Will artificial intelligence take over manufacturing jobs? It depends.

• Almost one in three medium and large companies in the manufacturing sector (30%) have already implemented AI technologies for the first time, and another 37% are in the process of doing so.
• As many as 79% of entities indicated that they achieved the intended benefits thanks to artificial intelligence.
• At the same time, more and more companies (40%, 14 percentage point increase year-on-year), due to the implementation of AI, are also deciding to reduce the number of recruitments for positions that do not require experience.

According to the EY study "How Polish Companies Implement AI," the manufacturing sector was the area where the most companies had already implemented AI for the first time. Nearly one in three medium-sized and large companies (30%) had done so, which is higher than in services (24%) and trade (10%).

A significant increase is also visible – in a study conducted a year ago, 21% of companies operating in this industry were at this stage. A further 37% of entities reported that they were currently in the implementation process.

Artificial intelligence and problems with its application

Manufacturing is the sector in which the largest number of companies (23%) indicated that their priority for AI solutions is "very high" (compared to 16% in services and 7% in the trade industry).

As many as 41% of enterprises from this sector of the economy also indicated that they were "definitely ready" to implement AI solutions (for trade this value was 24%, and in the services sector 36%).

At the same time, barriers to adopting artificial intelligence are decreasing. Process challenges remain the biggest concern (26% of respondents), up 1 percentage point from a year ago. However, technological challenges have decreased to 16% (a 15 percentage point drop year-on-year), and only 10% of respondents (a 10 percentage point drop year-on-year) cite high costs.

"In just one year, the percentage of manufacturing companies that are definitely ready to implement AI has increased by over 10 percentage points, as has the percentage of those for whom AI is a very high priority. This confirms that this sector recognizes the enormous potential of AI in optimizing business processes," says Marta Cicholska, EY partner and leader of the Supply Chain & Operations team.

As he points out, manufacturing is already leading in terms of the number of implementations, and the data indicates that many companies are still at the stage of adapting their strategies and exploring possibilities.

"We see artificial intelligence becoming a key tool for improving supply chain efficiency, reducing costs, and supporting sustainable practices. This signals that the manufacturing sector will remain a leader in AI implementation for a long time to come," adds Marta Cicholska.

Artificial intelligence brings benefits to manufacturing

The majority, 79% of manufacturing companies, indicated that they achieved the intended benefits thanks to AI-based solutions.

Every third entity (33%) recorded an increase in productivity of between 11% and 20%, and 30% of them indicated a value of between 21% and 40%.

The most frequently mentioned change among manufacturing companies was the improvement of service quality (40%), increasing the scale of operations (37%) and increasing revenues (35%), which was mentioned noticeably more often than in the case of the service and trade industries (both 22%).

The manufacturing sector was most likely to implement AI within IT functions (41%), marketing (37%), and sales and customer service (36% each).

Will AI take over manufacturing jobs?

Due to the growing importance of AI-based tools, 40% of manufacturing companies have decided to reduce recruitment for positions requiring no experience (an increase of 14 percentage points year-on-year), while in the retail sector this figure is only 22%.

Manufacturing is also leading the way in implementing changes to operating models, structures, and processes due to AI. Today, 48% of companies have already done so, a significant increase from 31% in the previous survey.

"Artificial intelligence is transforming employment models, and companies must put employees at the center of these changes. Currently, the market is divided: 36% of employees see the need to adopt AI, 21% are skeptical, and 19% fear losing their jobs," says Katarzyna Ellis, People Consulting Team Leader at EY Poland.

He points out that these differences deepen the AI skills gap – an often overlooked problem that threatens to create a shortage of AI-qualified workers.

"Implementing AI isn't just about technology, but above all, it's an investment in the development of people within the company and their acquisition of new competencies. By demonstrating that AI is a tool that increases efficiency, we can minimize the AI Gap and secure the future of the organization," adds Katarzyna Ellis.

Safety is a much-overlooked aspect

As many as 94% of companies admit that they have verified security issues when implementing AI, at least to a limited extent, and the percentage of companies that declare a full analysis has increased by 12 percentage points.

At the same time, only one in three entities (34%) declares real investments in securing artificial intelligence systems, and only 18% of companies combine procedural and tool security measures to achieve complete protection.

In the case of the industrial sector, these security measures are responsible not only for the proper functioning of the IT sphere, but also for OT – Operational Technology – i.e. the production zone itself, where artificial intelligence is responsible, among other things, for the proper functioning of robots and industrial machines.

A security breach in this area could result in the suspension of entire production. The clear gap between declarations and actions indicates that many companies are actually reducing their digital security by implementing AI.

"Manufacturing has been the most frequently attacked sector for years, and the complexity of these attacks is greater than ever, as confirmed by high-profile security incidents in Poland and abroad. Failure to secure artificial intelligence systems supporting production processes can lead to a number of very serious consequences," says Leszek Mróz, EY Partner in the EY Competency Center for OT/IoT Security Services.

In his opinion, a violation of the integration of input data on which AI works may, for example, lead to inefficient planning of the production process, excessive downtime, or even, in some implementations, affect the quality of the final product.

- Due to the nature of how artificial intelligence models work, finding the cause can be much more complicated than in the case of OT systems using traditional algorithms - adds Leszek Mróz.

The second edition of the study "How Polish companies implement AI" was developed on behalf of EY Polska by Cube Research in the last quarter of 2024 on a sample of 501 large and medium-sized enterprises operating in the manufacturing, service and trade sectors.