Survey: More Expect M4.0 Tech Adoption to Increase

A new MLC survey reveals that rapid technology adoption continues as manufacturers deploy transformative technologies to reshape how work gets done.  

Famed computer scientist Alan Turing’s seminal 1950 paper, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” ends with the line, “We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.”

While Turing’s paper dealt specifically with artificial intelligence – something manufacturers have become quite familiar with in recent years – his closing sentiment could be applied to nearly any Manufacturing 4.0 technology. Futurists may have an idea of what may come 50 years from now, but our clearest views are of technology’s transformative nature for the remainder of this decade.

The MLC’s new Transformative Technologies in Manufacturing research survey provides such a view, revealing details and data that reflect current realities and the expectations for manufacturing two years out and in 2030.

While some see technology as a disruptor, the survey results point to consistent and sustained innovation that will transform how manufacturers operate, how people do their jobs, and how money will be invested to evolve the processes used to create things in the years ahead.

In fact, last year’s Transformative Technologies in Manufacturing survey revealed that the pandemic had accelerated information and operational technologies. Some 51% of respondents in 2021 said they expected to accelerate spending on IT and OT.

If COVID-19 was the accelerant, the post-pandemic world is now fully ablaze. This year, a whopping 89% of respondents said they expect their company’s rate of adoption of M4.0 technologies to increase over the course of the next two years. In fact, not a single respondent expects that adoption will decelerate (Chart 1).

Survey development was led by the MLC editorial team and the MLC’s Board of Governors.

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