Business Wire

WI-ROCKWELL-AUTOMATION

26.3.2024 12:01:26 CET | Business Wire | Press release

Share
New Study Finds GenAI as Top Tech Investment for Manufacturers, While 94% Expect to Maintain or Expand Their Workforce

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation, today announced the results of the 9th annual “State of Smart Manufacturing Report.” The global study surveyed more than 1,500 manufacturers across 17 of the leading manufacturing countries.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240326554889/en/

To view this piece of content from mms.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.

Rockwell Automation's 9th annual State of Smart Manufacturing Report (Graphic: Business Wire)

This year’s report reveals a focus on harnessing new and emerging technologies to build resiliency, improve quality, maximize workforce potential, and drive sustainable growth.

“A skilled workforce is the cornerstone of any successful manufacturing operation, but attracting, managing and retaining workers is proving to be an ongoing challenge,” said Cyril Perducat, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Rockwell Automation. “The survey found technology alone is not the answer. To remain competitive, manufacturers need to focus their staff on embracing new technology as a core part of their evolving organizational culture, creating a technology/worker partnership that drives their business forward.”

Key global findings include:

  • AI ranks as the top capability that manufacturers believe will drive the biggest business outcomes. 83% of manufacturers expect to use generative AI (GenAI) in their operations in 2024.
  • 95% of manufacturers are using or evaluating smart manufacturing technology – up from 84% in 2023.
  • 94% of manufacturers plan to maintain or grow their workforce due to smart manufacturing technology adoption, with a heavy focus on repurposing workers to new or different roles and/or hiring more workers.
  • Change management is the leading workforce-related obstacle for manufacturers in 2024.
  • Manufacturers cite “improved quality” as the top positive outcome they hope to achieve from existing smart manufacturing technology for a second consecutive year. Additionally, “quality control” ranks as the #1 AI/Machine Learning use case in 2024.
  • For the first time, cybersecurity is listed as one of the top five external risks for manufacturers in 2024, ranking third overall.
  • Energy management is the factor that matters most to manufacturers’ sustainability/ESG programs.

“The workforce of 2019 is not coming back,” said Allison Kuhn, principal analyst, LNS Research. “Developing a sustainable workforce strategy is critical to successfully navigate daunting manufacturing challenges. Leaders are winning the war for talent by embracing this new reality and with a laser focus on three imperatives: 1) Total Employee Experience, 2) Servant Leadership, and 3) Connected Frontline Workforce (CFW) Applications.”

Manufacturers continue to face a significant challenge: combining people, processes, and technology to drive long-term business growth and resilience. According to the report, around one-third of manufacturing leaders cite “matching technology and talent to business need” and “effectively managing people and resources” as the biggest obstacles their organizations face over the next year. Manufacturers can overcome this challenge by selecting a partner with relevant industry expertise and experience who can provide tailored solutions and support in aligning technology and talent with business objectives.

“At Rockwell, the combination of our deep industry expertise with our exceptional PartnerNetwork™ puts us in the best position to advise and guide leading global manufacturers. Being the largest company dedicated solely to industrial automation and digital transformation, we strive to help companies realize the promise and value of their digital transformation, no matter where they are in their journey,” said Perducat.

The full findings of the report can be found here.

Methodology

This report analyzed feedback from 1,567 respondents from 17 of the top manufacturing countries with roles from management up to the C-suite and was conducted in association with Rockwell Automation and Sapio Research. The survey pulled from a range of industries including Consumer Packaged Goods, Food & Beverage, Automotive, Semiconductor, Energy, Life Sciences, and more. With a balanced distribution of company sizes with revenues spanning $100 million to over $30 billion, it offers a wide breadth of manufacturing business perspectives.

About Rockwell Automation

Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. We connect the imaginations of people with the potential of technology to expand what is humanly possible, making the world more productive and more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 29,000 problem solvers dedicated to our customers in more than 100 countries. To learn more about how we are bringing the Connected Enterprise to life across industrial enterprises, visit www.rockwellautomation.com.

About the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork™

Rockwell Automation believes we're better together—and we do our part by delivering an expansive, global partner ecosystem of market-leading technology, superior support and services, and an integrated and streamlined approach to business. Succeed on an international scale by utilizing our network's breadth of innovative technologies and services that no single vendor can provide alone. To learn more about how the PartnerNetwork is helping to deliver the value of The Connected Enterprise, visit PartnerNetwork Program.

