A commercial or co-op laudry can purchase sophisticated software and still see little improvement on the plant floor. The problem often begins with the way leaders introduce the technology. They announce an artificial intelligence (AI) initiative, demonstrate a few impressive features, assign employees a login and wait for productivity to rise.

Instead, uncertainty spreads. Supervisors worry about accuracy. Operators wonder whether management plans to eliminate jobs. Experienced employees see a system that lacks the practical knowledge they have built across thousands of loads, equipment interruptions and customer exceptions.

Successful AI adoption begins somewhere less dramatic: by taking on one recurring ...