Manufacturing leaders plan to expand supply chain ecosystems [Zebra Technologies report]

According to Zebra Technologies Corporation’s ‘In Pursuit of Excellence: Intelligent Automation for Superior Quality and Efficiency‘ survey, 28% of manufacturing leaders are planning to move, upgrade, repatriate or relocate production, rising to 46% by 2029. At the same time, industries in Europe are predicted to face tariffs that could impact their budgets and ability to export goods.

In addition, the EMEA region faces numerous conflicts and aggressive policies from foreign markets regarding production technology and product exports. These factors explain why 31% of companies are already planning to increase the number of partners in their supply chains, rising to 51% by 2029.

The report also shows that 82% of executives are not keeping up with the pace of technological innovation. Their biggest challenges are increasing capacity while maintaining high flexibility, strengthening competitiveness and reducing operating and asset budgets.

Tens of thousands of redundancies and factory closures are forcing manufacturing leaders to respond to this socio-economic crisis. It is also forcing them to make tough decisions on supply chain and human resource issues within their organisations, said Stephan Pottel, Manufacturing Practice Lead EMEA at Zebra Technologies

“In the face of fluctuating demand and slowing production, almost half (48%) of companies need the flexible scalability of production line automation and 39% are looking to reduce spending on plant and equipment. As workforce teams change, it will be necessary in the medium to long term to change operational processes to be more sustainable, automated and supported by the right technology tools”, added.

Pottel stresses that manufacturing executives are aware of the role of technology in improving automation. Boards of directors and technology or operations teams alike recognise the opportunities presented by IoT platforms, AI used in quality control and predictive maintenance, data analytics and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and large language models (LLM).

According to the report, decision-makers plan to automate processes by implementing deep learning (63%) and machine learning (64%) over the next five years. Meanwhile, LLM (64%) and AI-powered workflows (59%) will be used to optimise decision-making processes.

However, 89% of respondents believe that digitisation projects are costly, time-consuming and require a lot of staff involvement.

35% point out that it is a challenge to measure and justify the return on investment in these projects, said Pottel. This needs to be addressed as a priority issue that can be solved by implementing better strategies and getting the right support from management, technology and partners. Despite the challenging market conditions, there is no room for compromise when it comes to improving production quality, safety and compliance. Intelligent automation is needed to improve operations, productivity and the workforce.

Forward-thinking manufacturers in the automotive, bakery and food, metal and component manufacturing industries are implementing new technologies in their plants. Using vision systems, 3D scanning and robotics, they are able to detect defects, automate inspection processes and ensure smooth production for their customers.