My insights from AeroDef 2017: The Real Cost-of-Poor-Quality (CoPQ) Part I

Over the past two years, almost every software conversation has started sounding identical: “AI-powered,” “Copilot,” “Chat with your data,” and “Ask your system anything.”
At first, it felt revolutionary. Suddenly, enterprise software could respond conversationally, summarize information, generate reports, and interact using natural language. Across industries, organizations rushed to integrate generative AI into their products and workflows.
But recently, something interesting has started to happen. The conversation around industrial AI is beginning to mature.
The market is moving beyond the idea that conversational interfaces alone are enough to drive a digital transformation. The real focus is shifting toward something much bigger: autonomous AI agents that can orchestrate actions, automate decisions, and operate directly within complex business processes.
That shift matters enormously for the industrial sector. Because manufacturing has never really struggled with conversations.
It struggles with decisions.

Spend enough time walking factory floors and sitting side-by-side with planners, and you start to notice a pattern that repeats itself almost everywhere.
The systems are there. The data is there. In many cases, there’s a lot of both.
But when it comes to actually making decisions, especially around scheduling, it still comes down to manual effort, experience, and a fair amount of workaround thinking.
That’s the paradox of modern planning and scheduling.
Over the years, manufacturing has gradually introduced more digital systems into the production environment. But in many factories, paper travelers, printed schedules, whiteboards, spreadsheets, and manually distributed plans are still part of day-to-day operations. Even in highly advanced facilities, planners and operators often work across a mix of digital tools and manual processes to keep production moving. On the surface, there is more visibility than before, but much of the coordination still depends on people constantly connecting the dots themselves.But the reality on the ground often tells a different story.

Everything is getting more complex. So why are the smartest companies simplifying?
There’s something happening right now, and it goes beyond nostalgia.
From Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy to Calvin Klein, from interiors to the way people are starting to disconnect from constant noise, there’s a clear shift back toward simplicity. It’s reminiscent of the 90s, with cleaner lines, fewer distractions, and more intention in how we live and move through the day.
But this isn’t just about fashion or design. It’s not even really about nostalgia. It’s about clarity.
We’re living in a time where everything is faster, louder, and more demanding. Information is constant, and decisions are nonstop. As a result, there’s a growing realization that more isn’t always better. More inputs do not always lead to better outcomes. In many cases, they simply lead to more noise.
That is why simplicity is making a comeback, not as a trend, but as a response.