehensive industry solutions. As we expand this ecosystem, manufacturers will gain even broader interoperability, deeper insights, and more resiliency across their value chain.

Shaping the manufacturing Frontier

With the Product Change Management agent template, manufacturers gain a trusted technology partner in navigating every engineering change. Part of a broader vision to enable intelligent digital treads across manufacturing, product change management is about empowering teams to innovate with confidence, backed by data and AI automation.

Industrial AI can accelerate product design and engineering outcomes. Learn how with our latest Signals Report.

The post Accelerate innovation with AI: Introducing the Product Change Management agent template appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

Agility helps retail and consumer goods supply chains:

• Quickly switch suppliers, develop more flexible sourcing strategies, and mitigate disruptions from potential tariffs¹
• Adapt product offerings and pricing strategies to combat the lingering effects of inflation
• Adopt more real-time demand forecasting tools and flexible warehousing solutions to keep up with shopping patterns
• Augment human labor with automation to improve productivity and address labor shortages

Retail and consumer goods organizations that develop greater agility will catapult themselves forward by using insights from their supply chains as a critical enabler.

Nonetheless, many retailers’ supply chains struggle with agility because warehouse data is often still on-premises—and that’s holding them back from the latest technologies. Because data is central to all business processes, it’s data that either fuels or inhibits supply chain growth. Reliance on on-premises data and legacy systems likely inhibits supply chain growth because it:

• Causes latency that slows decision-making since leaders lack access to real-time data and often rely on outdated snapshots of old data
• Prevents visibility and collaboration since data is often fragmented and siloed
• Limits scale because systems can’t efficiently process increased data volumes and fluctuating demand
• Impedes flexibility when systems can’t adapt quickly to shifting market conditions and demand
• Impairs adoption of new technologies and processes when existing platforms aren’t adaptable

The warehouse is the ideal starting place for increased digitalization because investments made at the warehouse create value that extends to other parts of the supply chain and enterprise.

Digitalizing the warehouse enables operational excellence and innovation through:

• Data-driven decision-making through real-time insights that help managers make more informed decisions and get teams unified around the same information so retailers can get ahead of demand.
• Reduced operating costs related to warehousing operations through enhanced efficiencies gained by automation and robotics—and improved warehouse throughput through layout optimization, labor efficiencies, and automation. This includes reduced time and labor required for tasks such as picking, packing, and shipping.
• Seamless integration throughout supply chain systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and warehouse management systems. It also sets the stage for other powerful capabilities, such as intelligent stores.
• More scalability, making it easier for retailers to handle seasonal demand fluctuations or rapid growth without disrupting operations.

Agility helps supply chain leaders drive operational excellence and innovation. Nothing enables that level of agility like the cloud. Here are three compelling reasons to start digitizing your warehouse today with Microsoft and its partner ecosystem.

1. Help warehouse managers drive operational excellence with agentic AI

The role of the warehouse manager is pivotal in the supply chain ecosystem, yet warehouse managers are overloaded with information from multiple sources, making it hard to parse what’s relevant and useful.

Blue Yonder’s warehouse manager AI agent offers an easy-to-digest, interactive report designed to help warehouse managers stay up to date with the most important data and information. The agent delivers those key insights when they’re needed, helping ensure operational excellence every day.

Instead of sifting through hundreds of charts and dashboards, pages and pages of report analysis, or piecing together fragments of information from their teams, warehouse managers get a simplified view of what’s happening, what caused the issue, and what to do about it.

It’s like having a personal analyst working alongside the warehouse manager who knows all about their role, their company, and warehouse. That partnership helps the manager move much more quickly from information overwhelm to clear, decisive action.

Blue Yonder expects more developments coming soon, including more data highlights, summaries, and suggested actions, as well as an expanding list of tasks the agents can perform with human guidance.

2. Optimize warehouse design, planning, and operations with simulation

Today’s customers expect retailers to have what they want and deliver it fast to their store or home. Warehouses are critical nodes in the supply chain where optimizations can improve growth and profitability. From receiving shipments to sorting, picking, and packaging, every step of warehouse operations is being modernized with AI that analyzes changes in the physical world.

Simulating facility designs and layouts, processes, and discrete events in fulfillment and distribution centers helps retail and consumer goods enterprises make more informed and faster decisions without the need to physically install systems to evaluate use cases. Simulation also lets enterprises create and use synthetic data to orchestrate between manual labor and automation systems applying AI, machine learning, robotics, sensor technology, management systems, cloud platforms, and data analytics. How can warehouses achieve operational excellence at every step of the orchestration?

NVIDIA Omniverse is a platform for developing and deploying physical AI and simulation applications for industrial digitalization. Developers use Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD) to build solutions on a platform that enables warehouse scale, digital twins, and simulations to optimize layouts and achieve operational efficiencies. These digital twins also serve as virtual training grounds for autonomous systems and robotic fleets that increasingly operate inside these facilities.