To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240326554889/en/

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com
DK

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Wolters Kluwer Medi-Span Selected to Provide Personalized Medication Decision Support at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust19.5.2026 15:30:00 CEST | Press release

Roll-out at largest EU cancer center marks first Medi-Span NHS implementation Wolters Kluwer Health has implemented its industry-leading medication decision support (MDS) solution, Medi-Span®, at the world-renowned specialist oncology center, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust. “The Christie is recognized globally for its excellence and commitment to delivering exceptional patient care,” says Israel Armstrong, Vice President for Medi-Span International at Wolters Kluwer Health. “We’re proud that our first Medi-Span implementation in the NHS should be with such a prestigious institution. We look forward to more collaborations that help streamline processes further and help clinical teams make the most highly informed decisions.” The Christie is a leading expert in cancer care, research and education and is the largest single-site cancer center in Europe. The Christie treats more than 60,000 patients a year and is the first facility in the UK to be accredited as a comprehensive cancer cen

Torq Acquires Jit to Unleash the First Enterprise AI SOC Context Graph—and Rewrite the Future of SecOps19.5.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release

With Jit Acquisition, Torq Catapults Enterprise SOCs Into a New Realm of Detailed Contextual Investigations That Drive Precision Decision-Making Torq, the established agentic security operations leader, today announced the acquisition of Jit, the Boston-based AI Context Graph cybersecurity pioneer. This move marks a dramatic leap forward for the Torq AI SOC Platform by ensuring agentic investigations are precisely informed via organization-specific contextual data. This shift redefines agentic reasoning, moving beyond static facts such as users, devices and their relationships, to prioritize live, dynamic contextual data overlaid on top, including business drivers, and the real-time state of the enterprise. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260519044833/en/ Instead of acting on fragmented data or having investigations triggered by a single alert, Torq AI operates with a unified, continuously-updated, contextual

Nine in 10 Firms Fear In-House Systems Can’t Keep Pace with Executive Pay Demands19.5.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release

89% of senior HR, rewards, and compensation leaders say in-house technology cannot keep pace with executive compensation demands80% report increased participation in incentive schemes over the past three years66% identify reliance on multiple service providers as a key barrier to maintaining accurate and consistent data Managing executive compensation is a growing challenge for financial services firms, with nearly nine in 10 (89%) saying their in-house technology can’t keep pace with demand. New research by CSC, the leading provider of business administration and compliance solutions, shows that rising complexity, regulatory pressure, and expanding global participation place increasing strain on internal systems and teams.1 CSC surveyed 300 senior HR, rewards, and compensation leaders across Europe, Asia Pacific, and North America working in private markets, asset management, insurance, and investment banking. The report, The Future of Reward in Financial Services: Executive Compensat

Tacton Appoints Manufacturing Technology Leader Mike DiTullio to Board of Directors19.5.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release

Former PTC President & COO brings decades of experience serving complex manufacturers and scaling global commercial organizations as Tacton advances growth in North America and EMEA. Tacton, a global leader in Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) solutions for manufacturers of complex products, today announced the appointment of Mike DiTullio to its Board of Directors. DiTullio is an enterprise software executive with more than three decades of experience working with complex manufacturers. He joins at a pivotal moment in the company’s evolution as Tacton expands beyond CPQ to deliver the Buyer-Centric Smart Factory, a connected approach that unites buyer engagement, engineering, and order fulfillment into a single intelligent system. DiTullio spent 26 years at PTC, most recently as President and Chief Operating Officer, wherehe worked closely with leading manufacturers to transform how they design, sell, and deliver complex products. In that role, he led global commercial operations across s

Echodyne and Moog SuccessfullyDemonstrate Reconfigurable Integrated-weapon Platform (RIwP®) at U.S. Army Exercise19.5.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release

Demonstration showed how combining advanced radar, sophisticated control systems, and AI can turn existing kinetic weapons into highly effective C-UAS effectors Echodyne, the radar platform company, and Moog Inc. (NYSE: MOG.A and MOG.B), a worldwide designer, manufacturer, and systems integrator of high performance precision motion and control systems, announce the results of testing of their defensive systems to counter small offensive UAS (“sUAS”) weapons. Capabilities Tested Live detection, lock on with precision tracking, and successfully engaging of Group 1-3 UAS threats in less than 3 seconds. Combined AI targeting, wireless fire control, and radar integration across mission equipment capabilities for defense against small UAS weapons. AI targeting for passive detection, autonomous targeting, track re-acquire, multi-object targeting. Outputs Identified and swiftly rectified critical capability gaps within a simulated battlefield environment. Proved that combining precision data w

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye