Study Shows 76% of Discrete and Process Manufacturers Use Cloud Platforms for Real-Time Collaboration and Supply Chain Efficiency

Global technology intelligence firm ABI Research recently completed its 2024 Manufacturers’ Technology Adoption & Attitudes Survey, a comprehensive survey of 461 manufacturing decision-makers across the United States, Malaysia, and Germany to uncover real-world attitudes, adoption trends, and valuable insights that reflect the current technological landscape within the manufacturing industry. Overwhelmingly, respondents believe that using cloud platforms is essential in fostering real-time collaboration with suppliers, distributors, and partners. In fact, 76% of these respondents are deploying cloud-based solutions to allow for greater data accessibility and improve supply chain efficiency. Other uses of cloud platforms include enabling remote monitoring of production processes and using cloud solutions to manage and analyze production data efficiently.

“Manufacturers are leveraging cloud platforms, especially hybrid cloud solutions, to help increase production output and efficiency. Manufacturers are leveraging cloud-based supply chain applications to track inventory, shipments, and production status, to improve supply chain visibility and transparency. However, some fundamental challenges remain, such as the integration of legacy infrastructure and data security concerns, that continue to hinder the widespread adoption of cloud solutions in the manufacturing industry,” says Yih-Khai Wong, Principal Analyst with ABI Research.

Digital transformation activities have ramped up among manufacturers, expedited by the growing demand for Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ ML) solutions, the proliferation of smart IoT devices, and the rapid creation of data in both on-premises infrastructure and on public cloud platforms.

Most manufacturers have heterogeneous technology environments with different platforms and solutions across the manufacturing process, which hinders real-time collaboration due to the complexity and disparate technology standards. Cloud-based enterprise data fabric architecture can facilitate real-time collaboration by breaking down data silos across the business by unifying and integrating data from various sources.

“Cloud platforms provide flexibility and scalability for manufacturers to scale up or down, based on production and business needs. This will be crucial in ensuring a robust enterprise data fabric architecture, which allows manufacturers to foster real-time collaboration, enhancing the capability for remote monitoring and analyzing production data more efficiently, ultimately increasing production innovation,” concludes Wong.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Industrial and Manufacturing Survey 1H 2024: Use of Cloud Results and Key Takeaways report. This report is part of the company’s Next-Gen Hybrid Cloud Solutions research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights.