Surveys find supply chain lags may limit smart manufacturing gains

Manufacturers see industrial AI and other smart technologies as major opportunities, with nearly three-quarters of Corning survey respondents calling AI transformational or important and many citing efficiency, productivity and scalability as investment goals. But supply-chain constraints ranked as the top threat in that survey, while 73% of respondents to a separate warehouse survey said their warehouse model was built for a different operating environment. Deloitte’s 2025 survey found manufacturers reported 10% to 20% average production-output gains after adopting smart manufacturing initiatives. The separate surveys do not show that technology investment causes warehouse problems, but together they highlight that modernization’s benefits may be limited if supply chains and warehouses cannot keep pace.