AI grabbed a lot of headlines in 2025, but according to supply chain software supplier IFS, commercial generative AI products fall far short of delivering practical results in real-life applications such as factories, supply chains, and factories.
Instead, IFS, based in Linkoping, Sweden, says its “industrial AI” brand can provide the business knowledge and sector-specific context needed to move AI from the back office to critical uses such as enabling manufacturing, facilities and field repair operations.
This approach could enable industrial AI to move beyond basic demonstrations and marketing to practical applications IRL — text messaging short for “in real life” — IFS CEO Mark Moffat said in his keynote remarks at the company’s conference held today in New York City.
“The opportunity to drive growth in our economy, as well as positively impact our society and planet using AI, is now – but more importantly, what will make a difference is the application of AI in the industrial environment,” Moffat said in a statement. “Headlines so far have focused on the general productivity benefits that AI can provide office workers, but IFS is uniquely positioned to bring contextual, industry-specific AI to workers in the field. This is where we will see the most impactful innovation and efficiency gains.”
According to Moffat, examples of specific applications of industrial AI in the transportation sector include: logistics network validation, shipment simulation and revenue detection, and port equipment failure detection. Manufacturing use cases include: detecting critical anomalies in assets, dynamic production planning and scheduling, and enhancing supply chain resilience.
Beyond logistics and transportation, the technology has many additional uses in communications (prediction and enhancement of first-time repair, prediction of structural health of cell towers, automated fault detection and triage), construction and engineering (certification delay prediction, project margin prediction and simulation), energy and resource utilities (autonomous inspections, disaster simulation and response, crew readiness and optimal dispatch), and aerospace and defense (dynamic line maintenance scheduling and assistance with troubleshooting and repair).
Additional support for the IFS approach came from speaker Mohammed Kandi, global head of consulting firm PWC. Candy said that 12 months ago, most AI adoption conversations focused on applying the technology to back-office functions such as finance, human resources or IT. But today, future uses will go beyond just making existing tasks more efficient and moving toward transforming workflows into new patterns.
As Candy puts it, the ultimate function of AI is “not to remove workers in the field, but to enhance them to do their work very differently.”
