What 50 Customer Meetings Reveal About Agentic AI: Unlocking Practical Value in Industry

In the past year, I’ve had the privilege of meeting with over fifty technical organizations across manufacturing, materials science, and industrial sectors. A clear pattern has emerged: while data is everywhere, accessing and leveraging it efficiently remains a persistent challenge. These conversations have provided a front-row seat to the real-world hurdles—and the tremendous opportunities—that come with adopting agentic AI and advanced industrial AI solutions.

• Real stories from the field—what organizations are struggling with right now
• How agentic AI and knowledge management are solving industry challenges
• Actionable insights for leaders seeking practical AI solutions

The Hidden Cost of Inaccessible Knowledge

At a leading power transformer manufacturer, I listened as the field service manager described a familiar pain: technicians spend valuable time tracking down equipment specs and manuals while on-site. “We often end up asking customers the same questions, over and over, before we can even start troubleshooting,” he said. This isn’t just a matter of lost minutes; it’s lost trust, productivity, and, ultimately, competitive advantage.

A similar story played out at an industrial valve company. Their technical expert, a 30-year veteran, asked a question that stuck with me: “What happens when I retire?” The company’s deep expertise—crucial for product development and customer support—lives in the minds of a few key people. Without a way to democratize and preserve this knowledge, organizations face the risk of costly knowledge gaps.

From global automation leaders building customer processes from scratch, to materials science researchers sifting through vast polymer databases, the message is consistent: the need for reliable, accessible knowledge management is more urgent than ever.

The AI Hype—and Why Companies Remain Skeptical

Today, AI is everywhere. Yet, many organizations remain cautious. As one marketing manager at a specialty metals manufacturer put it, “Everybody wants to take advantage of AI right now—but actually making it work is another story.” There’s growing skepticism about generic AI platforms that promise everything yet deliver little more than hallucinations or incomplete answers.

What I hear most is a desire for practical, trustworthy solutions that solve real business problems:

• Technical accuracy: Teams need AI that understands complex technical relationships, not just surface-level information.
• Knowledge democratization: Companies want to capture and share expert know-how before it walks out the door.
• Efficiency gains: Service teams crave instant access to technical documentation to eliminate repetitive, manual information gathering.
• Multilingual accessibility: Global organizations need solutions that break down language barriers—without extra setup or training.

Purpose-Built AI: The FifthElement Approach

After seeing what works—and what doesn’t—one thing is clear: the most successful AI adoptions are purpose-built. At FifthElement, we focus on developing agentic AI and industrial AI solutions tailored to each client’s unique needs.

For example, when we equipped a specialty vehicle manufacturer with the FifthElement Knowledge Agent, their team was amazed at how quickly they could retrieve precise technical answers—down to measurements like “the width of the five-position folding blade when straight is 57 inches.” For a materials science client, our FifthElement AI Search rapidly identified polymers with specific attributes for demanding applications, dramatically shortening research cycles.

What sets these implementations apart? It comes down to three critical factors:

• Relentless focus on accuracy: FifthElement’s solutions connect directly to authoritative technical documentation and are trained on domain-specific knowledge, ensuring reliable, actionable results.
• Rapid deployment: Unlike traditional AI projects that drag on for months, our purpose-built agents are up and running in weeks—delivering value fast.
• Adaptability: The same technology powers solutions for sales, service, internal knowledge management, and specialized R&D, making FifthElement a versatile partner for growth.

Shaping the Future of Knowledge Work

The organizations realizing the most value from AI aren’t necessarily those with the biggest budgets—they’re the ones who target high-impact problems and use AI to augment, not replace, human expertise. As one service manager told me, “We can’t replace human beings. We’ll always need that expertise.” But with FifthElement’s purpose-built agentic AI, teams can automate routine queries and surface critical information in seconds, freeing their experts to tackle the complex challenges that drive innovation.

In my experience, the winners in this new era of knowledge work will be those who view AI not as a magic bullet, but as a practical, collaborative tool—one that extracts insight from their data and delivers it right when and where it’s needed.

Transform Your Organization’s Knowledge Today

If your organization is ready to move beyond the AI hype and implement solutions that deliver real business value, let’s talk. The FifthElement team has helped companies across manufacturing, materials science, and industrial sectors unlock the full potential of agentic AI and industrial AI solutions—with speed, accuracy, and peace of mind.

Contact us today to learn how FifthElement can help you democratize knowledge and drive your next wave of innovation.