AI Tops Manufacturing Trends in 2023

Artificial intelligence and its ability to reduce downtown and increase efficiencies leads the top five manufacturing trends of 2023, according to best-selling author and futurist Bernard Marr. In a recent essay in Forbes Magazine, Marr noted that AI along with automation, digital twins, and the Internet of Things (IoT) combined together, "has the potential to provide solutions to many of the challenges facing industry and society during 2023 and the real value will be created by the convergence of these trends."

Other manufacturing trends Marr cited are:

Investing in skills to tackle workforce challenges - As technology reduces the need for humans to spend so much time completing specific tasks, it does create opportunities for skilled workers to build, design, and deploy technology in the manufacturing space. Marr also cites an increasing need for workers with "soft skills" such as communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.

Ongoing supply chain disruption - Widespread shutdowns that began shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic continue to persists as manufacturers scramble to find solutions to move products globally. External challenges continue with the war in the Ukraine, inflation, and rising tensions between China and the West, Marr says. He notes AI and automation could help reduce waste and improve cybersecurity.

"Companies that emerge successfully from these tumultuous times will be those that develop the ability to react to changing circumstances in an agile way, as well as harness technology to enable end-to-end visibility and control of their supply chains," Marr says.

Read Marr's entire column here.