The AI in Business Podcast Capturing Tribal Knowledge to Solve the Manufacturing Skills Gap - with Sebastian Dykas of Smith+Nephew
23 snips
May 1, 2026 
Sebastian Dykas, Director of Manufacturing, Engineering, and Maintenance at Smith+Nephew, specializes in capturing tribal knowledge and modernizing shop floors. He discusses loss of retiring experts, the limits of go/no-go inspections, and how machine connectivity with real-time feedback can standardize training, tighten process baselines, and reduce variability to prevent scrap.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Retiring Experts Create A Hidden Capacity Problem
- Manufacturing loses deep tacit skills as older machinists and hand finishers retire, creating variability and long ramp-up times.
- Sebastian describes hand finishing where seniors produce double the output and apprentices take six months to reach independence, exposing huge skill gaps.
Standardize Best Practices Into A Baseline
- Capture best practices and standardize them into a clear baseline so new operators train to one proven method.
- Sebastian recommends turning senior craftsmen techniques into repeatable procedures to raise yield and reduce variability across shifts.
Senior Hand Finishers Delivered Twice The Output
- Sebastian recalls hand finishers whose experience let them produce nearly twice the output of trainees.
- The senior operators used personal best practices developed over years that are hard to codify into quick training.