2025 Research Report · Kairos Future × PLM Group
Why some manufacturers move faster
– and what sets them apart. We asked 20 manufacturing leaders what's driving results in an increasingly complex industry.
We asked 20 manufacturing leaders the questions most companies are still afraid to answer
– Here what they told us.
Geopolitical uncertainty. Fragmented data. Siloed teams.
A skills gap that’s getting harder to ignore. Manufacturing leaders know the pressure is building – but knowing the problem and knowing what to do about it are two very different things.
Towards a Smarter Industry is a research report we commissioned from Kairos Future – an international consulting and research firm that helps companies understand and shape their futures. It’s built on in-depth interviews with executives and experts across the sector. No filler. No generic frameworks.
Just a clear picture of what’s holding manufacturers back – and the seven priorities that are helping the best companies move forward.
“The lack of seamless data structures often causes delays of 6 to 12 months, and budget deviations of 30–50% are common.”
CEO, High-End Subcontractor Specialist
KEY INSIGHTS
A few things that might surprise you:
The biggest barriers are internal – not external
Regulation, geopolitics, and market volatility are real.
But the executives we interviewed kept coming back to something else: siloed departments, data nobody trusts, and a widening gap between design and production.
AI won’t close your talent gap – but it will expose your data gaps
Every leader we spoke to sees AI as a co-pilot, not a replacement. The catch? It only works if your data is clean, connected, and accessible. Most organisations aren’t there yet.
Time-to-volume matters as much as time-to-market.
Getting to launch is one challenge. Scaling production quickly – across sites, systems, and teams – is another.
Most manufacturers are stronger at the first than the second.
WHAT’S INSIDE
27 pages. Real leaders. No filler.
The report covers the external forces reshaping manufacturing, the internal challenges executives are struggling with most, how SKF and NKT are navigating transformation in practice, and 7 priorities that consistently separate successful manufacturers from the rest.
LEARN ABOUT HOW:
- The internal challenges nobody admits publicly
- How the companies that are winning actually do it
- Case examples from NKT and SKF
- Seven ways to radical improvement
The smarter industry isn’t a destination. It’s a direction.
The manufacturers moving fastest aren’t the ones with the biggest technology budgets.
They’re the ones with the clearest vision, the most connected teams, and the discipline to keep moving toward both.