September 9, 2026
2026 Q3 Manufacturing Council Webinar:
Who Trains the Next Generation When Your Experts Are Gone?
Scaling Institutional Knowledge With AI
Join the NC Manufacturing Council on Wednesday, Sept. 9, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. for a virtual meeting sponsored by findIQ.
30% of North Carolina’s manufacturing workforce is nearing retirement. According to the NC Dept. of Commerce Labor and Economic Analysis Division, that’s the number of industry workers over 55, up from just 12% in 1994. That’s not just a forecast. It’s already reshaping plant floors across the state, and the pace isn’t slowing.
What retires with those workers is something no manual ever captured: the diagnostic instincts, the machine quirks, the fixes that only live in one technician’s head.
Call it invisible risk. There’s no warning light. Then one day a critical machine goes down, and the only person who knew how to fix it is gone, leaving a new shift lead or technician to troubleshoot blind, with no back-story on the machine and no time to spare. The cost isn’t just downtime. It’s negatively impacting the confidence and morale of the team left to figure it out.
This session asks the question manufacturers are already asking themselves: can AI solve this?
The honest answer is no. AI can’t replace 30 years of earned knowledge. But it can do something just as valuable: capture what your best technicians know and scale it across every shift, every site, and every new hire who comes next. Getting that distinction right is what separates a technology investment that quietly fails from one that becomes load-bearing infrastructure for your workforce.
If your plant is one retirement away from losing knowledge you can’t get back, this is the session to attend.
This quarter’s meeting is brought to you by:
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Quarterly virtual meetings for NC manufacturers to address real-life business scenarios with state & national experts.
NC Manufacturing Council membership is an exclusive benefit for NC Chamber members at the Cornerstone level and above. The council offers an avenue to discuss timely topics with subject-matter experts on issues including workforce challenges, the future talent pipeline, supply chain, and trade trends. Manufacturers across sectors have the opportunity to network and share best practices. Council members will also provide feedback for the NC Chamber’s advocacy priorities and legislative agenda.
Not a member of the NC Chamber? Joining the NC Chamber gives you a voice at the table and an advocate at your side.