I recently took part in The EMS (Eric Miscoll Show), a biweekly panel discussion exploring all things manufacturing, and perhaps more specifically, all things EMS. This particular episode explored the topic of autonomous manufacturing and had two visionary founders and CEOs who believe that the next revolution in manufacturing goes way beyond automation to autonomy. Both startups are leveraging complex computational algorithms and AI to build autonomous manufacturing solutions, CloudNC for CNC parts and Launchpad for new products introduction, or NPI, in the electronics space. Much of the "revolutionary" talk over the last seven or so years has been around Industry 4.0 and the idea that connected factories using data and automation can substantially improve their performance, but to be frank, it has been way too much talk and not enough action. As Elvis Presly said, "a little less conversation, a little more action please!"