Accenture and Avanade Collaborate with Microsoft to Develop Agentic Factory to Help Reduce Manufacturing Downtime

New product introduced at Hannover Messe 2026 helps shop floor teams at manufacturers like Kruger Inc. and Nissha Metallizing Solutions address shop floor challenges faster

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) and Avanade are co-developing an agentic factory intelligence system with Microsoft to help companies reinvent factory operations through seamless collaboration between humans, machines, AI agents and data. Leading manufacturers Kruger and Nissha Metallizing Solutions are early adopters, helping validate the agentic factory ahead of its planned general availability later in 2026. Accenture and Avanade are presenting the product in collaboration with Microsoft at Hannover Messe 2026*.

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The agentic factory moves beyond traditional manufacturing analytics, dashboards and oversight tools. It enables AI agents that assist factory operators with initial status checks, diagnostics and guided troubleshooting when production lines or machines are not producing at the intended rate. The agents analyze operational context, historical machine behavior and production data to suggest likely causes and recommended actions. When additional support is required, the product helps prepare maintenance tickets or spare parts orders.

"Manufacturers are looking to reinvent their shop floor operations with AI for improved safety and productivity," said Tracey Countryman, global Supply Chain and Engineering lead at Accenture. "This includes moving beyond visibility toward systems that support frontline workers in critical moments. Our agentic factory helps production supervisors, machine operators, electricians, mechanics and quality controllers resolve issues faster and with greater confidence, remaining in control of final decisions."

"What makes agentic AI real for manufacturers is how it shows up for the people running the factory every day," said Michael Schleuss, global Supply Chain and Engineering lead for Avanade. "Our agentic factory combines Microsoft technology expertise with hands-on industry and manufacturing know-how to help clients and their teams move quickly from concept to measurable impact on the shop floor."

The agentic factory is an intelligence system built on the Accenture and Avanade Factory Agents and Analytics offering. It uses Microsoft technologies including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Foundry and Microsoft Copilot and is delivered via a subscription model that allows clients to start small and scale as value is proven.

The new product brings together structured data (from manufacturing execution systems, condition monitoring, control and alerting systems, machine and sensor telemetry, and historians) and data from unstructured sources (failure mode and effects analysis documentation, operator and machine manuals, and maintenance records). Using Fabric as the unified data foundation and Foundry to reason across these sources, AI agents deliver contextual, role-specific guidance directly at the point of work through conversational interfaces.

Leading manufacturers are now validating the performance of the product and tracking its business impact in their environment to advise on areas for refinement and lay the foundation for scaled adoption. This includes Kruger, a major North American provider of tissue and recycled paper-based products and renewable energy and a leader in paper and paperboard. Another example is Nissha Metallizing Solutions (NMS), the leading global manufacturer of metallized paper for packaging and labeling solutions.

"Unplanned downtime impacts safety, productivity and performance across our operations," said Eric Ashby, chief operating officer at Kruger. "The financial and operational value lever is significant. A 10–15% reduction in mean-time-to-repair quickly translates into multimillion dollar savings when scaled across production lines and sites. With this agentic factory, we can help our teams respond faster to issues, capture operational knowledge, and continuously improve how our factories run."

Edoardo Palmo, global operations manager at Nissha Metallizing Solutions, said, "At NMS, we see prescriptive analytics and AI as a strategic imperative, helping unlock significant value across our organization. With Accenture's and Avanade's agentic factory, we can improve root cause exploration in order to significantly reduce scrap and unplanned downtime for a competitive edge in an increasingly dynamic market."

"Agentic AI is the next step for manufacturers like Kruger and Nissha Metallizing Solutions to turn data into outcomes," said Dayan Rodriguez, corporate vice president, Manufacturing and Mobility Industry at Microsoft. "By bringing together Microsoft's AI, Accenture and Avanade's manufacturing expertise, and client validation, we're building factory agents and analytics that help teams work smarter and make better decisions."

The new agentic factory reflects Accenture, Avanade, and Microsoft's broader goal to reinvent factory operations, where autonomous agents and human teams collaborate to help improve safety, increase productivity, strengthen decision-making, and enable more consistent performance across sites.

* Accenture, Avanade and Microsoft are presenting the agentic factory at Hannover Messe at the Accenture booth (Hall 16, Stand A15) and the Microsoft booth (Hall 17, Stand G06). Members of the press are invited to contact Jens Derksen ([email protected], +49 175 5761393) to receive a demonstration.

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading solutions and services company that helps the world's leading enterprises reinvent by building their digital core and unleashing the power of AI to create value at speed across the enterprise, bringing together the talent of our approximately 786,000 people, our proprietary assets and platforms, and deep ecosystem relationships. Our strategy is to be the reinvention partner of choice for our clients and to be the most client-focused, AI-enabled, great place to work in the world. Through our Reinvention Services we bring together our capabilities across strategy, consulting, technology, operations, Song and Industry X with our deep industry expertise to create and deliver solutions and services for our clients. Our purpose is to deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity, and we measure our success by the 360° value we create for all our stakeholders. Visit us at accenture.com.

About Avanade

Avanade is the world's leading Microsoft expert, helping more than 7,000 organizations modernize securely and scale AI using Microsoft technology, faster. Founded by Microsoft and Accenture, and operating as Microsoft's Client Zero, Avanade brings deep expertise and proven delivery to simplify complexity, accelerate innovation, and deliver measurable results.

Together with Accenture, Avanade combines global scale with expertise in AI, cloud, data, cybersecurity, and ERP to design solutions that put people first. With 60,000 Microsoft professionals worldwide, 165,000 certifications, and the largest community of Microsoft MVPs, Avanade has spent more than 25 years helping organizations unlock the full potential of people and technology to create lasting impact for clients, employees, and communities.

Do What Matters. Learn more at www.avanade.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

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Jens Derksen

Accenture

+49 175 5761393

[email protected]



Juanjo Campos

Avanade

+506 4036 5244

[email protected]