Most writing about AI in manufacturing comes from consultants selling transformation or technologists who have never carried an operational number. This book comes from neither.
It is written by a practicing Chief Operating Officer at a European industrial manufacturer — someone who runs procurement, quality, lean, and board reporting in a real plant, under real margins and real regulation, and who uses these methods in that operation. The governance chapters draw on active doctoral research into CSRD/ESRS implementation in manufacturing SMEs.
Every example is a composite, anonymised from genuine operational situations. Every prompt has been built to survive contact with an actual factory. Nothing here is theoretical, and nothing is hype.
Written from the floor, not the conference stage.