With a shrinking population and a growing avoidance of manufacturing jobs, the industry as a whole is worried about a shortage of workers.
I think it is more efficient to apply the maintenance phase rather than the design phase to develop products.
- Spare parts inventory management
- Understanding and creating parts drawings or manuals
- Image-to-text for maintenance and RCAs
- Machine diagnostics
All of these are necessary because they are all part of the job of a maintenance person.