South Yorkshire-based IntelliAM AI, a UK-listed industrial technology firm, has launched a new "agentic" artificial intelligence platform designed to improve manufacturing productivity. Unveiled today at the London Stock Exchange, the platform aims to enhance operational performance without the need for significant capital expenditure.

The company’s new third-layer software, branded Enigma, distinguishes itself from traditional industrial AI by moving beyond simple equipment monitoring. Using agentic AI, which can autonomously execute tasks based on its analysis, the system is designed to understand production-line performance in context, allowing it to recommend or trigger operational actions.

The technology arrives as the UK grapples with a long-term decline in productivity growth, which slowed from an average of 1.9% per year between 1993 and 2008 to just 0.4% between 2008 and 2023. IntelliAM suggests that applying these tools to the UK food and drink manufacturing sector, which contributes £37.3bn in Gross Value Added, could unlock significant economic value. A 2% productivity uplift in that sector alone is estimated to be worth £746m annually.

"Britain's future productivity gains will come less from building new factories and more from improving the performance of the assets we already have," said Tom Clayton, CEO of IntelliAM AI. "Manufacturers do not have a data problem; they have a decision problem. The opportunity now is to use agentic AI to turn trusted industrial data into better operational performance."

IntelliAM positions its software as a solution to chronic labour shortages in the manufacturing sector. By capturing deep technical expertise and interpreting operational data, the AI agents are designed to guide factory floor staff toward more consistent decision-making, effectively acting as a "force multiplier" for engineering teams.

Research by The Bessemer Society into the Don Valley Corridor recently highlighted the region's R&D strengths, while also noting a persistent productivity gap within the local SME base that requires technological intervention.

The company has already established partnerships with six of the world’s 12 largest food and drink manufacturers. Trials with brands including Müller, Hovis, and SKF have informed the platform's development over the past decade. Notably, one Müller site reported a 215% improvement in mean-time between failures over a 12-month trial period using the technology.

IntelliAM processes over 16 billion industrial data points annually. Its ecosystem is comprised of three core capabilities: IntelliAM 53, which generates industrial data; Decipher, which provides operational analysis; and Enigma, the agentic AI layer.

"Agentic AI represents the next stage in industrial transformation," Mr Clayton added. "With the Industrial Intelligence Platform, we have cracked the code of industrial performance. This is how men and machines will be managed. This technology is about helping scarce expertise goes further."