How tech is shaking up jobs at Principal, DuPont Pioneer and Pella

Artificial intelligence and automation advances in Iowa are having workplace impacts far beyond manufacturing, including in white-collar jobs.

Here are three examples:

DuPont Pioneer

Researchers at DuPont Pioneer's labs have cut years off the research and development time needed to get new plant breeds on the market.

And they have automation and robots to thank for that. 

At the global company's largest lab in Johnston, a robot retrieves microscopic plant samples and extracts DNA. The tens of millions of tests performed here each year deliver genetic signals to plant breeders in the field or greenhouse who are developing and testing product lines.

"Ten years ago we were doing tenfold less than we are today. And it was costing us in the neighborhood of 10 times more," said Jason Abbas, director of global production genotyping. 

And staff has increased over that time.

RELATED: Robots, artificialintelligence and automation are reshaping Iowa's workforce. Is your job at risk?

Instead of paying six people to spend their days moving around liquid samples, Abbas said Pioneer might take those same workers and employ them in an engineering or data analytics role.

"It's changed how we do our work," he said, "but the need for the staff and specific skill sets is certainly there."

Principal Financial Group

Fifteen years ago, about 70 percent of the employees at Principal Financial Group were considered transactional workers, moving paper, handling customer requests or entering data, said Gary Scholten, the company's executive vice president, chief information officer and chief digital officer.

Now, about 70 percent of the company's employees are knowledge workers and 30 percent are transactional.

Technology took over some lower-level jobs as customers began accessing account information online and completing their own transactions. Yet, Scholten doesn't expect the introduction of technology to winnow the pool of employees.

"The optimistic side of me says I think technology is going to continue creating jobs that we don’t even know about today," he said.

Technology is moving so fast that workers must be more nimble than ever, Scholten said. The company teams up workers from various departments — such as a marketing professional and a software developer — to quickly solve problems and create new products.

Workers across departments must know how to use data in decision-making. 

"We don’t need this just for our employees who are IT employees or actuaries," Scholten said. "We need all of our employees to have a basic understanding of math and technology."

Pella Windows and Doors

Inside the Pella Windows and Doors plant in Pella, a giant robot speeds around, measuring and cutting pieces of metal that eventually will fit between two sheets of glass in a double-paned window. 

After an employee programs the machine, the plexiglass-encased robot works quickly. To switch tasks, it changes out the tools on its arm and switches them between arms within seconds.

Don Lanke, director of operations engineering, said robots increasingly are taking over the tasks that are difficult for humans. Robots are good at lifting heavy, awkward objects. And they don't worry about ergonomics or injuries.

But the plant still relies heavily on employees.

"There are just some things that humans are better at doing," Lanke said. 

That includes tasks that require dexterity, such as working with small parts and assemblies.

People are better at many visual tasks, such as spotting product irregularities. And they're also better at making on-the-spot judgments, he said.

That's a key distinction at a company that produces nearly everything on-demand: Pella's mostly custom products aren't kept in stock, but are produced once an order is in hand.

Lanke pointed to overseas plants that have grown so reliant on automation they call themselves "dark factories" for their lack of human workers. Though he's unsure if that day is coming to American factories, he's sure of one thing for now:

"It won't be fast," he said. "There are so many things that humans are so good at."