AI that gives you time — for what truly matters

Good specialists in surface finishing are more sought-after and valuable than ever. That is where the stance of secure galvano ai comes from: data and AI should make your specialists’ work easier, keep value creation in Europe and turn time saved into better work — and into getting home on time.

Experience is scarce, trust is the key

Experienced specialists are retiring and fewer young people follow. Whoever runs a plating line today often carries more than before. AI can take some of the load — if the people who use it trust it.

Apprentices in surface coating, Germany

Apprentices in surface coating: 844 in 2010, 387 in 2024 2010: 844 apprentices 2024: 387 apprentices 844 387 2010 2024 −54%
Apprentices in training, more than halved since 2010.1
83%

of companies in Germany expect negative effects from the shortage of skilled workers.2

46%

of employees worry about their jobs when their company reshapes work with AI end to end — compared with 34% elsewhere.3

43%

of employees in Switzerland worry about their jobs because of AI.4

Productivity grows with people

What becomes of efficiency gains is decided by the company, not by the technology.

Newcomers gain the most

Among 5,179 customer support staff, those with AI assistance resolved 14% more cases per hour, newcomers as much as 34% more.5 That is exactly what an industry needs in which trained-on-the-job staff have to make up for missing experience.

Employees stay on board

Danish register data so far show no effects above 2% on earnings or hours worked.6 In Germany, employees of automating manufacturers stayed with their company and took on new tasks.7

The approach makes the difference

In the Netherlands, employees left automating firms more often and lost about a tenth of a year’s income over five years.8 An analysis of 350 large companies shows that cutting jobs frees up budget but brings no return — targeted training is what worked.9

Example: retrain

IKEA partly automated its customer service and retrained 8,500 employees as interior design advisers. This created a new source of revenue.10

Example: back to people

Klarna announced that AI would do the work of around 700 customer service roles. In 2025 the company admitted quality problems and brought people back.11

Time saved belongs to people

When data shows where a defect originates, part of the troubleshooting, rework and firefighting goes away. In every project this time is planned from the start: for improvements and new ideas, for exchange within the team and with customers, for training — and for your people getting home to their families on time.

The company works more productively, knowledge stays in-house, and value creation stays in Europe.

“Optimization should make the company stronger — with everyone who is part of it today, and so that the people benefit from it.”

Stefan Maier, founder of secure galvano ai

Bring people along from day one

secure galvano ai supports every project through the reorganization as well — together with management, HR and the people on the line.

  1. A commitment before the first pilot

    Management commits in writing: every job is kept throughout the project, the tasks evolve. The commitment comes before the first success, not after it.

  2. HR at the table from the start

    Management, HR, specialists and IT plan together: hours freed up against new tasks, adjustments only through natural turnover.

  3. Informed first, in person

    Whoever’s tasks change hears it first, in a personal conversation.

  4. Specialists shape the change

    The people on the line define examples, exceptions and review rules. Participation, information and trust shape how people respond to change — the conclusion of a review of 79 studies.12

  5. Training and trust

    Hands-on training before go-live. Evaluations happen at team and process level, never per person.

Employees with a positive view of AI

Positive view of AI: 15 percent without, 55 percent with strong leadership support without strong leadership support without strong support: 15% 15% with strong leadership support with strong support: 55% 55%
More than 10,600 respondents in eleven countries. Only about a quarter of frontline employees receive this support.3

People make the decision

Cycle: the line delivers data, the software flags anomalies, the specialist reviews and decides, their experience flows back into the rules Plating line delivers data Software flags an anomaly Specialist reviews and decides Experience flows into the rules People decide

The EU AI Act calls it human oversight. On the shop floor it means: the software shows what stands out and makes a suggestion — the specialist reviews it, decides and gives feedback. With every decision their experience makes the system better.

This way people and technology each play to their strengths: on tasks beyond what AI reliably handles, consultants using AI in a field experiment got 19 percentage points fewer tasks right.13 Experience remains essential.

Since February 2025 the AI Act also requires that staff working with AI are adequately trained.14 How the secure galvano ai application itself was reviewed is described under Security.

An AI project your workforce supports?

In the intro call you find out where data can give your specialists time back — and how management and HR are involved from the start.

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30 minutes · no obligation · free of charge

References

  1. Trinks (2026): Galvanik 2030 – Wenn der Nachwuchs ausbleibt. Galvanotechnik 4/2026, pp. 577–582, based on ZVO data (German).
  2. DIHK (2025): DIHK-Fachkräftereport 2025/2026, around 22,000 companies surveyed (German).
  3. Boston Consulting Group (2025): AI at Work 2025 – Momentum Builds, but Gaps Remain. bcg.com
  4. Deloitte Switzerland (2023): Der rasante Einzug der generativen KI in der Schweiz, 1,002 employees. deloitte.com
  5. Brynjolfsson, E.; Li, D.; Raymond, L. (2025): Generative AI at Work. Quarterly Journal of Economics. nber.org
  6. Humlum, A.; Vestergaard, E. (2026): Still Waters, Rapid Currents – Early Labor Market Transformation under Generative AI. NBER Working Paper 33777. nber.org
  7. Dauth, W.; Findeisen, S.; Südekum, J.; Wößner, N. (2021): The Adjustment of Labor Markets to Robots. Journal of the European Economic Association 19(6). diw.de
  8. Bessen, J.; Goos, M.; Salomons, A.; van den Berge, W. (2025): What Happens to Workers at Firms that Automate? Review of Economics and Statistics. bu.edu
  9. Gartner, reported by cash.ch (2026): Jobabbau wegen KI bringt keinen Gewinnschub (German). cash.ch
  10. Employer Branding News: What IKEA’s AI reskilling story looks like now. employerbranding.news
  11. WinFuture, based on Bloomberg (2025): Klarna (German). winfuture.de
  12. Oreg, S.; Vakola, M.; Armenakis, A. (2011): Change Recipients’ Reactions to Organizational Change – A 60-Year Review. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 47(4). huji.ac.il
  13. Dell’Acqua, F. et al. (2023): Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier. Harvard Business School Working Paper 24-013. hbs.edu
  14. Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), Art. 4 AI literacy and Art. 14 human oversight. eur-lex.europa.eu
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