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78 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2026 already available to them?" Over the coming months, I will walk you through this in a practical way. I'll show you how to use AI in a real fab for a better RFQ review, cleaner shift handoffs, stronger CAPA drafts, clearer sup- plier comparisons, faster SOP cleanup, and better thinking when something starts going sideways in the process. Remember, I'm learning, too. Even though I've spent a lot of time using and teaching AI in manu- facturing environments, I still find new ways to get an edge every week. Those getting the most from AI are usually not the ones making the biggest claims. They are the ones using it daily, checking its work, and getting better. The Moment Most Fabs Will Recognize Picture a typical morning in a PCB shop. A cus- tomer package came in late yesterday. The print is not terrible, but it leaves enough ambiguity to create risk. One person in receiving is deciding whether the board really fits your standard capabil- ity window. Someone else is drafting clarification questions. Operations wants to know whether this job will become a hot lot in three days. Quality is already thinking ahead to what could go wrong if the requirements get interpreted differently by different people. Meanwhile, there's an open de- fect investigation from yesterday, a supplier email waiting on a response, a shift handoff note written too fast, and an operator instruction that everyone "knows" but nobody has cleaned up in writing. That's a PCB fabrication workday, and it is exact- ly why AI matters here. Not because it should run your process, tell you what the IPC specs say from memory, or replace the judgment of your best pro- cess engineer, quality manager, buyer, or ops lead, but because a plant produces a constant stream of work that must be interpreted, summarized, clari- fied, structured, and communicated effectively. It's where AI is immediately useful. What Most People Miss Most AI conversations in manufacturing start too high. They jump straight to automation, platforms, big roadmaps, and enterprise rollouts. That is un- derstandable. Leaders are supposed to think at the system level. Most people miss that AI adoption is personal before it is organizational. It is non- delegable. If you are a VP of operations, learn AI yourself. The same goes for the process engineer, quality engineer, buyer, and production control lead. Don't outsource your own understanding. Develop the habit of knowing when to use it, how to frame a problem, how to spot a weak answer, and how to ask a better follow-up question. It's why I keep coming back to this phrase: Don't buy AI, learn it. Two fabs might pay for the same tool, but the difference will come from the people who know how to use it on their own work. Start Where the Risk Is Low, and the Value Is Visible For Month 1, don't use AI to set process param- eters, interpret customer requirements without review, or quote IPC criteria from memory. Use it where the work is real, the output is reviewable, and the risk is low. Here are a few fabrication-spe- cific starting points that make sense right now. 1. RFQ Clarification and Requirement Review A surprising amount of pain in a plant starts before the job ever hits the line. Ambiguity early becomes scrap, delay, rework, or customer frustration later. AI is useful here because it can help you read a package, summarize what is being asked, and sur- face missing information. It's not deciding for you, but helping you think. 2. CAPA (Corrective Action, Preventive Action) and 8D First Drafts Most quality teams do not struggle because they lack structure. They struggle because they have rough notes, incomplete facts, too many inter- ruptions, and not enough time to turn those into a clean draft. AI is very good at helping you turn messy input into an organized first version, and that matters because a first draft is often the hardest part. 3. Troubleshooting Checklists When an issue arises in imaging, etching, plating, solder mask, or electrical testing, the first chal- lenge is the structure. What changed? When did it start? What products are affected? Which equip-