AI in Focus: Stanley Black & Decker

James M. Loree, President & Chief Executive Officer of Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) believes the right combination of people, applying emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, can create value. He believes winners will emerge at the place where people and technology intersect. Technology makes people more productive. His goal is a workforce that knows how to apply technology.

Loree recognizes the challenges ahead. In the Risk Factors section of their annual report, SWK acknowledges the new realities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution:

The pace of technological change continues to accelerate and the Company’s ability to react effectively to such change may present significant competitive risks.

The pace of technological change is increasing at an exponential rate. The continued creation, development and advancement of new technologies such as 5G data networks, artificial intelligence, blockchain, quantum computing, data analytics, 3-D printing, robotics, sensor technology, data storage, neural networks, augmented reality, amongst others, as well as other technologies in the future that are not foreseen today, continue to transform processes, products and services. The Company will need to stay abreast of such technologies, require its employees to continue to learn and adapt to new technologies and be able to…