Today, leading retailers and consumer goods companies use applications and solutions built on NVIDIA Omniverse to design and simulate greenfield and brownfield warehouses from scratch, establishing an optimal layout and process flow all in a physically accurate digital space. They can evaluate technologies like robotic shelving systems, robotic grid-based storage, or vertical lift modules (VLM) for high-density storage.

Solutions built on Omniverse let retailers integrate data from different enterprise and industrial systems to create, test, and measure design, process, and operational twins before spending precious capital or stepping foot in the building. For greenfield sites, this means a fully optimized virtual version of the entire design before construction begins. For brownfield sites, retailers can seamlessly integrate new automation technologies with existing systems, ensuring the entire warehouse achieves its operational benchmarks and performs as one cohesive unit.

Applications developed with the Omniverse platform also allow supply chain leaders to understand the impact of discreet events that impact efficiency so they can make decisions that improve key performance metrics like warehouse throughput without the risk of costly physical trials.

In the fast-paced world of commerce, time to value is everything. But platform technologies are never the end-all, be-all. That’s why collaborating with the right partners and experts is crucial for retail and consumer goods enterprises. By bringing together integration partners like Accenture to simplify the development and implementation of end-to-end advanced automation and robotics solutions and services, Microsoft’s powerful cloud solutions, and NVIDIA’s cutting-edge accelerated computing, AI, and simulation platforms, retailers can accelerate warehouse transformation and realize value faster than ever.

3. Boost productivity and collaboration with robotics-enabled automation and intelligent orchestration

Warehouse managers have traditionally relied on manual processes and human labor to keep their operations running smoothly. But labor shortages and rising operational costs are making it increasingly difficult to maintain efficiency and productivity. Additionally, the complexity of managing inventory and ensuring timely order fulfillment often leads to bottlenecks and errors.

Advancements in robotics can help supply chains augment staffing, improve employee safety, and drive warehouse productivity. New capabilities are emerging every day and startups are the ones embracing these new capabilities.

Intelligent orchestration and sortation with Unbox Robotics

The last mile can be a significant chunk of the cost in getting the supply chain right. Unbox Robotics is one of hundreds of startups Microsoft works with to deliver retail supply chain solutions. Unbox Robotics can help automate the last mile process by using robots and swarm intelligence that mimics what a swarm of bees or ants do by carrying goods from one place to another. These robots pick items, sort them, and put them in one lot lightning fast so they can easily be picked up and delivered. And because robots can work around the clock, Unbox Robotics can help retailers offset labor challenges with “always on” reliability.

Smart redistributions with YDISTRI—a new era in inventory optimization

Even the best demand forecasting systems can’t fully prevent real-time overstock and understock issues. YDISTRI doesn’t compete with these systems—it complements them by providing an AI-based reactive inventory redistribution solution. For example, in a supermarket chain, YDISTRI analyzes sales patterns, local demand, and product turnover to identify overstocked items—such as specialty foods or seasonal goods—and moves them to stores where they will sell faster at full price, reducing markdowns and waste.

By weighing transfer costs against the risk of discounts or write-offs, YDISTRI helps retailers maximize revenue from existing stock, improving inventory efficiency without relying on heavy markdowns.

Bend the curve on innovation by digitalizing your warehouse in 2025

Improving agility gives retailers the ability to future-proof their business, flex and scale their operations, and be more responsive and adaptive to consumer demands. Supply chain leaders can achieve operational excellence and catapult themselves forward with generative AI, digital twins, and robotics.

Microsoft partners with Blue Yonder, an organization that provides complete solutions across the entire supply chain, and with hundreds of today’s most innovative startups to complement a retailer’s existing technologies. Start using your supply chain as a business enabler by digitalizing your warehouse in 2025 and gain more agility for years to come.

Microsoft Cloud for Retail

Explore solutions

Learn more

• Microsoft’s responsible AI principles

• Enhancing supply chain efficiency in the retail and consumer goods industry with agentic systems

• Delivering your supply chain copilot: Prioritizing areas of ROI

• Delivering your supply chain copilot: Getting started on ideation

¹ “Tariffs: What Retailers Need to Know,” Bain & Company, January 2025.

The post AI-powered retail: 3 reasons to start digitalizing your warehouse in 2025 appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

Yet even with all this progress, for decades fragmented systems and heterogenous environments have kept digital threads within the industry largely aspirational, preventing most organizations from achieving synchronized operations. A persistent inability to connect modern technology solutions with aging infrastructure has also slowed the collaboration long promised to manufacturers. Together, unified data and AI are now enabling organizations of all sizes to break through these barriers, transforming digital threads from static, disconnected datasets to dynamic networks. With AI agents serving as the interface, every worker can surface the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), total cost of ownership (TCO), and return on investment (ROI) insights necessary to drive decision-making.

At Hannover Messe 2025, Microsoft is showcasing how new AI agents and partnerships with leading software vendors can help manufacturers deliver secure, scalable innovation from the shopfloor to the boardroom. Attendees will experience firsthand how data-driven intelligence and AI-enabled solutions will reshape manufacturing.

