AI isn’t just changing how we program parts anymore. It’s changing what shop owners and manufacturers can build for themselves.

In this episode of the Machine Tool Maniacs Podcast, Jon Cheney and I talk about how AI can be used to create tools that make a business more efficient, streamlined, and capable. We’re talking about building your own ERP systems, CRM systems, machine monitoring tools, internal databases, workflow tools, and other software designed around the way your shop actually operates.

The biggest shift is that you no longer need to be a programmer to start building these things. If you understand the problem you’re trying to solve, you can sit down with AI, talk through the process, refine the idea, and work your way toward a functional tool.

That also means AI isn’t just a young person’s game. Experienced machinists, shop owners, engineers, and manufacturing professionals may actually have one of the biggest advantages because they already know where the problems are. They know where time gets wasted, where information gets lost, and where existing software falls short.

If you choose to look at this technology as a tool instead of the boogeyman, manufacturing could be entering a pretty interesting Renaissance.

Tune into this episode of the Machine Tool Maniacs Podcast with Jon Cheney, and check out GenAIPI.org if you’d like to learn more or reach out to Jon directly.