Happy Wednesday, Lattice Community!
Usually we dissect big stories in AI each week and provide insights to keep you informed in your industry. But since we just got back from FABTECH, we wanted to do a special edition, manufacturing-focused newsletter to share our observations about AI in the metal fabrication world and updates on the work we’re doing at Lattice Partners. We’re an AI implementation company that helps businesses with AI strategy and custom solutions.
This week’s TL;DR:
• Manufacturers are starting to welcome AI with open arms!
• How to use AI to get a leg up at a conference
• Our trade show playbook and how to have fun with it!
Some manufacturers are treating AI like the dentist… you know you need to go, but you’re kinda dreading it.
Deloitte’s 2026 survey of over 140 manufacturers found 84% already get measurable value from AI, BUT only about one in five of their AI projects was rolled out across all their sites. And according to the National Association of Manufacturers’ Q2 2026 survey, 41% said their shops provide ZERO AI training to frontline workers.
Takeaways
1. People aren’t rolling their eyes at the mention of “AI” anymore
Six months ago our team would have had to convince someone why AI is valuable, but now it’s clear the people we talked to had already leveraged ChatGPT, Claude or Grok Bot. They just don’t know where AI fits into their workflow specifically.
2. One-size-fits-all software is a problem in manufacturing
Across the three days at FABTECH, we heard about 15 different ERP systems. It became evident that the majority of shops use different software, which is why custom builds often fit better.
3. The same pain points kept coming up in conversation:
- Quoting jobs faster
- Scheduling jobs across machines and workers for the week or month
- Visibility to understand where they’re losing money
- Frustration with existing ERPs
4. Let’s get real here - sometimes the answer is not “AI”
“AI” is a buzzword everywhere now, so clarifying where AI can actually help you and when it cannot matters when we talk to clients. If someone is moving from pen and paper to digital, or an owner needs to hire better welders, AI isn’t the fix for that.
How we used AI to stand out at FABTECH
When everyone is fighting for attention, you want to be the most useful and fun booth on the floor.
Navigating across 885,000 square feet of booths at FABTECH will push your step count way past 10,000 by noon, so Martin had the idea to build a 3D map that shows directions to any booth - Lattice Partners standing out as the tallest obviously.
Then we had the miraculous idea to buy fabtechmap.com as a domain so we could place printed QR codes around the conference for people to find us!
And don’t get us started on official badge-scanning apps that cost hundreds of dollars… Christian essentially said we’re not doing that! and built a Lattice lead tracker so anyone on our team could snap a pic of a badge and AI pulls the name, company and title. Our team can rate the lead as warm or cold, mark whether they booked a meeting, and speak notes into it that AI will organize!
It was a good idea in theory, but the real test came when we arrived to FABTECH…
Takeaways
1. You can build an amazing product, but it only matters if someone FINDS IT
The competition for attention is fierce, so you have to get creative! We placed our FABTECH map QR code posters in bathrooms, above the towel racks and on tables in dining areas. Don’t be afraid to meet your customer where they live - sometimes that just so happens to be the sink!
2. Solve a problem for your customer first, and they’ll start to trust you!
We learned that being useful to EVERYONE, a potential lead or not, is amazing for general awareness of our company - plus, our logo was tiny on the poster so it didn’t feel like we were actually selling to people.
Showing off our work paid off. About 200 people used our map during the trade show! Someone from one of the larger booths even waved us over, asking if we made the “official FABTECH map.” It wasn’t official, but hey if FABTECH wants to reach out to us for next year, you know where to find us.
Potential clients figured that if Lattice could easily build that map for all FABTECH attendees, we could easily build something for their fab shop.
3. Sometimes you gotta adjust on the fly
AI gives you more cheap shots at a goal. You don’t know which idea will work, so you throw a lot at the wall and see what sticks. In our case, the AI lead scanner app we built was a great idea in theory, but we quickly learned it was faster to simply ask for a business card on the spot, rather than scan a badge and ask for an email.
4. Don’t take yourself too seriously
The cheapest and quickest marketing idea we had was a beer koozie saying “AI can’t drink beer.” The koozies took us literally 30 minutes to make and pulled more people into our booth than anything else. Sus out the vibes, don’t overthink your marketing, and make people laugh!
We dive into AI topics and more on the Lattice Partners podcast, the AI Playbook, linked here.
Something you can use
Steal our trade show playbook - it worked for us!
Before the show
- Warm potential leads up ahead of time, reach out a month to six weeks in advance
- Send them calendar invites with your booth number so they know where you are!
At the booth
- Always be standing!
- Stay off your phone and don’t huddle up with your team - it makes you look unwelcoming
- Open with anything but your pitch - ask how their day is going, what they’re looking for at the conference
- Make your company giveaway something attention-grabbing or useful
- Entice people with demos to spark ideas for their business
After the show
- Follow up with everyone!
This week at Lattice Partners
FABTECH 2026 was one for the books. We can’t wait to follow up with everyone we met and work with new manufacturing clients in the upcoming year!
And a big shout out to our GTM lead Niall Tighe, who spent countless hours prepping and setting our team up for success ahead of the trade show.
See you next Wednesday!
Cheers,
Lattice Partners
