In June, Vultr and 451 Research (part of S&P Global Market Intelligence) unveiled an industry report, The New Battleground: Unlocking the Power of AI Maturity with Multi-Model AI. Drawing on data from this groundbreaking, industry-wide research, Vultr has released a series of derivative reports providing insights into the AI operations unfolding within specific industries.

This third installment explores the manufacturing industry and its journey toward AI maturity.

Scaling AI beyond pilots to enterprise-wide adoption is particularly challenging for an industry still in the early stages of achieving digital maturity and dealing with supply chain dependencies, strict regulations and safety requirements, and other industry-specific challenges.

Still, some AI-driven manufacturers outperform others and gain a significant competitive edge. This report offers valuable guidance for those aiming to accelerate their AI progress by outlining key insights drawn from their approaches.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the most revealing findings:

The race is on for supercharging manufacturing with AI

66% of AI-driven manufacturers report performing moderately to significantly better than industry peers in 2023, and at least 83% confirm AI directly contributes to core business outcomes like revenue growth, market share, and customer satisfaction.

While only a third of the manufacturers surveyed say they have reached the highest, transformational level of AI maturity, 59% believe they will reach that stage within two years. This presents an opportunity for AI-aspiring fast followers still early in their AI journeys.

Multi-model AI: A pathway to AI maturity

A vital indicator of an organization's AI maturity is the number of AI models it has deployed. The fact that manufacturers have, on average, fewer models in production (125) compared to all industries (159) in the 451 Research report demonstrates greater caution regarding their AI investments. This creates a specific window of opportunity for manufacturers lagging in AI to close the gap and strengthen their competitive positioning.

Fueling AI maturity through increased investment

A clear link exists between a manufacturer’s AI investment and the maturity of its AI capabilities, and 88% plan to increase their AI spending in the next year. Moreover, 87% of manufacturers expect to raise their GPU budgets, with 75% forecasting an increase of over 10%, highlighting the growing commitment to AI-driven innovation across the industry.

Challenges, infrastructure, partnerships, and more

The path to AI maturity comes with challenges, particularly as the manufacturing industry (like others) increasingly moves AI inference toward the edge. Our Unlocking the Power of AI in Manufacturing report delves into these barriers, infrastructure decisions, deployment environments, and strategic partnerships helping more AI-advanced manufacturers achieve the Transformational stage of AI maturity.

Download the report to see how your company's AI maturity compares to that of your manufacturing peers and receive actionable recommendations based on the industry’s leading AI innovators to achieve similar, if not greater, AI success.

Contact our sales team to learn more about how Vultr brings the vision, strategy, technology, and expertise to help AI-aspiring manufacturers become mature AI powerhouses.