New Research: 57% of Manufacturing Professionals Say Critical Knowledge Moves by Voice, Not Software Systems

Research from Relay shows why plants are making decisions based on an incomplete operational picture, costing time, money, and intelligence

RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Relay, the System of Action for Physical Operations, today released The Factory Floor's Missing Data Layer, a new report on how critical operational information moves across factory floors. The perception research, which found that 86% of respondents say sensors and machine data alone are not enough to understand what is happening on the shop floor, points to a dual track running across many operations: the plant in the systems and the plant on the floor. What operators say can evaporate before it reaches the systems (the data gap), and what the systems report often fails to reach the person who can act (the action gap). A missing layer sits between the two, the system of action, and closing that gap lets a plant optimize by acting on what it already knows, in time.

Two gaps, one missing layer

Picture an operator who tells the crew on the radio, every shift for several weeks, that a machine is running rough. Because it's mentioned, but doesn't stop the line, none of it reaches the maintenance system. Then an alert appears for the same asset, goes to the right level, and lands in an inbox no one is watching. The first gap appears around what is said and not logged, while the second is around what is known and not delivered.

The data gap: what operators say can stay out of the systems

Based on a survey of 500 full-time U.S. manufacturing professionals at organizations with 500 or more employees, verbal communication (57%) was the most commonly cited channel for critical operational information, ahead of paper logs and whiteboards (39%) and formal systems such as CMMS, ERP, and ticketing platforms (36%). Despite significant investment in digitizing operations, much of the context explaining what is happening on the floor still moves through conversations, manual handoffs, and paper trails.

"Manufacturers have spent years digitizing machines and back-end systems, and that was the right place to start," said Jim Mulcahy, co-founder and president of Relay. "But the floor, with its exceptions, workarounds, and knowledge of how the line ran on a particular shift, is just as real – and it's largely communicated by voice. The next stage of digitization is preserving what the floor knows, turning it into insight, and getting it to the person who can act on it in time."

• Forty-one percent of respondents say their organizations have digitized operational infrastructure while frontline work and communication still happen largely offline or informally.
• Only 20% say their formal systems very accurately reflect what happened on a typical shift, and 40% say only some of what frontline workers discuss informally ends up in a system, log, or formal report.
• One-third say safety guidance is often communicated verbally rather than formally documented. When that happens, the context from the conversation can be lost, which can make audits challenging and hinder efforts to prevent similar situations.

Executives and the frontline see two different plants

Eighty-three percent of executives are confident that a highly automated plant can spot problems on its own, compared with 40% of frontline respondents, a 43-point gap. Both views are real. One sees the plant as it is recorded, and the other sees it as it runs. Relay's view is that operating with only part of the story can lead to funding the wrong fixes, finding root causes late, and paying for the same failure multiple times.

The action gap: events that systems report do not always reach the person who can act

• Eighty-two percent of manufacturers rely on employees to manually carry information between teams, systems, or shifts because their tools do not communicate directly.
• More than half of respondents (56%) said documenting an issue or communicating a status update through current tools takes at least four minutes, and for 41%, communication breakdowns are a weekly occurrence.
• When a gap causes a disruption, 36% said it typically takes at least an hour to resolve. In a high-output facility, this can cost an average of $2,100 per minute.

Relay sees two reasons the action gap persists. The first is that alerts land in inboxes and on screens that are hard to watch in an eyes-up, hands-busy job. The second is around volume: when too many alerts appear, people can stop paying attention. Better analytics help, but sending an alert to the right person also depends on what no machine knows, such as who is nearby, who is free, who is already on it, and what the last shift said.

One missing layer

Both gaps share a root: the knowledge on the floor often stays out of the operation's record, so there is nothing for good routing to run on. Relay is the system of action for physical operations: it captures what your frontline actually says and does, and turns it into action in the systems you already run. It logs workers' insights as they speak into their device, gets it to the right person by voice, and writes the result back, so the work order closes with what the technician found.

Manufacturers brace for a widening knowledge gap

When asked which operational challenges will have the greatest effect over the next five years, respondents ranked knowledge transfer from experienced workers highest at 44%, closely followed by AI and automation at 43% and well ahead of supply chain volatility at 32%. Seventy-five percent say they are worried about the loss of experienced workers and the knowledge walking out the door as a wave of retirements continues to hit manufacturers.

When both gaps close, a throughput dip can arrive with its cause attached, a veteran's know-how can stay after they retire, and a warning can reach the right technician while it still matters.

Download the full report here.

Research methodology

Relay partnered with Dynata to survey 500 full-time U.S. manufacturing professionals between August 1st and August 14th, 2026. All respondents worked at organizations with at least 500 employees. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. Respondents could select multiple answers when identifying where critical operational communication most commonly occurs. This is perception research: it reflects what respondents report about their own operations.

About Relay

Relay is the system of action for physical operations, serving the 80 percent of the world's workforce that doesn't sit behind a desk – the frontlines. Relay captures what the frontline says and does, and turns it into action in the systems they already run, helping  teams unlock operational intelligence and improve their communications, safety, and productivity. Relay's system combines its powerful software and AI platform with purpose-built next-gen hardware, to better connect frontline teams, overcome language barriers with support for 35 languages, and deliver rapid ROI for its customers. Relay is used by nearly 10 percent of the Fortune 500, and processes over one billion data points weekly from the nearly 10,000 sites it's deployed across in sectors like manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare, and more. For more information, visit relaypro.com.

Contact: [email protected] 

FAQs

      1. How do manufacturing workers share critical information on the factory floor?

Verbal communication is the primary vehicle for critical updates, 57% of U.S. manufacturing professionals say critical operational information moves by voice. Fewer cite paper logs and whiteboards (39%) or formal systems like CMMS, ERP, and ticketing platforms (36%). As a result, much of what happens on a shift never reaches the plant's systems of record.

      2. How can manufacturers keep knowledge from being lost when experienced workers retire?

The first step is capturing frontline knowledge as it's shared, before it walks out the door. Relay's research found that 75% of manufacturing professionals are worried about losing experienced workers' knowledge. Respondents ranked knowledge transfer as the top operational challenge for the next five years (44%), ahead of AI and automation (43%) and supply chain volatility (32%).

      3. Why isn't machine and sensor data enough to understand what's happening in a manufacturing plant?

Machine data shows what equipment is doing. It doesn't capture the exceptions, workarounds, and shift-level knowledge that operators share out loud. In Relay's survey of 500 manufacturing professionals, 86% said sensors and machine data alone are not enough to understand the shop floor. Only 20% said their formal systems very accurately reflect what happened on a typical shift.

SOURCE Relay Inc.