Automation, sustainability and cost pressures are driving change across the automotive industry. Digitalisation is fueling progress, but implementation seems fragmented along various stages of the transformation journey.
To better understand the current state of digitalisation across automotive manufacturing, Automotive Manufacturing Solutions, in partnership with Kyndryl and Microsoft, recently collaborated on the North American Automotive Manufacturing Digital Transformation Survey 2025 to tap into our industry expert audience of OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers.
The survey findings have been summarised in an exclusive free to download whitepaper ‘Digital transformation at inflection point within automotive manufacturing: ’Cost, productivity and quality are key gains of digitalisation and AI is yet to be fully exploited’
Here are three key takeaways from the report:
1. Low digitalisation maturity represents significant growth opportunities
Digitalisation in automotive manufacturing continues to evolve.
The most significant finding was that across all areas of the automotive manufacturing value chain, the expert audience reported a low level of digitalisation maturity. Most survey participants (62%-65%) indicated that their organisations either haven’t prioritised digitalisation or are still in the early adoption stage. Only a small percentage (21%-26%) reported fully mature digitalisation.
Supply chains/tier suppliers (26%) and manufacturing plants (23%) showed the highest levels of digital maturity, followed by warehousing (23%) and logistics providers (21%).
Bottom line: There are significant digitalisation opportunities across the automotive manufacturing industry.
Q. How mature is the digitalisation/use of digital tools at each of the following stages in the manufacturing process?
The clear conclusion is that, whilst there is some small variation across different areas of the automotive manufacturing value chain, there are still significant growth opportunities for implementing further digitalisation across all areas of automotive manufacturing. However, successfully implementing digitalisation effectively across the entire value chain, all with differing requirements, will require data standardisation, industry coordination and partnership.
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2. Efficiency, quality control and savings are the primary benefits of digitalisation
Enhanced business performance is the primary motivator for digitalisation among automotive manufacturers.
Survey respondents identified manufacturing efficiency (49%), quality control (44%), cost reduction (42%) and data integration (31%) as the top four challenges facing the automotive industry.
Participants also cited flexibility (22%), transparency (21%), labour savings (17%), safety (15%) and sustainability (12%) as common business barriers.
Meanwhile, those polled pointed to efficiency, quality and cost reduction as the primary benefits of digitalisation.
These findings confirm that no single solution can address all the automotive manufacturing industry’s problems. Instead, an oversupply of software types and vendors has fragmented the market. This fragmentation creates challenges around industry wide implementation, interoperability, return on investment and the successful rollout of digitalisation programs. The solution may be to better coordinate on industry wide data standards to help encourage stakeholders to invest in digitalisation.
Q. Which problems are you aiming to solve with your digital tools? (select up to THREE)
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3. AI-enabled tools will drive digitalisation growth in coming years
Although AI and generative AI can transform operations along much of the automotive manufacturing supply chain, only 14% of survey participants currently use the technology.
However, 37% of respondents predict growth in AI software will outpace investment in other digital tools over the next three to five years.
Additional areas of growth include manufacturing software (14%), virtual simulation and digital twins (13%), cybersecurity software (12%) and supply chain software (9%).
These findings suggest the industry will begin to embrace AI and generative AI more fully, recognising the technology’s potential to improve quality, efficiency, costs and competitiveness in manufacturing.
However, to begin that AI journey, and not lag behind competitors, stakeholders would be encouraged to develop a robust data foundation starting with a proof of concept (POCs) to demonstrate business value and then scale up to full-scale AI deployment, focusing on data quality, governance, and business alignment.
Q. Looking forward over the next 3 - 5 years, which digital tools will exhibit the most growth?
For further details download the full survey whitepaper for exclusive insights into: Digitalisation maturity, investment strategies, IT–OT integration, workforce skillsets, AI and more…
Register here for the webinar on 16th April 2025 discussing the key findings of the survey whitepaper
This survey was compiled in partnership with