AI agents supporting the development of frontline workers 

Manufacturing transformation is reaching into every aspect of operations. Frontline workers now have access to AI agents providing them with enhanced guidance needed to make informed decisions. To expand this modern toolbox, we announced back at Ignite 2024 the public preview of Factory Operations Agent in Azure AI Foundry. An AI-powered assistant, Factory Operations Agent streamlines operations—enabling operators, production, and leaders to quickly access insights and optimize manufacturing processes through natural language querying. In doing so, the agent accelerates issue resolution and root cause analysis to improve productivity within day-to-day manufacturing operations.

As the industry struggles with turnover, worker skilling is an ever-present challenge. The World Economic Forum found that 63% of industry leaders believe skilling to be a significant barrier to growth.¹ Manufacturers need no-code and low-code options that democratize the power of AI without the need for extensive coding. With this in mind, we are announcing the same Factory Operations Agent now available in Copilot Studio in public preview, where with one-click it can be easily integrated into products like Microsoft Teams.

Finally, we’re announcing the public preview of Factory Safety Agent in Copilot Studio. This low-code, customizable solution provides workers with answers to occupational health and safety (OHS) questions and guidelines. It can also streamline safety inspections and personalize workforce training. 

Also, at Hannover Messe 2025, we will be showcasing state of the art technologies that will enhance the future of frontline work, like with our customer Sanctuary AI.

Sanctuary AI is shaping the future of frontline work, ushering in the era of autonomous labor with the power of Microsoft Azure. As frontline labor shortages intensify, manufacturers can explore deploying advanced general-purpose robots with dexterity-driven physical AI to automate repetitive, complex, and unsafe tasks to enhance operational efficiency. With Azure’s high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs), Sanctuary AI can train machine learning models at scale, pushing the boundaries of dexterous intelligence. 

Advancing innovation in digital engineering with generative AI 

Manufacturers shape their market leadership through digital engineering and design. By accelerating development and prototyping, and reducing time-to-market, AI-powered generative design is empowering manufacturers to create new high-performing, customer-centric products.

GenAI use cases to modernize manufacturing

Explore the value generative AI creates across the organization

Learn how

Aras is introducing Aras InnovatorEdge, a low-code application programming interface (API) management framework embedded in the Aras Innovator® platform. This solution simplifies API creation and integration, enabling secure, scalable data connectivity and enhancing collaboration, operational efficiency, and decision-making across enterprises. It integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Fabric, unlocking deeper insights and optimizing decision-making across the digital engineering landscape. 

Autodesk and Microsoft collaborate to create an AI-powered digital thread to help manufacturers gain efficiencies, reduce costs, and compete smarter. Autodesk® Fusion, the industry cloud for manufacturing, connects people, data, and process through the product development lifecycle. Autodesk Data solutions in Fusion Manage and Microsoft Fabric will enable efficient data management and process optimization. Additionally, Autodesk’s digital twin offerings with Tandem, factory simulation through FlexSIM, and factory operations management with Fusion Operations all benefit from this collaboration, ensuring that these tools work seamlessly across the IT and OT ecosystem. 

Windchill by PTC is a crucial platform for engineering and manufacturing teams globally. To support manufacturers aiming to integrate AI across their value chains, PTC and Microsoft are partnering to develop an enterprise data framework and multi-agentic model within Microsoft Fabric. This collaboration extends digital thread capabilities beyond traditional product lifecycle management (PLM), integrating data from enterprise resource planning (ERP) and manufacturing execution system (MES) systems, and enabling AI-powered insights and workflows. 

Preparing the factory edge for AI  

AI is redefining factory operations, but to fully capitalize on shop floor investments, manufacturers need to integrate their on-premises industrial edge solutions with the cloud. 

A core component of the Azure adaptive cloud approach, Azure IoT Operations is built on industry standards. Capturing data from industrial equipment assets and devices, Azure IoT Operations normalizes it at the edge—sending operational insights to the cloud and back.

Husqvarna is leveraging Azure IoT Operations and AI tools to digitally transform its factory floors. Their AI Vision Companion enhances visual quality control for chainsaw production, while AI chatbots assist night workers with troubleshooting, improving efficiency, and reducing downtime. With these new capabilities, Husqvarna expects to double their in-market connected devices and boost robotic lawn mower sales, expanding Azure IoT Operations from two to 40 factories globally by summer 2025. 

Siemens and Microsoft have expanded their partnership, Siemens Industrial Edge works seamlessly with Microsoft Azure IoT Operations, making OT and IT data planes fully interoperable for manufacturing. This joint effort streamlines data flow between edge and cloud, enhancing machine performance, product quality, and maintenance efficiency, and enabling manufacturers to adopt AI and digital twin technologies for more adaptive, optimized production.

Making AI-powered digital threads a reality for manufacturers 

The nervous system of industrial operations, digital threads weave together critical information, processes, and people across manufacturing segments. Grounded in unified operational (OT), information (IT), and engineering (ET) data, the electronic frameworks can empower individuals with relevant, timely insights. From initial concept to customer support, this continuous flow of data connects and enriches every aspect of manufacturing.

