What Causes Half of the Top 10 Manufacturing Tech Challenges?
ABI Research recently completed its 2024 Manufacturers’ Technology Adoption & Attitudes Survey of 461 manufacturing decision-makers in the U.S., Malaysia, and Germany. They wanted to identify real-world attitudes, adoption trends, and insights reflecting the industry’s current status. A top takeaway from The State of Technology in the Manufacturing Industry is that 50% of manufacturers’ top ten workforce challenges are people-related.
“An interesting find from the survey is that some of the biggest issues for manufacturers involve people, not technology. Recruiting, retaining, and upskilling staff are among the top challenges manufacturers face today. Skilled individuals are required to operate and maintain equipment while also focusing on optimizing production lines. Simply put, there aren’t enough of these individuals in the workforce today,” explains Michael Larner, Distinguished Analyst at ABI Research.
Other highlights include:
- 76% say that the cloud can foster real-time collaboration with key stakeholders to streamline supply chain coordination. U.S. manufacturers are less enthused about cloud computing’s ability to improve efficiency via scalability than their surveyed counterparts
- 74% of manufacturers agree/strongly agree that private cellular provides the reliability and security needed to streamline manufacturing operations
- S. and Malaysian firms rank new tech vulnerabilities (e.g., cloud, A.I., etc.) as the top cyber risks, and German firms ranked data breach/theft as their top concern
- 78% of respondents believe that generative A.I.’s most common use case is to rapidly identify the root cause of a production issue
- 79% agree that the industrial metaverse can aid new product development. German and Malaysian firms name new product design as the top use case of the industrial metaverse. In the U.S., the top use case was staff training and upskilling
- Only 39% of respondents stated that their I.T. and O.T. teams collaborate to solve issues
- 23% of U.S., 22% of Malaysian, and 18% of German Manufacturers agree that supporting sustainability is a priority.
- 17% of manufacturers are considering commercial drone deployments in the next 12 months. Manufacturers are also evaluating Proofs of Concepts (18%), evaluating suppliers (23%), or devising implementation programs (9%)
Download the report, The State of Technology in the Manufacturing Industry, for Survey highlights.
