Abstract
The continued rise of manufacturing automation and the prospect of integrating artificial intelligence in manufacturing environments renews the need for understanding how different stakeholders within an organization perceive the implementation of such technologies. This paper presents a research instrument designed to capture and understand perceptions of employees at different levels of an organization. A multimodal data collection approach is used to gather participant responses using surveys, focus group discussions, and interviews. Qualitative and quantitative data collected from six manufacturing companies is analyzed to identify general themes in terms of participation, communication, level of understanding, and alignment to company goals. Definitions provided by participants are also analyzed to determine participant level of familiarity with concepts of AI and automation. The study demonstrates the usability of the research instrument. Preliminary findings suggest that many of the companies are ill prepared for implementing artificial intelligence in their organizations. Finally, future analysis of the collected data is discussed, and potential improvements to the research instrument are presented.
