Industrial-automation leaders are exploring AI, but many are still determining how to apply it. The question is no longer whether AI belongs in manufacturing and logistics planning, but what role it should play. Rather than replacing planners, agentic AI can serve as a digital co-worker alongside existing automation, MES and ERP systems.

So how does it work? Planners manage machine capacity, workforce availability, customer requirements, demand fluctuations and disruptions. Agentic AI can make these complex systems easier to use, allowing planners to explore scenarios, compare production sequences and identify problems through natural language rather than manually adjusting parameters.

AI can also continuously monitor production and logistics data, flag disruptions and recommend alternatives while keeping the planner in control.

As AI handles more of the groundwork involved in building schedules, planners can focus on analysis, judgment and higher-value decisions. Manufacturers can determine how much autonomy to give AI based on the task and the AI's track record with similar projects, automating routine decisions while keeping complex ones under human oversight.

The opportunity is not to remove planners, but to reduce manual work and give those professionals faster access to information. Agentic AI is becoming less of an automated dispatcher and more of an empowered planner’s best buddy. 

George Ninikas, ORTEC senior VP of sales & accounts, Americas