(Relay: Raleigh, N.C.) -- Relay, the system of action for physical operations, has released “The Factory Floor’s Missing Data Layer,” a new report on how critical operational information moves across factory floors. The perception research found that 86% of respondents say sensors and machine data alone aren’t enough to understand what’s happening on the shop floor, and it points to a dual track running across many operations: the plant in the systems and the plant on the floor.

Operators say information can evaporate before it reaches the systems, creating a data gap, and what the systems report often fails to reach the person who can act (the action gap). A missing layer, the system of action, sits between the two; closing that gap lets a plant optimize in time by acting on what it already knows.

Two failures, one missing layer

Picture an operator who tells the crew on the radio, every shift for several weeks, that a machine is running rough. Because it’s mentioned but doesn’t stop the line, it doesn’t reach the maintenance system. Then an alert appears for the same asset, goes to the right level, and lands in an inbox no one is watching. The first failure is about what’s said and not logged, while the second is about what’s known and not delivered.

The data gap: What operators say can stay out of the systems

Based on a survey of 500 full-time U.S. manufacturing professionals at organizations with 500 or more employees, verbal communication (57%) was the most commonly cited channel for critical operational information, ahead of paper logs, whiteboards (39%), and formal systems such as CMMS, ERP, and ticketing platforms (36%). Despite significant investment in digitizing operations, much of the context explaining what’s happening on the floor still moves through conversations, manual handoffs, and paper trails.

41% of respondents say their organizations have digitized operational infrastructure, while frontline work and communication still happen largely offline or informally.

Only 20% say their formal systems very accurately reflect what happened on a typical shift, and 40% say only some of what frontline workers discuss informally ends up in a system, log, or formal report.

One-third say safety guidance is often communicated verbally rather than formally documented. When that happens, the context from the conversation can be lost, which can make audits challenging and hinder efforts to prevent similar situations.

Executives and the front line see two different plants

83% of executives are confident that a highly automated plant can spot problems on its own, compared with 40% of frontline respondents, a 43-point gap. Both views are real. One sees the plant as it’s recorded, and the other sees it as it runs. Relay’s view is that deciding from half the story can lead to funding the wrong fixes, finding root causes late, and paying for the same failure twice.

The action gap: What the systems report doesn’t always reach the person who can act

82% of manufacturers rely on employees to manually carry information between teams, systems, or shifts because their tools don’t communicate directly.

More than half of respondents (56%) said documenting an issue or communicating a status update through current tools takes at least four minutes, and for 41%, communication breakdowns are a weekly occurrence.

When a gap causes a disruption, 36% said it typically takes at least an hour to resolve. In a high-output facility, this can cost an average of $2,100 per minute.

Relay sees two reasons why the action gap persists. The first is that alerts land in inboxes and on screens that are hard to watch in an eyes-up, hands-busy job. The second concerns volume: When too many alerts appear, people can stop paying attention. Better analytics help, but sending an alert to the right person also depends on what no machine knows, such as who is nearby, who is free, who is already on it, and what the last shift said.

One missing layer

Both gaps share a root cause: The knowledge on the floor often stays out of the operation’s record, so there’s nothing for good routing to run on. Relay is the system of action for physical operations. It captures what your front line actually says and does, and turns it into action in the systems you already run. It logs workers’ insights as they speak into their device, gets it to the right person by voice, and writes the result back so the work order closes with what the technician found.

Manufacturers brace for a widening knowledge gap

When asked which operational challenges will have the greatest effect during the next five years, respondents ranked knowledge transfer from experienced workers highest at 44%, closely followed by AI and automation at 43%, and well ahead of supply chain volatility at 32%. 75% say they are worried about the loss of experienced workers and the knowledge walking out the door as a wave of retirements continues to hit manufacturers.

When both gaps are closed, a throughput dip can arrive with its cause attached, a veteran’s know-how can stay after they retire, and a warning can reach the right technician while it still matters. To see the full report, click here.

Research methodology

Relay partnered with Dynata to survey 500 full-time U.S. manufacturing professionals between Aug. 1–14, 2026. All respondents worked at organizations with at least 500 employees. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. Respondents could select multiple answers when identifying where critical operational communication most commonly occurs. This is perception research: It reflects what respondents report about their own operations.