The manufacturing landscape of the 2020s has seen firms embrace a digital journey that goes well beyond shop-floor robotics and automation.
Certainly, there is plentiful evidence of manufacturers’ commitment to adapting digitally. The International Data Corporation (IDC) reported last year that it anticipated global expenditure on digital transformation reaching nearly $4 trillion in 2027, representing a 16.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2022.
It has also recently been found that almost eight in 10 (78%) manufacturers are devoting more than 20% of their improvement budget to smart manufacturing initiatives.
4 Ways Manufacturers Are Bringing Forward Their Digital Transformation Efforts
There’s no doubt about it; manufacturers around the world are putting serious resources into digital transformation to help them unlock improved efficiency, quality, and innovation across every link in the value chain.
Let us take a look, then, at some of the specific ways in which manufacturing businesses are adapting digitally during the mid-2020s:
Making The Most of Software-As-A-Service
The rise of Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS – a model whereby software is accessed online via subscription, instead of being bought and installed on individual computers – has been a gamechanger for manufacturers.
SaaS solutions eliminate the need for manufacturers to make large upfront investments in hardware and software. Instead, they can cost-efficiently access advanced tools such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and manufacturing execution systems (MES) on a subscription basis.
In the present era in which manufacturers have faced fluctuating market conditions, SaaS platforms have given such businesses the flexibility to scale their software usage up and down, in accordance with whatever their requirements may be at the given time.
Continuous Transformation and Composable Systems
There was a time when manufacturers tended to depend on one-time, monolithic digital overhauls; today, however, there is a much greater tendency among such firms to embrace a continuous transformation approach.
Continuous transformation is an ethos by which iterative, data-driven improvements are made over time. This allows for manufacturers’ rapid adaptation to market changes at the same time as managing risk – the latter an especially urgent priority in highly regulated sectors, such as pharmaceuticals.
Such continuous transformation goes hand in hand with the use of composable architectures, whereby independent, interchangeable, and reusable software components can be snapped together – like LEGO bricks – to form a complete solution.
When manufacturers embrace these modular systems, they can be well-placed to reconfigure processes quickly as and when they need to do so, without having to replace entire tech stacks – a boon for scalability and innovation.
Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI Integration
We are no longer in the era in which artificial intelligence (AI) was largely confined to experimental pilots; to an ever-greater extent, this technology is coming to be embedded in critical infrastructure.
Manufacturers are increasingly treating AI as a standard tool for such purposes as predictive maintenance, demand forecasting, and real-time decision-making. This, in turn, empowers them to optimise energy use and pick out anomalies.
Generative AI – the branch of AI that creates new and original content by learning patterns from vast amounts of existing data – has been invaluable for manufacturers seeking to streamline their workflows, enhance quality control, and speed up product development.
Tapping Into the Latest Digital Marketing Methods
With modern buyers typically conducting most of their research online, it is crucial for manufacturers active in 2025 to know how to leverage digital marketing to help them compete.
For example, digital marketing for Software-as-a-Service brands that cater to manufacturers can encompass such elements as content marketing personalised to various manufacturing personas, as well as video and interactive media for thought leadership, and search engine optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) for visibility.
Through such a mix of approaches, manufacturers and SaaS brands can help build trust and drive interest and enquiries to support their resilience and growth.
Conclusion: Digital Adaptation Is Essential, Not Just A ‘Nice to Have’, For Manufacturers
The above are just a few examples of how manufacturers are transforming their operations beyond the factory floor in 2025, by utilising the latest digital developments and practices.
By taking a proactive approach to digital transformation, and adopting a mindset of continuous improvement, a manufacturing firm can put itself in a position to stay competitive across all aspects of its operations – not just now, but also over potentially many years ahead.
For more, visit Pure Magazine