Top 10 Manufacturing Predictions

What’s ahead for global manufacturing? "Manufacturing companies are transforming from efficiency-oriented operations to resilient organizations driven by a tighter connection to markets and customers," says Kevin Prouty, vice president, Manufacturing Insights, IDC. Here’s what Manufacturing Insights predicts for the years ahead:

1: By 2023, 65% of global manufacturers will realize a 10% savings in operational expenses through process digital twins driven by Internet of Things (IoT) and machine language routines that factor in unstructured data sets.

2: By the end of 2021, half of all manufacturing supply chains will have invested in supply chain resiliency and artificial intelligence, resulting in productivity improvements of 15%.

3: By 2021, 30% of manufacturers will have a digital application unit that will use low-code technologies to create business-relevant applications without needing the coding skills required.

4: By 2023, 60% of G2000 manufacturers will address growing industry talent shortages by making significant investments in intelligent robotic process automation.

5: By 2022, the need for operational resiliency with data-driven processes will lead 60% of manufacturers to shift their smart factory strategy focus from technology implementation to process change management.

6: By 2025, driven by increased sustainability requirements, 30% of manufacturers will utilize blockchain and IoT to provide reliable provenance, leading to a 90% increase in audit efficiency.

7: By 2021, 20% of manufacturing companies will have started to treat their assets as internal customers, leading to a 40% reduction in asset downtime.

8: By 2024, 40% of OEMs will leverage field asset IoT data to intelligently diagnose pending issues and resolve unplanned downtime by 25%.

9: By 2024, 75% of all consumer-facing manufacturers will have materially transformed their supply chains to manage customization at scale.

10: By 2022, 70% of manufacturers will use cloud-based innovation platforms and marketplaces for cross-industry and customer co-development that creates 50% of new products and service ideas.