For over a century, Rolls-Royce has been a force for progress; powering, protecting, and connecting people everywhere. Today, with digital transformation at the forefront, the company is redefining how its world-class products are designed, built, and maintained. Hannover Messe 2025 visitors will see firsthand how AI and cloud technologies are shaping the future of aerospace. With the help of Siemens and Microsoft, Rolls-Royce is leveraging AI to streamline production, boost engine efficiency, and predict maintenance needs before issues arise. Rolls-Royce is also helping provide more efficient, reliable, and low-emissions energy solutions, powering everything from critical infrastructure to data centers. Rolls-Royce isn’t just keeping up with the digital revolution—it’s driving it.

Without AI, manufacturing data is difficult to navigate. Data quality, standardization, and integration have been unreliable. Microsoft is helping manufacturers make sense of their data to unlock the AI opportunity. With Microsoft Fabric, manufacturers can integrate data across different departments and teams. Traditionally, this data is trapped within separate systems. Parsec and Tulip integrations mark another major step in our ability to drive operational intelligence, enhancing shop floor and frontline execution. 

Parsec, developer of the industry-leading MES, TrakSYS™, today announced an upcoming integration with Microsoft Fabric and the factory operations agent in Azure AI Foundry solution to help deliver generative AI to manufacturing organizations. Dubbed TrakSYS IQ, this industry-defining functionality will enable users to retrieve and analyze factory data through a conversational user interface, bolstering productivity and data-based decision-making. 

Tulip, a leader in frontline operations solutions, announces its integration with Microsoft Fabric. This integration enables the Tulip Frontline Operations Platform to deliver scalable analytics across multiple factories, leveraging rich datasets for machine learning to provide real-time feedback and alerts to supervisors and operators. 

See Industrial AI in action at Hannover Messe 2025

The future of manufacturing is powered by AI. This year, at Hannover Messe 2025, attendees will have the opportunity to experience how Microsoft and its partners are supporting the industry transformation—from digital engineering, on factory floors, with frontline workers, and through digital thread. Join us at Hall 17, Stand G06. 

Thanks to all partners and customers joining Microsoft at Hannover Messe 2025: ABB, Accenture Avanade, Autodesk, AVEVA, AVL, Bayer, Blue Yonder, Bosch, Bühler Group, C3.ai, Capgemini, Cognite, Databricks, EPLAN, Hexagon, Husqvarna, Kongsberg Digital, Litmus, MTEK, NVIDIA, NTT Data, o9, Parsec, PTC, PWC, Rescale, Rockwell Automation, Rolls-Royce, Sanctuary AI, Sandvik, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Sight Machine, Symphony AI, TeamViewer, TCS, and Tulip. 

¹WEF: Skill Gaps are the Biggest Barrier to Transformation, Skillsoft.

The post Industrial AI in action: How AI agents and digital threads will transform the manufacturing industries appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

These initiatives focus on harnessing data insights from smart technologies such as automation, Internet of Things (IoT), and AI, to improve how products are made and distributed. By unifying this and other data—including siloed data sets—into a single ESG data estate, manufacturing organizations can gain holistic views and granular insights to help them not only meet ESG reporting requirements, but also drive the sustainability of sourcing, making, transporting, and disposing of products—and implement business practices that advance a circular economy.  

To support your organization as you explore options and identify cost-effective steps in this era of industrial transformation, we’ve gathered learnings and recommendations into the Leader’s Guide to Sustainable Business Transformation. We’ve also created an ESG data readiness assessment to help you get started quickly. 

A more responsible, competitive path forward 

Manufacturing and mobility organizations that develop smart, automated, and data-driven processes as part of industrial transformation—and incorporate sustainability into those processes—are well positioned to gain a competitive advantage. ESG insights can help manufacturers achieve a range of goals across the value chain, such as:  

• Improved risk management and the protection of critical production processes.
• Engagement with vendors and suppliers to address Scope 3 emissions, reduce exposure to impacts from climate risks, and governance loopholes.
• Reduced costs and improved traceability with streamlined technology resources.
• More responsible capital deployment.  

With advanced solutions, organizations have already begun making these improvements. For example, Sandvik, a leader in mining industry manufacturing, implemented Microsoft AI and cloud technologies to enhance predictive maintenance and lower emissions, allowing them to cut down on waste and optimize resource use. 

ESG data: The input that fuels comprehensive sustainability 

To achieve the full potential of ESG data—from the shop floor to the board room—manufacturing and mobility organizations can benefit from evaluating sustainability comprehensively, in terms of environmental concerns as well as social and governance impacts. This approach uses ESG data insights to improve risk management and protect the value of critical product processes, and to make decisions that improve energy use, labor practices, supply chain transparency, regulatory compliance, and more.  

For example, Outokumpu, a worldwide leader in stainless steel production, tapped into the power of data by developing an industrial digital platform based on Microsoft Azure. The insights this platform provided led to significantly reduced waste (due to fewer defects) and energy usage—contributing to lower CO2 emissions. 

