What AI Brings to Workforce Management and Workforce Development — A Conversation with Matt Delaney of Covalent

At the 2025 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series we sat down with Matt Delaney of Covalent to talk about the advances and new capabilities Artificial Intelligence is bringing to the important fields of workforce management and workforce development, especially as it relates to manufacturing organizations. How does one separate the optimism and enthusiasm for AI from what is really practical and applicable to companies working today? What do the real-uses cases look like now, and how do experts like Matt think this will build and grow? Where are these new tools going to be in the next few years as they mature into comfortable, familiar, trustworthy additions to the existing toolbox? For all this and more, give this episode a listen!   Matthew Delaney Head of Enterprise Solutions Covalent Matt is the co-founder and Head of Enterprise Solutions at Covalent Networks, a multi-stakeholder software application that streamlines the hands-on learning in the field and on the floor and elevates mission-critical proficiency data to company leaders so that they can make informed workforce decisions.    Covalent is an enterprise SaaS application that enables end-to-end workforce qualification processes on-the-floor and in-the-field. In doing so, we capture unique qualification data that can be operationalized to drive cross-training, accelerate time-to-productivity, inform manpower planning, and enable process control (e.g., qualification-based badging / work order sign-off). Customers include Fortune 500 aerospace and automotive OEMs. -- Covalent’s growing suite of tactical software solutions enables complex manufacturers to continuously maximize labor productivity by systematically: >> Administering training programs — down to parts, processes & machines  >> Closing performance gaps by leveraging production & quality data  >> Optimizing who works on what, increasing throughput by up to 5% Customers include Fortune 500 jet engine, automotive, and chemical manufacturers. www.covalentnetworks.com