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Industrial workforce capacity gap being filled by agentic digital workers

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LONDON, August 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — IFS, the leading provider of Industrial AI software, finds that industrial workers lose 41% of their time to manual, repetitive tasks creating a capacity gap across organizations. New research from The Futurum Group shows companies are closing that gap with a sharp shift toward agentic, AI-powered digital workers – AI agents that autonomously monitor, decide, and execute operational tasks, escalating to humans only when judgment is required. The capacity gap – the widening distance between the work industrial organizations need to do and the actual capacity of their teams – is becoming increasingly costly for businesses to ignore. A workforce change is also already underway, and hitting industrial organizations hardest: across factories, utilities, and supply chains, experienced engineers and operators are retiring.

Key findings:

77% of decision-makers have delayed or avoided a strategic initiative because their team lacked the capacity to pursue itDigital workers adoption is accelerating: two businesses are investing in digital workers over the next 12 months for every one that isn’t. Trust, not technology, is the holdup. Just 5.7% of decision-makers trust AI to act fully autonomously, even though 66% say they’re likely to invest in digital workers within the yearOnly 10% of enterprises run mostly autonomous AI. Adoption is still early, but the intent-to-invest numbers show it won’t stay that way. 

Industrial companies want to address the capacity gap with new technologies but hesitate to put their full trust in automation. The research underscores the need for human-in-the-loop models of AI deployment, where digital workers handle high-volume, well-defined tasks while people make judgement calls.

The IFS Loops Agentic Platform delivers digital workers precisely when industries need them. The platform enables enterprises to create and deploy digital workers that automate 60% of agentic transactions end to end. The remaining 40% include human review and approval checkpoints, reflecting industrial customers’ desire for transparency and validation.

IFS customers across sectors are already running purpose-built digital workers in production. Several customers, including Kitron Group and KLN Family Brands, are using digital workers to reclaim dozens of hours a week on core procurement and order-to-pay workflows, with several pushing toward a fully automated processing, with no manual interception.

Manufacturer Kitron Group is rolling out purchase-to-order digital workers across all 13 of its sites by the end of 2026, built directly into the software the business already uses. This meant that the guardrails and rules the business had already set up were followed, and the existing approvals process stayed intact. During this rollout, a digital worker surfaced a decade-old part-number error that a manual process had missed for years, showing that digital workers can find and fix data problems as they run, instead of requiring a data cleanup project before deployment.

Somya Kapoor, CEO IFSLoops, said: “The capacity gap is a high-stakes problem in industrial operations. When a purchase order, a maintenance schedule, or a supplier delivery falls behind because there aren’t enough hours in the day for the worker, the cost shows up as downtime, missed deliveries, or idle equipment. Closing it takes more than general-purpose AI. Digital workers built for the job, integrated into the systems already running the business, are what let teams reclaim capacity instead of just working around the shortfall. Our customers prove that model in production, not pilots.”

The capacity gap shows up across every industry IFS serves, but the pace and shape of digital worker deployment varies from sector to sector, reflecting the need for digital workers built for industrial operations. 

Speed matters when putting digital workers to work. Ependion brought its Supply Order Manager digital worker live company-wide in a 10-week progressive rollout, while Kitron Group is on track to have all 13 of its sites live in under seven months.

* Read the full Futurum Research report(Opens in a new tab), Bridging the Capacity Gap: Why 66% of Enterprises Are Investing in Agentic Digital Workers, commissioned by IFS.

Join IFS at Unleashed 2026, October 12–16 in Orlando, Florida, to see how digital workers and Industrial AI are closing the capacity gap in practice. Register at unleashed.ifs.com(Opens in a new tab).

CONTACT:

IFS Press Contacts:

EUROPE / MEA / APJ: Adam Gillbe
IFS, Director of Corporate & Executive Communications
Email: adam.gillbe@ifs.com 

NORTH AMERICA / LATAM: Mairi Morgan
IFS, Director of Corporate & Executive Communications
Email: mairi.morgan@ifs.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/ifs/r/industrial-workforce-capacity-gap-being-filled-by-agentic-digital-workers,c4387954

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JOYEE N01 Global Mass Production Launch and First Batch Delivery of 2,000 Overseas Orders Kicks Off

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November 7, 2026

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YANCHENG, China, Nov. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On October 28, the ceremony for the global mass production launch of the JOYEE N01 and the first batch delivery of 2,000 overseas orders was grandly held at the Yancheng Branch of China FAW. At the event, FAW Bestune delivered the first batch of 500 vehicles to African customers, marking the official entry of the JOYEE N01 into the global market.

