What Does AI Actually Look Like in a Manufacturing Business? Cambridge Kinetics at Peerless Plastics Conference
On 15 April 2025, Cambridge Kinetics founder Jason Mashinchi joined a room of manufacturers, engineers, and industry leaders at the Peerless Plastics & Engineered Surfaces conference to answer a question that many SME owners are grappling with: where do you actually start with AI?
A Day Built Around the Future of Manufacturing
The event, hosted at The English Distillery in Norfolk, brought together speakers and delegates from across the manufacturing value chain. Organised by Peerless Plastics and Coatings, it was designed to spark honest conversation about the pressures and opportunities facing UK manufacturing today.
Sessions covered skills and workforce development, global pressures on UK and European plastics manufacturing, collaboration across the supply chain, and the role of AI and data in driving operational change. A factory tour at the Peerless Plastics facility rounded out the afternoon, giving attendees a hands-on look at the innovations being embedded on the production floor.
Cutting Through the AI Noise
Jason’s session focused on something often missing from conversations about AI in manufacturing: the practical reality of getting started. Rather than presenting AI as a futuristic concept reserved for large enterprises, his talk explored how SME manufacturers can analyse the data they already hold, identify the processes causing friction, and take confident first steps into digitisation, keeping up with or even ahead of competitors who have yet to adopt AI in their businesses.
The response in the room reflected just how much this issue has resonated with the audience. Attendees had questions about where AI fits into their existing workflows, what realistic integration looks like without large IT teams, and how to avoid the common trap of investing in technology that doesn’t connect to real business outcomes. It was a conversation that went well beyond the allotted session time.
For manufacturers who are ready to move beyond the buzzwords, the opportunity to digitise and harness their own data has never been more accessible.
The session sat alongside contributions from Will Bridgman of Warren on apprenticeships and workforce strategy, highlighting the importance of promoting from within, giving people a chance, but also knowing when to make those difficult decisions. James Williamson from Made Smarter East of England also spoke on the funding and support available to help SME manufacturers adopt digital tools, including mentioning our current offering of workshops with manufacturers on the journey of digital transformation with Made Smarter support. Rounded off by Peter, who talked about Peerless Plastics & Coatings, the importance of coating plastics, and that they are a regular in everyday life, including a demonstration of how coated plastics cannot be easily scratched. Together, the four talks painted a picture of an industry in transition, and one that is actively looking for practical guidance rather than theory.
AI in Manufacturing: The Momentum Is Building
Events like this matter because they create space for conversations that rarely happen on the production floor. Manufacturers are under real pressure from global competition, rising costs, and a tightening skills market. AI and digitisation are not a silver bullet, but for businesses that understand their own data, they represent a genuine lever for efficiency, resilience, and growth.
Cambridge Kinetics works with growing SMEs across manufacturing, construction, professional services, and other sectors through implementing Kinabase, an AI-powered data management and automation platform built to make data actionable for businesses that don’t have enterprise-level resources. The interest generated at events like Peerless Plastics’ conference reinforces what the team hears regularly: manufacturers know that they need to move, they just want a clear starting point.
Bring AI Expertise to Your Event
If you are organising a conference, industry event, or workshop and want to give your audience a grounded, engaging perspective on AI and digital transformation in manufacturing, Jason is available for speaking engagements.
His sessions are tailored to the audience, practical in focus, and designed to leave delegates with something they can act on. Topics include AI adoption for SME manufacturers, making sense of business data, and building a digitisation strategy that fits the scale and pace of your organisation.
Get in touch with Millie Martin at events@kinabase.com to discuss a speaking slot or visit our industry pages to find out more about how Kinabase is helping manufacturers to work smarter, not harder.