As we step into 2025, let’s take a look at the strategic trends shaping the manufacturing industry.
It’s vital for manufacturers to keep up to date with the strategic trends in the industry to remain competitive and agile. In this article, Ian Kingstone, UK Strategy & Growth Director at Columbus, explores five key manufacturing industry trends to look out for in 2025 and beyond.
1. Improving supply chain resilience
With frequent disruptions across global supply chains over the past few years, a key trend for manufacturers in 2025 is increasing their supply chain resilience. Rising costs in raw materials, transportation, and labour are ongoing challenges for manufacturers, from the impact of the energy crisis across the UK and Europe to fragmented supply chains.
To mitigate these cost increases, companies are adopting advanced supply chain management solutions. These include real-time tracking, automated inventory management, and strategic sourcing practices.
By introducing IoT technology, you can better track items and carry out maintenance in your supply chain. This helps you reduce your expenses whilst also improve your supply and demand capabilities as you can do the following:
- Build stronger relationships with your suppliers – IoT devices allow you to forecast when you next need to order, so you can notify your suppliers well in advance to resupply stock and avoid potential delays to shipments
- Minimise downtime – downtime can be costly for businesses, but with predictive maintenance tools including temperature checks and sensors, your teams can quickly respond to issues across your production line
- Consider nearshoring and reshoring strategies – reduce your dependency on global supply chains by bringing operations back to the UK. While this process can initially pose some challenges, many manufacturers are reaping the benefits of improved quality control, shorter lead times, and enhanced agility.
2. Sustainable manufacturing
Sustainability is becoming a critical business imperative in the manufacturing industry. Companies are increasingly focusing on reducing their ESG initiatives through energy-efficient processes, waste reduction, and the adoption of renewable energy sources. According to a recent report from Make UK, the number of firms setting ESG targets for their business has increased by 48%.
This shift is driven by both regulatory pressures and growing expectations from customers, suppliers, investors, and employees. If you haven’t already, 2025 is the time to be looking at how you can reduce your environmental impact.
Here’s how you can improve efficiencies to make sustainability more integrated into your operations:
- Improve your waste management – by introducing recyclable materials within your production lines, you can not only better align with the values of climate conscious consumers, but also meet wider net-zero targets.
- Implement automated technology – data-driven automation can help you optimise production lines, meaning you only use the exact material needed for each of your products. As well as less energy usage and waste materials, this technology can improve your cost efficiency.
- Increase supplier diversity – using local suppliers means you’ll be spending less on transport costs while simultaneously reducing your carbon footprint.
- Utilise ESG data accelerators – using autonomous technologies such as ESG data accelerators, IoT sensors, and machine learning can support your sustainability reporting, freeing up time for your employees to focus on other critical tasks.
3. The skills shortage crisis
Lack of a skilled manufacturing workforce, for both operational and technical skills, remains a threat to the industry going into 2025. According to a recent report from The Manufacturer, 97% of manufacturers say that hiring and retaining skilled labour presents a challenge to the growth of their business, with 75% saying this is their largest barrier to growth.
It’s clear more work needs to be done to retain existing talent and prevent further shortages in 2025.
Here are a few ways you can do this:
- Automate processes in repetitive areas of your operations – automation can help reduce overall headcount and free up workers to focus on more value-added tasks
- Invest in better inventory management solutions – as your number of suppliers grow, this can become burdensome for your teams if you lack the required support. Prevent this with software that can integrate your inventory data streams to maintain your supplier relationships
- Develop an effective transformation plan for all employees – ensure your teams are professionally trained when adopting new technology within your production lines
- Outsource digital experts – support your digital transformation with external specialists who can provide expertise and advice, without having to sacrifice time training internally or using trial and error
4. Investment in machine learning and AI technologies
A hot topic for manufacturers that will undoubtedly continue throughout 2025 is artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies. According to a report from Rockwell Automation, 88% of UK manufacturers have either already invested or plan to invest in AI and ML within the next 12 months.
This trend is expected to continue into 2025, with a strong focus on leveraging these technologies to enhance productivity and competitiveness. As these technologies become more integrated into manufacturing processes, their impact on productivity and sustainability will continue to grow, making them indispensable tools for the industry.
Here are a few ways you can integrate AI and machine learning into your manufacturing processes:
- Predictive Maintenance: AI algorithms analyse data from machinery to predict failures before they occur, reducing downtime and maintenance costs
- Robotics and Automation: AI-powered robots and co-bots (collaborative robots) automate repetitive tasks, increasing efficiency and allowing human workers to focus on more complex activities
- Quality Control: Machine learning models inspect products in real-time, identifying defects and ensuring high-quality standards are maintained
- Supply Chain Optimisation: AI enhances supply chain management by forecasting demand, optimising inventory levels, and streamlining logistics
5. Powerful data analytics
A continuing trend for manufacturing organisations is investment in integrated analytics tools to make critical business situations around finance, future investments, sales, marketing, and more. This allows manufacturers to make data-driven decisions quickly and at any level – from manufacturing division up to the executives.
While legacy systems can collect and organise data, they haven’t got the powerful reporting and data analytics features of today’s systems. For example, software with machine learning capabilities can go through your maintenance data and predict when breakdowns are likely to happen. This helps you optimise maintenance schedules so you can service or replace parts before they cause problems.
Why 2025 is the time to digitally transform
Today’s manufacturing solutions are rapidly progressing and changing the way we do business, with more advanced technologies being added to the roster every year to drive efficiencies. That’s why you need focus on your implementation efforts now to stay ahead of your competitors.
You can learn more about the strategic challenges manufacturers will face in 2025 in the new Columbus report. Featuring exclusive insights from across the industry, we cover the key elements to help you get ahead in the sector. Sign up to receive it here.
Ian Kingstone, UK Strategy & Growth Director, Columbus
Ian has over 25 years of experience helping manufacturing organisations enable change and deliver new value. He is passionate and energetic in sustainability, digital & business transformation and technology-driven change and innovation, especially leading people through complex change.
Contact Ian at [email protected].
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