Automotive manufacturing leaders have no shortage of data, but only those who turn it into action are winning, and AI is the accelerator.

In this milestone episode, Jan Griffiths is joined by Sanjay Brahmawar, CEO of QAD, and Dr. Bryan Reimer, MIT Research Scientist and author of How to Make AI Useful, for a grounded conversation about how AI is creating real advantage in automotive manufacturing.

The challenge facing automotive manufacturing leaders is not visibility. Leaders know where problems exist. The issue is that action often stalls between insight and execution. Dashboards explain what happened. They do not decide what happens next.

Sanjay and Bryan draw a clear distinction between systems of record and systems of action. Systems of record observe. Systems of action decide, execute, and learn. Agentic AI belongs in the second category. It creates value when it removes friction from work, accelerates routine decisions, and gives people better context at the moment action is required.

Frontline teams in automotive manufacturing do not resist AI. They adopt it when it respects their expertise and helps them do their jobs better. Adoption follows usefulness, not mandates. When AI amplifies human judgment instead of supervising it, execution speed improves and results follow.

This episode challenges automotive manufacturing leaders to stop treating AI as a reporting layer and start using it as an execution engine. The organizations pulling ahead are not waiting for perfect conditions. They are starting small, learning fast, and letting action build confidence.

Themes Discussed in this episode:

1. Why data visibility alone does not drive performance in automotive manufacturing
2. Systems of record vs systems of action
3. How AI removes friction from automotive manufacturing operations
4. Frontline-first AI adoption in plants
5. Agentic AI as an execution multiplier
6. Leadership ownership of decisions
7. Building momentum with 60 to 90-day wins

Featured Guests:

Name: Sanjay Brahmawar

Title: CEO of QAD

About: Sanjay Brahmawar is the CEO of QAD, a cloud software company delivering cloud-based solutions for manufacturers and global supply chains. With more than two decades of experience leading global technology businesses, he brings deep expertise in digital transformation, AI, IoT, and data-driven platforms, built through senior leadership roles at IBM and Software AG.

Connect: LinkedIn

Name: Dr. Bryan Reimer

About: Dr. Bryan Reimer is a Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and a key member of the MIT AgeLab. He is also the author of How to Make AI Useful: Moving beyond the hype to real progress in business, society and life. His work focuses on how...