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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2026
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| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.24823 |
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| _version_ | 1866913159437090816 |
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| author | Zhang, Yilei |
| author_facet | Zhang, Yilei |
| contents | Manufacturing has passed through four widely recognized paradigms - mechanization, electrification, programmable automation, and Smart Manufacturing - each defined by the kind of work it shifted from humans to machines. In every case, one layer of industrial work remained fundamentally human: the coordinative cognition of production, comprising the interpretive, allocative, diagnostic, negotiative, and governance work exercised by engineers, planners, and operational managers. We argue that a fifth transition is now underway in which this layer, rather than the physical or routine-cognitive layers below it, is what foundation-model-based autonomous agents primarily redistribute. We name this paradigm Agent Manufacturing and define it operationally: a manufacturing system is an instance of Agent Manufacturing when its principal coordination mechanism is reasoning performed by foundation-model agents that can interpret open-ended goals, plan over long horizons, invoke tools and machines, and negotiate with other agents and humans. This is a narrower and more falsifiable definition than the existing literature on cognitive manufacturing or Industry 5.0 provides, and it distinguishes the paradigm sharply from classical multi-agent manufacturing systems, which were autonomous only within closed protocol spaces. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_24823 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Agent Manufacturing: Foundation-Model Agents as First-Class Industrial Entities Zhang, Yilei Artificial Intelligence Manufacturing has passed through four widely recognized paradigms - mechanization, electrification, programmable automation, and Smart Manufacturing - each defined by the kind of work it shifted from humans to machines. In every case, one layer of industrial work remained fundamentally human: the coordinative cognition of production, comprising the interpretive, allocative, diagnostic, negotiative, and governance work exercised by engineers, planners, and operational managers. We argue that a fifth transition is now underway in which this layer, rather than the physical or routine-cognitive layers below it, is what foundation-model-based autonomous agents primarily redistribute. We name this paradigm Agent Manufacturing and define it operationally: a manufacturing system is an instance of Agent Manufacturing when its principal coordination mechanism is reasoning performed by foundation-model agents that can interpret open-ended goals, plan over long horizons, invoke tools and machines, and negotiate with other agents and humans. This is a narrower and more falsifiable definition than the existing literature on cognitive manufacturing or Industry 5.0 provides, and it distinguishes the paradigm sharply from classical multi-agent manufacturing systems, which were autonomous only within closed protocol spaces. |
| title | Agent Manufacturing: Foundation-Model Agents as First-Class Industrial Entities |
| topic | Artificial Intelligence |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.24823 |