Chad Hetherington

A new alliance is on the horizon — and it’s between Google and Honeywell. Specifically, Honeywell is looking to Google’s Gemini AI to help streamline and automate industrial processes to chop, chop, chop project times and enable greater knowledge-sharing capabilities amidst an enduring, sector-wide talent shortage.

Both companies are leaders in their respective industries, so it will be interesting to see how this partnership unfolds over the next couple of years. According to Google, the inaugural Gemini and Cloud AI solutions will be available to Honeywell’s customers in 2025 — but the building has already begun.

Ahead of the launch, let’s examine the specifics of the partnership, the technology behind it and what we know so far about how Honeywell aims to put Google’s Gemini AI to work.

Why AI? An Industrial Skills Gap Demands Innovative Solutions

What prompted this partnership in the first place? Addressing the skills gap in the industrial sector that’s ensued for years is Honeywell’s foremost goal, but it’s important to look at the whole picture. What other goals are they trying to achieve? Why are they searching for AI-enabled solutions?

There’s a shortage of skilled workers to operate complex machinery and analyze vast amounts of data. Deloitte recently analyzed a variety of workforce and employment data to begin drawing some conclusions about why this skills gap exists in the first place. Here’s what stood out to them:

  • The manufacturing industry is growing, which emboldens the need for more workers of multiple disciplines, including entry-level folks, skilled workers and even engineers.
  • Technological innovation is transforming skills requirements in near-real-time, demanding workers with technical manufacturing, digital and soft skills.
  • A shortage of applications from potential candidates of all skill levels means manufacturers must focus on retaining current talent.

AI-powered solutions can help bridge this gap by automating routine tasks and providing intelligent on-device assistance. Suresh Venkatarayalu, CTO at Honeywell and President of Honeywell Connected Enterprise, says, “We’re moving from automation to autonomy. Our goal is to equip companies with AI agents that assist workers in real time — on factory floors and in the field.”

How Honeywell Hopes To Solve This Complex Problem With Google’s Help

We know that AI is a viable answer to Honeywell’s skills gap problem, but how exactly will the technology help them achieve results?

There are three critical pieces of Google tech at play here, including Gemini AI, Vortex AI and Google’s Cloud infrastructure:

  • Gemini AI: Honeywell Forge, an IoT platform for industrial businesses, will leverage Gemini AI’s advanced language model. The goal here is to enable AI agents to understand and respond to natural language queries, making it easier for workers to interact with the system.
  • Vertex AI: This platform helps businesses build, train and deploy AI models. For Honeywell, Vortex AI will provide the necessary tools and infrastructure to develop AI-powered solutions that can analyze the vast amounts of industrial data Honeywell collects from its customers.
  • Google’s Cloud Infrastructure: Honeywell will leverage Google Cloud’s robust and scalable infrastructure to support the whole of its AI initiatives, including computing resources, storage and networking capabilities.

By combining these Google technologies with its own domain expertise, Honeywell aims to create innovative solutions that can address pertinent challenges faced by the industrial sector, such as labor shortages and operational inefficiencies.

The Benefits of Industrial AI for Workers

Honeywell has a research arm of their business to find out the ‘why’ beyond what’s happening in their sector. In 2024, they commissioned Wakefield Research to survey industrial AI leaders around the world and uncover the foremost benefits of adopting AI for industrial processes. Based on the research, the top seven benefits of developing and deploying industrial AI solutions include:

  • Increased efficiency through automation (64%).
  • Improved cybersecurity (60%).
  • Threat detection and generation of real-time data to improve decision-making (59%).
  • Increased work flexibility (49%).
  • Greater job satisfaction (45%).
  • More time for skills development and creative thinking (44%).
  • Increased workplace safety (39%).

Lucian Boldea, President and CEO of Honeywell Industrial Automation, says, “With AI training and AI as a ‘co-pilot’ the skills of less experienced technicians can more quickly be upgraded, turning them into more elite experts that perform tasks based on enterprise knowledge and best practices.”

How Marketers Feel About Dipping Into the AI Honey Pot

A few of those industrial-specific reported benefits stand out to me as ones I think AI can deliver to most businesses and roles, but especially creative ones like marketing:

  • Increased efficiency and work flexibility.
  • Greater job satisfaction.
  • Having more time to develop skills and engage in creative thinking.

… and it’s already happening! According to a recent HubSpot report, 85% of marketers believe generative AI is transforming content creation in ways that make marketers’ lives easier — and customers happier. 

While we’re in an entirely different business than manufacturing, AI helps solve the same common and complex problems nearly all sectors and businesses face, such as efficiency and capability. Like Honeywell, marketers are adopting AI as a solution to address these challenges head-on. Here’s how they’re feeling about it so far:

  • 85% of marketers say that using AI tools has improved the quality of their content.
  • 84% say AI enhances efficiency when creating content.
  • 82% say that AI has increased their capabilities for content production.

Higher-quality content is a win for consumers; efficiency is a win for us marketers; and the ability to produce more with less is a win for your bottom line. AI enables everyone — including customers — to enjoy a piece of the pie. That’s what Honeywell is striving for and the same thing is happening in marketing. Sounds like a win to me!

A More Efficient Future for All Is on the Horizon

For Honeywell, AI offers a solution to enduring industrial issues that, until now, were difficult to solve. Its partnership with Google isn’t the first or last we’ve seen or will see when it comes to AI adoption and innovation. As it unfolds in the coming years, there will be ample case studies on how big brands work together to drive efficiency and solve historically tough challenges using artificial intelligence.

In the end, both brands have their eyes set on how these new AI integrations will directly benefit Honeywell’s workers and customers. We can only hope that the partnership is a success and stands as an example of how innovative AI solutions can drive better experiences for everyone along the line.