The share of industrial manufacturers expecting to highly automate key processes will more than double over the next five years, according to a major new outlook from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The findings carry direct consequences for capital planning, workforce strategy, and competitiveness in metalworking and fabrication.
Background
The global industrial manufacturing sector-valued at $16 trillion-sits at an inflection point. AI, advanced technologies, automation, and industry convergence are accelerating, fueling opportunities for growth and productivity, according to the PwC report. The study surveyed 443 senior executives, all director-level or above, from publicly listed industrial manufacturers across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The findings were published on February 27, 2026, under the title Global Industrial Manufacturing Sector Outlook 2026.
The report arrives as manufacturers across the metalworking sector face compounding pressure from labor shortages, supply chain realignment, and the proliferation of AI-enabled shop floor technologies-from vision-guided welding cells to software-defined CNC architectures. For a deeper look at how these dynamics are playing out in high-mix fabrication environments, see our earlier analysis: Vision-Guided Automation Reshapes High-Mix Metal Fabrication.
Key Findings
The share of industrial manufacturers who expect to highly automate key processes by 2030 will more than double, rising from 18% to 50%, according to PwC's Global Industrial Manufacturing Sector Outlook. More broadly, the median share of respondents indicating their company's activities are largely reliant on advanced technologies is projected to more than double by 2030, climbing from 26% to 68%.
The expansion is not uniform across business functions. In the two areas projected to lead adoption-production and operations, and product design and development-the proportion of respondents reporting heavy use of advanced technology is expected to reach 76% and 72%, respectively. Other areas where adoption remains relatively low today, such as business support functions including finance and human resources, are set to nearly quadruple by the end of the decade.
PwC's analysis identifies a growing performance divide between what it terms "future-fit" companies-the top 20% of its survey cohort by innovation and agility metrics-and the rest of the field. Currently, a median of 29% of future-fit companies have highly automated processes, compared with 15% of other companies. By 2030, that share is expected to reach 65% for future-fit firms versus 45% for others.
The divergence in technology use is already evident at the value-chain level. Some 46% of future-fit companies use advanced tech in product design and development, versus 34% for other companies. In production and operations, 37% of future-fit companies deploy it, compared with 28% for others.
Robotics investment is viewed primarily as a productivity lever rather than a growth driver, with 78% of respondents citing productivity as robotics' main benefit versus just 13% citing growth, according to the PwC report. AI, by contrast, is expected to deliver growth and productivity roughly equally, at 47% and 46%, respectively.
Ryan Hawk, global industrials and services leader at PwC US, framed competitive positioning in terms of integration rather than acquisition. "The question is no longer whether companies will adopt new technologies, but how fast they can integrate them," Hawk said. "As automation becomes ubiquitous, the advantage shifts from who has tools to who can orchestrate them across the enterprise."
Outlook
A widening gap separates future-fit companies from those falling behind due to poor data quality, skills gaps, or fragmented systems. That gap is expected to grow as technology and capability advantages compound. Hawk stated that "the most meaningful performance differentiation will come from how coherently those technologies, including AI and automation, work together," adding that manufacturers "must treat AI and other advanced technologies as a system, not a set of projects and advanced tools in isolation."
PwC research also projects that 44% of total revenue for industrial manufacturers will come from outside the manufacturing of industrial and consumer products by 2030, suggesting that automation investment is inseparable from broader business model transformation. Workforce readiness remains a critical success factor. Companies that invest in upskilling, cultural alignment, and change management are more likely to implement automation strategies successfully and translate digital ambition into measurable performance gains.
