Manufacturing Technology Investment 2025

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Jul 10

What if the real disruption in manufacturing is not coming from artificial intelligence, cloud computing, or automation?

What if the real disruption is something far more uncomfortable?

What if it is the quiet realization that we have been investing in all the wrong things?

According to Deloitte’s 2025 Smart Manufacturing and Operations Survey, manufacturers are pouring billions into technology. Seventy-eight percent of respondents say they are allocating more than 20 percent of their improvement budgets to smart manufacturing initiatives. Nearly half are prioritizing process automation. These numbers tell a clear story. Companies are not just experimenting anymore. They are moving forward with real investment. The intent is strong. The excitement is real.

But I would argue that we are still not ready.

Not in our culture.
Not in our organizational structures.
Not in how we prepare our people.

And that is the part that rarely makes it into the charts or boardroom conversations.

What the Numbers Reveal and What They Leave Out

Let us take a closer look at where manufacturers say they are investing in the next 24 months.

The chart above shows a clear pattern:

41% of companies plan to invest in factory automation hardware.
40% will invest in data analytics.
38% will invest in advanced production scheduling.

Further down, we see interest in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, with vision systems and Internet of Things platforms following. Generative AI and edge computing round out the bottom.

These priorities reflect a desire to modernize the factory floor. Companies are upgrading their infrastructure, improving scheduling, and building better visibility into operations. These are all important steps. And they signal that the core of smart manufacturing is being taken seriously. But here is what is missing: There is no direct investment listed for people. There is no line on the chart for change management, training, or workforce development. And that is where the real problem begins.

Deloitte’s survey adds another layer to the story. When asked about capability maturity, human capital ranked the lowest. Only 48% of companies have a defined training and adoption standard. At the same time, workforce development was listed as the top area companies want to improve. Eighty-five percent of executives believe smart manufacturing will help attract new talent. Yet over one third said their biggest human capital concern is simply helping their current employees adapt.

That means we are investing in systems our people are not fully prepared to use. We are introducing technologies that assume a level of organizational readiness that simply does not exist.

The chart shows us where we are spending money. The deeper data shows us what we are avoiding.

We Like the Sound of Transformation as Long as It Does Not Inconvenience Us

We like the idea of digital transformation as long as it does not slow us down. We like the sound of artificial intelligence as long as we do not have to rethink how decisions are made. We like to talk about the workforce of the future as long as we do not have to retrain the one we already have.

We tell ourselves that deploying technology equals progress. But deploying software is not the same thing as transformation. Transformation requires rethinking roles. It requires adjusting incentives. It requires questioning long-held habits. And most of all, it requires a willingness to change how work gets done.

Too often, companies implement new tools without changing the processes around them. A scheduling platform is launched, but the team still uses spreadsheets to double-check the data. Sensors are added to equipment, but nobody trusts the alerts unless they are validated manually. Artificial intelligence delivers insights, but no one has permission to act on them.

The result is a layer of modern tools sitting on top of outdated thinking. You can have the most advanced tech stack in your industry, but if your people are not trained or empowered to use it, it becomes little more than an expensive facade. This is how companies end up stuck in what many call pilot purgatory. They test. They trial. They demo. But nothing truly sticks. Because the root of the issue is not the technology itself. It is the way people engage with it.

We are not being held back by cost.
We are not being held back by tools.
We are being held back by ourselves.

Smart Manufacturing Starts with Smart Preparation

This is not a call to stop investing. It is a call to invest more intentionally.

The technologies in the chart are essential. Automation hardware, analytics, production scheduling, cloud, and AI all play critical roles in the modern factory. But their success depends on how well they are integrated into the human systems around them.

Before you deploy a new system, ask how your teams will learn to use it.
Before you invest in AI, ask whether your managers are ready to make data-driven decisions.
Before you upgrade your operations, ask whether your workflows are designed for agility and collaboration.

Smart manufacturing is not just about technology. It is about readiness. It is about alignment. It is about having the courage to look beyond the investment chart and confront the real blockers that prevent progress.

The greatest barrier to transformation is not a lack of innovation. It is the unwillingness to change what made us successful in the past.

The good news is that this barrier is within our control.
But only if we are honest about where we stand.
And only if we are brave enough to build the future on more than excitement and intent.

The factory of the future will not be defined by how much technology we own.
It will be defined by how well we prepare our people to use it.