What manufacturing industries are advancing fastest toward autonomy?

Few industries haven’t been touched by automation, but there are leaders and laggards. For many industries, like many decisions, the implementation of automation comes down to cost. “Like many other technologies, automation has followed a natural progression: as it became more affordable, more sectors and industries began to adopt it,” says Sohail Nazari, Ph.D., global vice president and head of automation and digitalization for Andritz feed and biofuel. “The adoption rate has also been influenced by the underlying need to automate—whether due to safety, profitability, lack of human resources or the desire to increase plant availability. In the past five years, the pace of adopting more advanced digital technologies—and making them affordable enough for widespread use—has accelerated significantly.”

We have the foundation technologies in place for autonomous operations, but it will take some time to adapt to each industry. Nazari says oil and gas, pulp and paper, and mining have been among the early adopters of advanced digital technologies, and all process industries are moving toward more automation and autonomy.

“Today, there is no process or unit of operation that cannot be automated. But simply automating a process is no longer enough. What’s needed now is automation that can optimize and adapt to both predictable and unpredictable changes, and support managers in pushing for higher availability and efficiency,” says Nazari.

If adaptable, efficient operations are the end game, many technologies will get us there. Some industries are more advanced than others, and automation is gaining speed in different areas of manufacturing. Here, seven more experts discuss the leaders and laggards for automation that will lead to autonomy. 

1. From traditional welding and machining to logistics and renewable energy

“Our manufacturing customers look for automation to enhance both traditional and complex emerging processes, which is why we are increasingly deploying solutions that leverage robotics, artificial intelligence and digitalization to improve efficiency, flexibility and autonomous operations. While welding, machining and assembly remain key areas, industrial automation has now expanded into logistics, precision manufacturing and renewable energy production,” says Alessandro Piscioneri, head of products and solutions management of Comau.

2. Logistics, especially handling and transportation tasks

“For our manufacturing customers, there has been a significant focus on the automation of handling and transportation tasks over the last five years. As far as industries that are more focused on automation, the logistics industry has invested heavily in automation since 2023. Due to a lack of skilled workers, robotics solutions are more in demand for manufacturing and logistics,” says Andre Scholz, head of innovation department: autonomous factory at Siemens.

3. Asset-intensive operations without a lot of variability

“Industries with asset-intensive operations have been at the forefront of having interests in autonomous technologies. For instance, areas like manufacturing, energy and transportation have integrated autonomous operations to enhance efficiency and operational uptime,” says Tim Guelde, application engineering manager at Wauseon Machine. “Industries that have complex, variable tasks have been slower to adopt automation. Areas such as agriculture, construction and certain service industries face challenges due to the variability of tasks and the need for human judgment, making automation more complicated to apply.”

4. Electric vehicle production and electronics manufacturing

“Industries such as automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and food and beverage have led the way in automation, driven by the need for high precision, efficiency and regulatory compliance. The automotive sector has accelerated automation with the rise of EV production, while electronics manufacturing relies on AI-driven optimization for high-volume production. Industries like textiles, construction and agriculture have been slower to adopt automation due to high upfront costs, workforce skill gaps, and product variability challenges,” says Cliff Ortmeyer, head of solutions at Newark.

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5. Material handling and process automation, beyond repetitive tasks

“Manufacturers once looked to automate repetitive tasks, such as using robotics for pick-and-place and palletizing, as well as automating quality inspection with basic vision systems. Today, the same companies are looking for autonomous material handling, predictive maintenance and real-time process optimization,” says Andrew Borczak, industry marketing manager at Omron.

Traceability continues to be of importance, especially in light of Section 204(d) of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), a records requirement from the Food and Drug Administration. “The food and beverage sector, for instance, is doubling down on track-and-trace systems to comply with FSMA 204(d),” says Borczak. “And automotive manufacturers are integrating AI-driven quality control to minimize recalls.”

6. Assembly, material handling and quality assurance for automotive and electronics industries

“The automotive and electronics sectors are at the forefront of this trend, utilizing robotics, vision systems and IIoT-enabled devices to improve assembly, material handling and quality assurance processes. Conversely, sectors like food and beverage and textiles have been slower to embrace automation, primarily due to intricate material handling requirements and significant product and packaging variability. Nevertheless, innovations in intelligent sensors and collaborative robotics make automation more feasible and accessible for these industries,” says Anjesh Shekhar, product marketing manager of networking at Balluff.

7. Beyond loading and sorting, high-volume industries have resources to scale

“Over the past five years, small to medium manufacturing businesses, especially in food and packaging, paper converting and general manufacturing, have faced a shrinking labor pool, pushing them to automate simple tasks like loading, sorting or basic machining since they can’t rely on more workers. But it’s tough; their custom applications make automation costly, and they struggle to justify the capital investment. They’ve lost in-house technical talent due to labor shortages, and they’re restricted by the need to grow faster than manual labor can handle. Meanwhile, high-volume industries like consumer goods and medical and pharmaceutical are leading autonomous operations. They’ve got the resources and scale to drive efficiency and precision. The laggards are those same small to medium manufacturing businesses, held back by capital challenges and growth pressure,” says Eric Kraus, director of sales and automation at Doig Corporation.