Key ways to maximize the benefits of ESG data in manufacturing and mobility include: 

• Build a data-driven infrastructure: ensure that systems are in place to collect and integrate accurate ESG data seamlessly across all departments.
• Leverage predictive insights: use AI and analytics to forecast and optimize operations, including by using natural language querying to enable all teams to access insights—enabling efficient resource use and proactive risk management.
• Foster a culture of sustainability: from executives to front-line workers, train employees in how ESG data can improve decision-making and drive sustainability outcomes. 

Implementing these ideas can provide the foundation for using ESG data to drive long-term success, and to make significant improvements relatively quickly. For instance, Nordic-based OSTP Group, which specializes in manufacturing stainless steel products and custom equipment, is using Microsoft technologies to track and report CO2 emissions. The data insights they gained led to a 70% reduction in direct CO2 emissions from 2021 to 2023. 

Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy management and industrial automation, has also reduced carbon emissions and optimized energy use—leveraging Azure OpenAI and other Microsoft AI technologies to boost not only sustainability, but also their engineers’ productivity. 

How Microsoft is powering sustainable transformations  

Microsoft has emerged as a leading partner for manufacturing and mobility organizations on their journey toward sustainability. We’ve designed our solutions to help businesses in three primary ways: 

1. Improve ESG data transparency: We’re continuously innovating to enable our customers to glean consolidated data intelligence from across their operations and value chain.
2. Deliver actionable insights: Microsoft has a deep slate of expertise helping manufacturers maximize operational efficiencies using sensor-enabled data management and automated scenarios powered by the Microsoft Cloud.
3. Create new opportunities: We are a global leader in enabling digital transformation through our data and AI solutions, to help businesses grow while becoming more sustainable. 

We’re delivering for these solution areas by bringing together a growing set of ESG data and AI capabilities from Microsoft and our global ecosystem of partners, in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability.  

A core solution in this suite is Microsoft Sustainability Manager, which allows businesses to more easily record, report, and reduce their environmental impact through data connections and powerful AI-powered analytics—and can be integrated with virtually any business system. With this solution, manufacturing and mobility teams advance on carbon, water, and waste management, as well as circularity.  

Businesses can also implement the purpose-built ESG capabilities of Sustainability data solutions in Microsoft Fabric, to integrate, normalize, and analyze ESG data—and other enterprise data—on a single digital platform. Together, these capabilities help improve ESG data accuracy and transparency, simplify reporting processes, and accelerate progress toward goals.  

Swedish forestry giant Södra is showing what’s possible with these capabilities. Södra utilizes Microsoft Sustainability Manager to improve supply chain transparency and track sustainability data across its entire operation, allowing them to reduce reliance on carbon-intensive materials, displacing 8.8 million tons of CO2 emissions annually. Södra estimates the positive impact of this accomplishment as equivalent to one-fifth of Sweden’s annual reported carbon emissions. 

A sustainable future begins with smarter solutions 

As manufacturing and mobility continues to transform, both smart technologies and ESG data will help companies drive sustainability, meet compliance and reporting requirements, and uncover new opportunities for growth. Microsoft is here to help organizations make the transition with solutions to help reduce their environmental impact, improve operational efficiency, and position themselves for long-term success in a rapidly changing world. To gain a view of your ESG data across key areas, as well as customized guidance on how to drive sustainability progress and add business value, complete our readiness assessment.

Explore ESG readiness for other industries

• Retail and consumer goods: Unlocking business value with data-driven sustainability for retail and consumer goods
• Financial services: ESG data readiness drives value for financial services firms

ESG Data Readiness Assessment

View your data readiness across critical areas

Take the assessment today

The post Data is driving a more sustainable industrial transformation appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

At Microsoft, our mission has always been one of empowerment. AI furthers this mission. When harnessed together with modern compute and infrastructure, Microsoft AI offers unprecedented access to information that can help solve complex manufacturing problems faster. To showcase this innovation, we recently attended the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) 2024 in Chicago, Illinois, and demonstrated how Microsoft and its partners are accelerating industrial transformation outcomes with AI. Read on to experience IMTS for yourself, with our highlights and the 3 areas we believe the Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing and AI are driving real industry impact.

• Design better products with AI-powered insights
• Build products smarter with AI-optimized manufacturing
• Modernize frontline operations with AI-assisted workers

Design better products with AI-powered insights

Design is the cornerstone of manufacturing, shaping not only product functionality, aesthetics, and performance but influencing production efficiency, material use, and long-term sustainability. This critical stage presents significant opportunities to optimize manufacturing processes and reduce costs that are often locked in early. With generative design and AI-enabled solutions like predictive modeling and digital twins, we can analyze real-time performance data and simulate alternatives rapidly to minimize material waste, reduce errors, and improve time-to-market.

Moreover, for many modern connected products, software is an increasingly significant component—driving functionality, value, and the transformation of traditional dynamics. Generative AI streamlines software development by accelerating code generation with tools like Github Copilot, allowing engineers to iterate faster, improve overall quality, and design more sustainably. The combined impact is a more agile, efficient development process that reduces time-to-market, enhances product performance, and fosters sustainable innovation. As software continues to integrate deeper into connected products, generative AI empowers engineers to push the boundaries of what’s possible within design and manufacturing.

