AUSTIN – Last year’s Xcelerate conference emphasized that AI-powered solutions can help bridge the industrial maintenance skills gap. However, advanced technologies can only go so far if businesses fail to properly train their workers.
At Xcelerate 2025, Fluke Reliability, a division of electronic test tool manufacturer Fluke Corporation, promoted the theme “predict, prepare and prevail.” This mantra highlights the role of maintenance and reliability in keeping industrial operations running smoothly. But many companies struggle to apply the message as they work to retain the knowledge of retiring workers and equip new, less experienced workers with necessary skills.
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The first step involves making institutional knowledge accessible, structured and easier to digest. Fluke Reliability Director of Services for North America Chelsea Fiegel explained that this means standardizing processes.
“When you have an older workforce, there’s not as much direction needed because they’ve been doing it for many years,” Fiegel said. “So when you’re trying to transfer that information down, whether you’re using ChatGPT or other formalized AI softwares, you just have to make sure that you’re getting the quality down on paper. So really defining, ‘What does success look like?’ ‘How do we measure it?’ and putting it as, ‘These are the words that we live by.’”
Once companies establish a foundation for training, the focus shifts to upskilling.
Vineet Thuvara, chief product officer at Fluke Corporation, pointed to augmented reality. He described a blend of the digital and physical worlds, where smart glasses equipped with AI-trained models guide workers through real-time factory machine interactions.
Thuvara’s vision aligns with Augie, an AI assistant developed by connected worker software provider Augmentir. According to Chris Kuntz, Augmentir’s vice president of strategic operations, companies can capture tribal knowledge by recording experienced workers performing tasks and use Augie to convert the process into a step-by-step instruction.
The technology simplifies the process for inexperienced workers. But some wonder if oversimplification could cause workers to lose the fundamental understanding of processes and systems.
Addressing these concerns, Aaron Merkin, the chief technology officer for Fluke Reliability, explained that the company starts its training with a “beginner mode,” which helps novices familiarize themselves with the product before they tackle advanced features.
“I think it’s hard to drive efficiency without creating dependency,” Merkin said. “Then dependency makes it difficult to relearn. Go one step further and say, ‘Instead of fixing this machine as quickly as we can, because the AI’s telling us how to do it, we’re going to take the time and actually walk through together and make sure you understand how it works.’ So you’re making a conscious effort to go slower now to potentially go fast later.”
Fluke Reliability displays its products at Xcelerate 2025 in Austin, Texas.Nolan Beilstein
Demystifying AI remains a challenging task, with many viewing the technology as a replacement for human workers. Experts stress that AI may change the nature of work but will always require human input.
Using Azima DLI, Fluke’s AI-powered vibration analytics and remote condition monitoring solution, as an example, Fluke Corporation Vice President and General Manager Jay Hack foresees a reality that demands human workers hold a basic understanding of emerging technologies.
“We still have a human in the loop,” Hack said. “That human has just made orders of magnitude more efficient through the use of algorithms. I think we’re going to see more of that. So you do need to learn the tool to be successful, and the tool may not be AI. It may be just a normal tool [with] things going on in the background that you can’t see.”
Ultimately, advanced technologies can serve as a powerful tool for training workers, but it cannot completely replace human expertise, underlining the importance of effectively balancing digital transformation with deliberate training methods.
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Fluke Reliability hosts Xcelerate 2025 in Austin, Texas.Nolan Beilstein