From Hype to the Shop Floor: Turning AI Agents into Manufacturing ROI

Enterprises don’t need more AI sizzle—they need measurable wins. This talk walks through a Crawl → Walk → Run path to ship production-grade, agentic AI that actually does work: reviewing contracts against policy, validating material certs in seconds, flagging nonconformances, and updating ERP without human copy-paste. We’ll cover the playbook—governance and audit trails first, quick-win tools inside teams next, then deep workflow integration for step-change ROI. Expect candid lessons from manufacturing and internal enablement: what to automate, how to prove value fast, and how roles evolve from task doers to AI overseers. Attendee takeaways A field-tested deployment roadmap with governance baked in Use cases that convert manual steps into autonomous actions Metrics and change-management patterns to prove ROI fast
 

Adam Marsh is the President of Ledge Inc. and a proud Penn State Industrial Engineering alumnus. Since founding Ledge in 2012, Adam has led a team of 10 consultants specializing in the implementation, support, and training of Quality Management Systems (QMS), serving over 300 companies across diverse industries. In addition to his role at Ledge, Adam is the CEO of 80/20 Quality, a forward-thinking company focused on helping manufacturers embrace digital transformation for long-term success focusing on AI Integrations and Data capture. His leadership in the field was recently recognized with the Early Career Award from the Penn State College of Engineering. Adam is deeply committed to advancing the manufacturing and quality community. He has chaired organizations including ASQ Harrisburg, The Manufacturers’ Association of South Central PA, Leadership York, and the Spring Grove Area Scholarship Fund. He also shares his passion for engineering and leadership as a faculty member at Elizabethtown College, where he helps shape the next generation of engineers and innovators.