Harnessing data for streamlined product development with PTC

In the Microsoft booth, our partner PTC demonstrated the impact AI can have on product lifecycle with a well-managed digital thread. Their demo showed how Vestas, a wind turbine manufacturer, leverages PTC’s design, Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions to develop products. PTC’s new digital thread solution uses Azure and Microsoft AI to bring these tools together to enable real-time data synchronicity, traceability, and version control across Vestas’ product lifecycle. This single source of truth simplified the development process and enabled Vestas to continue reusing valuable data throughout the product’s lifecycle.

Build products smarter with AI-optimized manufacturing

Manufacturing success today requires a seamless integration of materials, technology, and resources. With these complex environments, AI is changing how we think about industrial operations. The merging of physical assets with AI, IoT, and automation solutions is enabling manufacturers to optimize production, reduce downtime, and improve real-time decision making for greater competitiveness.

Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing centralizes data in the cloud, unifying its structure. Once organized, AI solutions can extract data’s hidden value analyzing it for insights, including predictive maintenance by identifying shop floor patterns and anomalies that may indicate potential equipment failures. AI-enabled factories allow manufacturers to better manage supply chains, anticipate these production shifts, and optimize their resource allocation.

For mission-critical operations, Azure IoT Operations ensures your data is processed on-premises for immediate action, before being sent to the cloud for further analysis. Azure IoT Operations takes an adaptive cloud approach, supported by Azure Arc, which enables manufacturers to unify data across their hybrid, multi-cloud, and edge environments. An adaptive cloud approach simplifies infrastructure management and security while maximizing resource utilization and ensuring AI-powered solutions scale across production lines and multiple sites. By adopting this approach, manufacturers can streamline operations, improve scalability, and establish a standardized architecture, ensuring resiliency and continuous improvement across the enterprise.

Enabling OT intelligence for autonomous operations with Rockwell

AI has already demonstrated its ability to digest information and offer accurate recommendations. How does this translate to manufacturing factories? Rockwell demonstrated how IoT solutions can enlighten older OT assets and processes. Rockwell enables organizations to transform their factory equipment into IoT-enabled assets. This live operational data is then centralized in the cloud through Azure IoT Operations, where predictive AI can automatically identify and address maintenance needs, enhance workflows, and perform tasks that once needed onsite staff.

Modernize frontline operations with AI-assisted workers

Frontline workers and service teams are the backbone of manufacturing operations. Their expertise, adaptability, and problem-solving skills are critical for maintaining production efficiency—ensuring quality control and driving continuous improvement in environments where the digital world meets the physical world. When empowered by AI, these workers become decision-makers freed from repetitive tasks. AI allows frontline workers from the factory floor to the field to focus on higher-value activities, improves their productivity, and enables them to adapt to the evolving demands of modern manufacturing.

Generative AI enables service teams to seamlessly create work orders from unstructured data like emails, efficiently schedule resources, and provide timely support—particularly during high-demand periods. For frontline workers, AI offers fast and intuitive access to essential information, eliminating the need to manually sift through long standard operating procedures, equipment manuals or contact expert support. By delivering the right information at the right moment with natural language prompting, generative AI not only improves first-time fix rates but also accelerates worker upskilling, preparing them for more complex responsibilities and driving long-term productivity gains.

Delivering exceptional customer service with Dynamics 365 Field Service

At IMTS 2024 we showcased how Microsoft Copilot in Dynamics 365 Field Service is enabling workers to solve problems more efficiently and deliver exceptional customer experiences. Delivering exceptional service is key for building customer preference and loyalty. Copilot in Dynamics 365 Field Service can help service managers and technicians efficiently create workorders, schedule workers and find the information they need to resolve issues right the first time while keeping customers updated at every step of the process. With the added capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist capabilities in Microsoft Teams, frontline workers can call for expert help and utilize augmented reality features such as spatial annotations reducing asset downtimes and efficient service experience for customers.

Continuing AI conversations beyond IMTS 2024

Manufacturing is undergoing a profound transformation. It is clear, AI will be at the heart of this change. From revolutionizing product design with AI-driven insights and optimizing manufacturing processes with predictive analytics to empowering frontline workers with easy access to information, AI is fundamentally reshaping how industries operate. IMTS 2024 underscored our vision for manufacturing and the impact AI will have on industrial operations. From PTC to Rockwell to Microsoft Copilot in Dynamics 365 Field Service, AI is driving innovation and enabling manufacturers to overcome operational bottlenecks.

As AI adoption accelerates, organizations will face challenges such as inadequate data, expertise gaps, and governance. Microsoft is committed to helping manufacturers overcome these obstacles and realize the full potential of AI. By combining modern cloud infrastructure and compute with powerful AI tools, Microsoft can enable every organization to scale their AI initiatives across multiple sites and functions, moving them beyond “pilot purgatory” to achieve long-term, sustainable transformation.

Explore Microsoft solutions

Now is the time. Along with its partners, Microsoft can help every manufacturer unlock the value in their data, streamline operations, and drive greater value chain efficiency. Whether you’re just beginning your journey or looking to scale, Microsoft can support you at every stage.