As a flagship product, the BESTUNE XIAOMA has earned recognition from nearly 300,000 users since its launch in 2024. Built upon this blockbuster model and refined with a user-centric philosophy, the JOYEE N01 is an upgraded masterpiece — a solid step forward in elevating the user experience with a global vision.

The JOYEE N01 carries forward the adorable design language: rounded body lines paired with a rich array of exterior color options, winning over young families at first glance. All trims come standard with CATL batteries, delivering a maximum range of over 300KM. The four-door design ensures convenient access to the rear seats. In terms of safety, drawing on FAW’s 70-plus years of automotive manufacturing heritage, the vehicle is fully equipped with a high-strength steel body, dual front airbags, and an electronic stability control system. The product is scheduled to roll out in overseas markets one after another in the fourth quarter of 2026.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/joyee-n01-global-mass-production-launch-and-first-batch-delivery-of-2-000-overseas-orders-kicks-off-302932578.html

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7th World Media Summit opens in Beijing

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November 7, 2026

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BEIJING, Nov. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The 7th World Media Summit held its opening ceremony in Beijing on Saturday under the theme “Media in the Intelligent Age: From Consensus to Action.”

Xinhua News Agency and the Beijing municipal government jointly organized this year’s summit, which runs from Thursday to Monday.

It drew nearly 500 representatives from nearly 330 mainstream media outlets, think tanks and government bodies from 112 countries and regions, as well as the United Nations and other international organizations.

Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony.

The World Media Summit was initiated in 2009 and is now a major global platform for media exchange and cooperation. The last summit was held in Urumqi, the capital city of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in 2024.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/7th-world-media-summit-opens-in-beijing-302932579.html

SOURCE Xinhua News Agency

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Pigeon Showcases Parenting Innovations at CIIE 2026 Under “Boundless Joy of Newborn” Theme

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November 7, 2026

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SHANGHAI, Nov. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Pigeon, a global leader in baby feeding and care, returned to the China International Import Expo (CIIE) for the fourth consecutive year, showcasing baby care products and research innovations from around the world, together with its latest achievements in product development, smart manufacturing, and sustainability in China.

Bringing Together Global Feeding Expertise to Celebrate the Boundless Joy of Newborn

The joy of welcoming a baby is a feeling families everywhere share. Cultures and ways of living differ from country to country, but the love for a baby is universal.

As a highlight of this year’s exhibition, Pigeon has brought together, for the first time at CIIE, its most popular baby bottles from markets around the world, each bottle carries global newborn blessings, backed by Pigeon’s decades of feeding research. The Lamb Blessings Newborn Bottle Gift Set, inspired by traditional Chinese zodiac, also makes its debut at the show.

Pigeon has also created a dedicated newborn care area, showcasing products and solutions developed for the essential moments of a newborn’s daily routine—from feeding and cleansing to delicate skin care.

Building on Local Innovation and Smart Manufacturing to Support Families Worldwide

With more than two decades of experience in China, Pigeon continues to strengthen its local R&D, manufacturing, and supply chain capabilities. What began with bringing products and advanced technologies from around the world to China has grown into a comprehensive network of local research, product development, and smart manufacturing capabilities.

At this year’s CIIE, the Shanghai Climate Week 2026 Climate Lighthouse White Paper was officially unveiled, with the Green Manufacturing Project at Pigeon’s Shanghai Qingpu factory selected as a model case study. Through the use of clean energy, automated production processes, greater energy efficiency, and the development of more sustainable products, the project is enhancing product quality, manufacturing efficiency, and environmental performance in tandem.

Pigeon is also bringing the benefits of greener manufacturing directly to the products families use every day. The SofTouchⅢ Pure Series feeding bottles, combine science-based feeding, elegant design, and a commitment to reducing carbon emissions. The series reduces its carbon footprint through the use of lower-carbon raw materials and clean energy in production.

Looking ahead, Pigeon aims to bring more insights and innovations developed in China to parents and babies worldwide, sharing the boundless joy of welcoming newborn with families across cultures and borders.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/pigeon-showcases-parenting-innovations-at-ciie-2026-under-boundless-joy-of-newborn-theme-302932570.html

SOURCE Pigeon

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