Manufacturing Dive published a July 22, 2026 Q&A with Praveen Rao, Google Cloud's global head of manufacturing, on how AI is being applied to manufacturing workforce training and operations. Rao described customers videotaping tasks such as engine repair and feeding the footage into AI to generate step-by-step instructions translated into multiple languages, converting standard operating procedures into training videos, and using AR/VR for work validation. He framed Google Cloud's work in three areas: a Unified Name Space to reconcile conflicting production figures across MES, ERP and CMMS systems; AI-powered audio, video and image coaches for onboarding; and communication tooling for workers interacting with robotics and physical AI. He said onboarding a skilled manufacturing worker has traditionally taken two to seven years, and argued pilots built on "duct tape" architecture fail at scale.