Agentic AI in Engineering and Manufacturing: Industry Perspectives on Utility, Adoption, Challenges, and Opportunities

arXiv:2604.09633v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: This work examines how AI, especially agentic systems, is being adopted in engineering and manufacturing workflows, what value it provides today, and what is needed for broader deployment. This is an exploratory and qualitative state-of-practice study grounded in over 30 interviews across four stakeholder groups (large enterprises, small/medium firms, AI developers, and CAD/CAM/CAE vendors). We find that near-term AI gains cluster around structur