Industrial transformation

Accelerate how your organization designs, builds, and operates with AI

Discover solutions

• Learn how Microsoft can help you overcome barriers to AI adoption and drive real impact in your manufacturing value chain by reading this report we created in collaboration with MIT Technology Review Insights.
• Explore how Microsoft is helping other organizations accelerate their transformation on our industrial transformation webpage.

The post 3 practical ways industrial AI is reshaping manufacturing appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

From startups to global enterprises, Microsoft is helping organizations of all sizes unlock the power of data and AI to accelerate the energy transition and create a data driven digital foundation for a sustainable future. Microsoft, our partners, and customers, are deploying innovative solutions that enable energy transformation in ways that weren’t possible before—to empower employees, increase operational efficiency, achieve net-zero commitments, and grow sustainable businesses.

Microsoft for Energy and Resources

Transform the energy and resources industry

Explore solutions

CERAWeek always brings new ideas and people together, and we are thrilled once again to participate in this important exchange of ideas, insights, and innovation. We need a diversity of voices to tackle the multidimensional energy transition, and we’re committed to working with customers and partners to accelerate digital transformation and our journey to a sustainable future.

At CERAWeek 2024 from March 18 to 22, 2024 in Houston, Texas, Microsoft will address the complexities of the multidimensional energy transition—markets, climate, technology, and geopolitics. We hope to see you at this annual gathering of energy executives, policymakers, and thought leaders from around the world. This year, attendees will explore strategies for a multidimensional, multispeed, and multifuel energy transition. Look for us throughout the week on the main stage, in leadership circles, Innovation Agora sessions, and at the Microsoft Agora House, where we’ll showcase new technologies, solutions, and perspectives together with our customers and partners.

Accelerate the energy transition with AI 

Themes at CERAWeek 2024 include energy markets, climate and sustainability, new supply chains for net-zero, technology and innovation, and power markets in transition. Microsoft’s leaders from energy, sustainability, cloud and AI, and security will be addressing these topics and speaking about the impact of AI and other technologies at the following sessions:  

• Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President, Cloud + AI: “The Multidimensional Energy Transition: A world of choices.”
• Matt Kerner, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Cloud for Industry: “AI: How will it impact the energy business?“
• Kelly Bissell, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security: “AI Enhancing Cybersecurity across the Energy Sector.”
• Bobby Hollis, Vice President Energy: “Future Forward: Harnessing the power of Gen-AI in climate solutions.”
• Christoph Schittko, Principal Software Engineer and Kadri Umay, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft: “Empowering the Energy Industry to Achieve Net-Zero Carbon Emissions with Data and A.”
• Conor Kelly, Principal Program Manager and Dag Boye, Industry Advisor, Microsoft: “Accelerating Business Transformation and the Energy Transition with Real-World AI.”
• Hanna Grene, Global Leader Go-to-Market and Operations, Energy and Resources Industry: “Effectively Decarbonizing the Electricity Grid.”
• Hany Soliman, Americas Business Leader Energy and Resources Industry: “Hydrogen and Power: Keeping the lights on in a zero carbon system.”
• Hema Prapoo, Worldwide Oil and Gas Leader: “Unveiling the latest breakthroughs in climate change mitigation.”
• Sverre Brandsberg-Dahl, Partner Chief Technology Officer, Energy Industry: “Accelerating CO2 transportation and storage solutions.”

I am pleased to participate alongside my Microsoft colleagues as a speaker on the topic, “Will AI accelerate the energy transition” and in an interactive “Next Gen” session featuring rapid-fire insights by leading minds on energy innovation along with CERAWeek 2024 future energy leaders.  

Showcasing innovation with customers and partners

At the Microsoft Agora House, we’ll join our customers and partners in showcasing some of the latest innovations driving safety, productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. Visitors to our Agora House can learn about:

• Microsoft Copilot for Dynamic 365 Guides: Transform frontline operations with AI and mixed reality
  AI, automation, and mixed reality solutions are poised to reshape industries everywhere. While industrial organizations worldwide overhaul their operations, frontline workers are still awaiting their digital renaissance. Within the energy industry, a focus on safety and the desire to accelerate skilling has Chevron looking to better equip its workers for the future. Copilot in Dynamics 365 Guides offers Chevron the opportunity to optimize its operations, empower workers, and infuse informed decisions throughout its value chain. Together, AI and mixed reality enable Chevron to define energy in human terms.​
• Microsoft Copilot for Security: Protect critical infrastructure at the speed and scale of AI
  Discover how Copilot for Security helps a broader set of security and IT professionals protect both their IT systems and industrial assets at the speed and scale of AI. Witness the power of Copilot synthesizing data from new sources, adding context and enrichment, and delivering new levels of effectiveness and efficiency, all in natural language, powered by generative AI.
• Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Energy: Accelerate your journey to energy data modernization
  Azure Data Manager for Energy helps energy companies gain actionable insights, improve operational efficiency, and accelerate time to market on the enterprise-grade, cloud-based OSDU® Data Platform service. The Microsoft partner ecosystem plays a crucial role in Azure Data Manager for Energy. For example, SLB’s Enterprise Data Solution seamlessly integrates with Azure Data Manager for Energy and simplifies data handling and discovery for domain-specific applications. Customers like Equinor are targeting data efficiency and a low-carbon future with Azure Data Manager for Energy and Aker BP is leveraging the platform to transform its data and operations.
• Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability​: Unlock the power of AI to meet your sustainability goals​
  Discover how AI in Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability helps unlock data insights to accelerate sustainability progress, business growth, and climate innovation. Now in preview, Sustainability data solutions in Microsoft Fabric allows organizations to accelerate their time to insights and sustainability progress by providing out-of-the-box environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data model, connectors, and reporting. By connecting your ESG data with Fabric you can turn volumes of sustainability data into meaningful insights and progress.

