01
Maintenance
Who has actually moved from calendar-based to predictive, and what the work-order data needed to look like first.
Interviews close November 20, 2026
The AI 30 / Manufacturing edition / Now interviewing
The AI 30: Manufacturing. Where AI is actually paying on the plant floor.
After interviewing 20+ construction leaders for the first AI 30, we're doing the same for manufacturing. Thirty plant, operations, and technology leaders. Fifteen-minute interviews. The unvarnished view of what's working, what isn't, and what it took.
30 featured leaders. One edition per industry.
Interviews close November 20, 2026. Profiles go in interview order.
Operators only. No vendors, no consultants, no sponsors.
Why this report exists
The AI conversation is run by people who sell AI.
Every automation vendor has a case study. Almost none of them come from a plant your size, with your data, your people, and your margins.
Predictive maintenance, machine vision, and smart scheduling are all real. So are the pilots that never made it past one line.
This edition is built from the people who run plants, not the people who sell to them.
What this edition covers
The three questions every manufacturing leader is asking.
02
Quality
Catching defects at the station instead of at the customer, using data most plants already collect and ignore.
03
Scheduling
Plans that keep up with weekly demand swings, and why most plants still run them in spreadsheets.
What 15 minutes gets you
Fifteen minutes. Four things in return.
- The finished edition before it goes public
- A featured profile among the 30, if you want one
- What your peers said about the same problems you're facing
- No pitch, no prep, on your schedule
Who we're talking to
- Plant managers, COOs, and VPs of operations
- Technology, engineering, and continuous-improvement leaders
- Discrete and process manufacturers with roughly 100 to 1,000 people
- Operators only. No vendors, no consultants.
What José asks
- 01Where has AI or automation actually paid off in your operation, and where did it stall?
- 02How much of your quality and maintenance data gets used to prevent the next problem?
- 03What would have to be true for you to fund an AI project next year?
How it works
Three steps, about fifteen minutes of your time.
Step 1
Pick a time
Grab any open slot on José's calendar. Interviews run by phone or video.
Step 2
Talk for 15 minutes
Where AI is working in your operation, where it isn't, and what you'd want from it next.
Step 3
Get the edition first
Participants receive the finished report before anyone else, with their profile if they opted in.
Questions
Before you book.
When does the manufacturing edition come out?
Interviews close November 20, 2026. Participants and the early-access list get it before it goes public.
Is this a sales call in disguise?
No. It's an interview for the report. If something you say sounds like a fit for what OnlyAI does, José will tell you, and if not, you still get the finished edition.
Will my company be named?
Only if you want a featured profile. Otherwise your answers are used anonymously, and nothing is published without your sign-off.
What do I need to prepare?
Nothing. Fifteen minutes and an honest view of where AI is helping in your operation and where it isn't.
Closes November 20, 2026
Thirty seats in the manufacturing edition. Interviews are filling in order.
Claim an interview to be one of the 30, or join the early-access list to read it before it goes public.
Claim your interviewEarly access, one email when it's ready
Other editions: Construction / Logistics
Next step
Rather just talk it through?
Thirty minutes with José. You bring the operation, we bring an honest read on where AI pays and where it doesn't.