How manufacturing will transform by 2040

By 2040…

53% believe Industry 5.0 will mark the new phase in which digital manufacturing is progressing toward autonomous operations based on contextualized end-to-end information, simulation, artificial intelligence (AI) optimization, and Generative AI (GenAI) creating new content by learning from existing data.

52% believe GenAI will see large-scale adoption in their company’s factories, enabling self-learning machines, intelligent human-machine interactions, and real-time optimization of operational efficiency and workforce utilization.

51% believe their company’s warehouses will be fully automated and digitized dark warehouses, synchronized with manufacturing processes in real-time and seamlessly integrated into their factories.

49% believe their company will leverage industrial robots and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) grouped in intelligent and smart robot shops handling most manufacturing processes autonomously.

49% believe smart and connected manufacturing cells will have replaced most linear manufacturing processes, enabling industrialized production of hyper-customized products flexibly and efficiently.

48% believe their workforce will perform in digitally connected crews seamlessly collaborating between different industrial functions.

47% believe their company will have implemented the digital operations twin, integrating virtual and physical manufacturing and merging product, process, and real-time data to provide actionable insights.

45% believe their company will have replaced all worker-operated material handling equipment with automated guided vehicles (AGVs), enabling intelligent and autonomously operated inbound-logistics.

Methodology

Accenture interviewed 552 factory managers and 15 heads of production representing global manufacturers and suppliers in the automotive, industrial machinery, electrical and heavy equipment, and commercial aerospace industries, in facilities with 100 to more than 5,000 workers, from August to December 2024.