The Infrastructure Bottleneck
AI at Scale Is Coming. Are Manufacturers Ready?
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In the past year, 92% of manufacturers hit a network capacity problem — one that impacted production.
Manufacturers Alliance Foundation’s latest research, a survey of 130 manufacturing leaders focused on shop floor network demands, shows AI ambitions are already outrunning the networks built to support them.
Key Findings
The data tells a story of an industry that’s largely preparing to move AI efforts from experimentation to implementation at scale. Before this can happen, however, manufacturing networks need an upgrade, especially those that serve the shop floor.
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Network capacity is already limiting operations. One in five manufacturers report they cannot deploy additional devices because their networks have reached capacity.
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Device mix matters more than endpoint count. High-bandwidth, continuous-traffic assets such as computer vision systems and AMRs create far greater network strain than traditional mobile devices like tablets.
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Mobile robotics are emerging as the primary connectivity challenge. AMR adoption is nearly three times higher among manufacturers expecting exponential growth (82%) than among those expecting moderate growth (29%).
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Organizational alignment is a bigger obstacle than technology. At 59%, the top barrier to upgrading connectivity is friction between IT and operational technology (OT) teams.
Access the Report
More than half of manufacturers operate 1,000 to 4,999 connected endpoints at their most advanced facilities, and 25% exceed 5,000 endpoints.
While 76% of manufacturers say they expect substantial or exponential device/endpoint growth, only 7% are very confident their wireless networks can support three years of their AI ambitions.
59% of respondents said alignment friction about ownership, budget, and requirements was the biggest challenge.
