2025 Trends and predictions for Manufacturing & Industry

Our technical directors share their predictions and highlight the key challenges and opportunities facing industries in the next 12 months and beyond. Marcin Figurski will tell you all about his expectations for the Manufacturing & Industry sector in 2025.

1. Soon there’ll be a major supply disruption – thanks to a lack of cyber resilience.

In the next 12 months there is a good chance we’ll see a major global supply chain disrupted by a cyber attack, when everything in the chain, right down to automated robots in factories, is compromised. At that point, some deliveries might cease altogether.

This is because, in many ways, manufacturing is uniquely at risk from cyber attacks. Increased connectivity has increased the attack surface and propelled manufacturing up the ‘most wanted’ list for attackers. But as the sector has been slower to adopt digital technologies, manufacturers also suffer from a relative lack of cybersecurity maturity. Security teams rarely have the luxury of dedicated SOC analysts, as the role is usually diluted across IT teams. This can make it hard for in-house teams to stay abreast of the changes and on top of the risks.  

 Threats from malicious actors – often state-sponsored or organised ransomware gangs – will keep rising in incidence and severity.

M&I companies, especially those with narrow margins and limited talent pools, will need to think about maximising the resources they already have or tapping into partners to help rapidly bolster their defences.

2. Global instability will force companies to adopt dynamic pricing.

Organisations have had some harsh lessons about the fragility of supply chains in the last few years, especially in the context of global conflicts like the war in Ukraine. These pressures are forcing many of them to consider dynamic pricing – which is likely to be a major shift in the industry throughout this year.

Companies have access to more data than ever, and that gives them the opportunity to become data-driven organisations. For example, they can apply machine learning to real-time cost data from suppliers to see where they’re profitable, where there’s room for improvement, and predict future costs and availability.

Using this information to set dynamic pricing will be essential in helping companies to respond to rapid changes in the global supply chain landscape.

3. GenAI will be the ‘Steam Engine’ of the fourth industrial revolution.

AI models have evolved to a point where they can easily handle routine tasks in manufacturing so that human talent can focus on strategic initiatives. Prices for these technologies are also dropping as companies compete. I’ve seen companies implementing predictive maintenance, tracking, and even distribution network planning – while GenAI assistants, document extraction, and translation tools are helping with invoice matching and making internal knowledge more accessible across geographies. Digital twinning can enhance the business’ adaptability to change by being able to easily model different scenarios impacting their business activities.

 All this technology will enhance workers’ skills, enabling them to perform more transformational tasks they might not otherwise be able to handle within their working hours, thus complementing their roles instead of replacing them.

We often talk about a ‘fourth industrial revolution’ based on advanced technologies. If AI can take over these more tedious tasks, it frees up headspace for innovation, which could fuel the next stages of this revolution. In other words, Generative AI can be to the fourth industrial revolution in manufacturing what the steam engine was to the first.