Partnerships for energy industry transformation  

Complex climate challenges require deep collaboration and innovation across industries and geographies. Microsoft values its partnerships and the industry-specific solutions partners provide, and we’re honored to highlight many of these change-makers at CERAWeek 2024. Microsoft partners in our Agora House are at the forefront of accelerating data modernization and leveraging generative AI so companies can achieve their safety, efficiency, productivity, and decarbonization goals. Featured partners and their solutions include: 

• Accenture is reinventing business and workforce productivity with generative AI. 
• Cognite is partnering with Microsoft to unlock real-time industrial insights with AI and to bring enterprise data operations to the generative AI era.  
• Schneider Electric is advancing decarbonization by integrating more distributed energy resources into the power grid. Microsoft and Schneider Electric are collaborating to leverage copilots and generative AI to transform outage management and control center operations.¹  
• SLB is accelerating the energy transition with speed and scale through data, AI, innovation, and partnerships with digital solutions enabling carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS).  

Other partners we are highlighting and presenting at the Microsoft Agora House include:

Customers leading the way with AI and Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365

Microsoft customers are at the forefront of digital transformation with AI. For example, Petronas, Cegal, and Microsoft have teamed up to drive innovation with an innovative platform based on Microsoft Azure high-performance computing (HPC) and AI technologies.² This initiative, which involves moving HPC workloads to the cloud, is anticipated to benefit energy operations for Petronas. 

More energy companies have announced commitments to implementing copilot to empower their workforce and advance their digital transformation journeys. Pacific Gas & Electric is leveraging Microsoft Power Platform, including AI and copilot features to address up to 40% of help desk demands to save more than $1 million annually. Global energy firm TotalEnergies is using Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Power Platform to improve operational efficiency, and this year all 100,000 employees will be trained to use these AI tools.³ Bp will also roll out Copilot for Microsoft 365 to its global workforce and empower them to improve workflows and enhance productivity.⁴

Startups speeding the energy transition 

The climate crisis impacts everyone, and diversity in the startup ecosystem helps to ensure that solutions also apply to everyone. People of color are disproportionately affected by climate change, yet Black and Latino founders receive less than 1.5% of total United States venture capital funding, women-founded organizations received 1.9% of those funds, and Black and Latino women founders less than 0.1%.⁵ 

Transformation starts with people, not technology, and Microsoft is proud to support underrepresented climate tech startups. At CERAWeek 2024, we are honored to feature nine startup pitch sessions with underrepresented founders and chief executive officers who are driving the future of clean energy and climate tech innovation at our Experience Zone. The Microsoft Agora House presents a unique opportunity to meet these startup leaders and learn about their innovations. The lineup includes: 

Other startup presenting in our Experience Zone include FlexDAO, Line Vision, and Utilidata from the Microsoft Energy Transition Studio for Startups, a new program designed to empower energy transition startups worldwide. By providing technical expertise, commercial support, and access to capital, the Microsoft Energy Transition Studio for Startups aims to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy, carbon capture, carbon management, and geothermal, to help the world get closer to and achieve net-zero. If your organization is developing energy transition or climate tech solutions, or to nominate a company, apply to the first cohort of Microsoft Energy Transition Studio for Startups.

See you in Houston

We hope you’ll join us in person at the conference and in the Microsoft Agora House, where we can connect and share more on transformational technologies like generative AI and their impact on the energy ecosystem. See you in Houston, Texas from March 18 to 22, 2024.

Learn more about Energy and Resources solutions with Microsoft

• CERAWeek 2024 
• Transformative AI solutions powering the energy and resources industry 
• Microsoft for Energy and Resources 

¹Schneider Electric drives Generative AI productivity and sustainability solutions by integrating Microsoft Azure OpenAI, PR Newswire.

²Petronas, Microsoft, Cegal join forces for upstream digital innovation, Gas Pathways.

³TotalEnergies unlocks the potential of generative artificial intelligence for its employees, TotalEnergies.

⁴bp looks to leverage power of generative AI with Copilot for Microsoft 365, bp.

⁵McKinsey and Company, Underrepresented start-up founders: The untapped opportunity, June 2023.

The post Microsoft at CERAWeek 2024: Enable energy transformation with data and AI appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.