Can AI help solve industry’s worker shortages?

Honeywell’s Derain Pillay discusses how advanced technologies are recreating the roles of human workers in the metals, minerals and mining industry
Aug. 21, 2025

By their very nature, the metals, minerals and mining industries have often set the standard for jobs that are at once remote, dirty and dangerous, and as such are facing a particularly acute shortage of workers as Baby Boomers retire. But new cutting-edge technologies such as AI are poised to change that outlook, according to Derain Pillay, global vertical lead for the MM&M markets with Honeywell Process Solutions.

Control’s Keith Larson caught up with Derain at the company’s recent Honeywell Users Group meeting in San Antonio to discuss how technology is reshaping how work gets done in this essential global industry.

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Control Amplified

Control Amplified

The process automation podcast

The Control Amplified Podcast offers in-depth interviews and discussions with industry experts about important topics in the process control and automation field, and goes beyond Control's print and online coverage to explore underlying issues affecting users, system integrators, suppliers and others in these industries.

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