So if you have an automated management system, the end of the line in a factory is where the final inspection is done. Once you have an automated inspection process like at the end of the Pringles chips line, then that automated inspector can pass that information along to a management system that then notifies you that you need to lower the frying oil temp or recalibrate the potato sheet cutter. I see managers being replaced by automation pretty quick. There are only a set number of things managers can tell their employees. So if you have a question about how to do a certain thing on the job like what the procedure is, an advanced chatbot/AI like Watson would be able to listen to your question and give you specific answers based on previous solutions to the problem. And this manager is available 24/7 to all employees. Asking for time off? Just tell the bot what days you need off and it can generate a new schedule with no problem. Want your employees to be extremely PC in their customer service? You can have an automated manager tell your customer service representative exactly what to say when interacting with a customer.

This ability to communicate more quickly will put pressure on managers to get faster with their solutions to problems. Also, having everyone more in tune with what's going on in the factory is critical to getting the results you want.