The governments of every major economy seem to care a lot more about where and how things get made than they used to. As a result, manufacturers find themselves under growing pressure to make products sustainably, cost-effectively, and increasingly close to home . From AI and machine learning to physical robots and the industrial metaverse, smart manufacturing technologies play a role in helping the manufacturing sector respond to this unfamiliar scrutiny.
As we look ahead to 2024, we predict that a healthy pragmatism will take hold in the manufacturing sector: The prior bold claims on everything from generative AI and the industrial metaverse to reshoring of manufacturing jobs and autonomous vehicles will be toned down as the painful realities of grappling with issues such as technical debt, legislation, and global supply chains bite. This is definitely to be welcomed, but it’s just unfortunate that it took so long.