"We were able to register a positive development in all technologies," says Prof. Dr. Christina Reich from the FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management and Manager at MHP. "For example, we can see from the barometer value of 60% for location technologies - that's 11 percentage points more than in 2023 - that even more technologies that can locate individual parts of products or end products along the entire value chain are in partial or complete use in this area than in the previous year. In 2023, this figure was still 49%, in 2022 it was 43%. So we are on a steady and good path here."
For the study conducted by management and IT consultancy MHP together with Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich, 856 people from industrial companies in China, the USA, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the UK were surveyed.

Regional differences are clear

However, as in the past, there are clear differences when comparing the individual countries. While 66% of respondents in China state that they use location technologies partially or completely, 64% in the USA and 47% in the UK, the figure is only 36% in the DACH region. Moreover, 30% of respondents here have no plans to change this at all.
The differences are even greater when it comes to digital twins: in China, 72% of the companies surveyed have partially or fully established a digital image of the entire logistics process that records process and status data. In the USA, the figure is 43%, in the UK 29% and in the DACH region 25%. And while 41% of respondents in the DACH region said that they do not use autonomous machines or robots, 28% in the USA and only 2% in China confirmed this.

AI potential not yet consistently utilized

"Basically, this picture can be found in all aspects of Industry 4.0: China leads by a considerable margin - meanwhile the USA is also a good way behind almost everywhere. The United Kingdom usually follows in third place. The DACH region usually has the most catching up to do," explains Prof. Dr. Reich.

This is also the case with industrial AI, which was the focus of this year's study: in China, 94% of the companies surveyed are already using AI-based solutions in their manufacturing processes. This is more than twice as many companies as in the USA, which follows with 46%. In the UK, 29% of respondents stated that they were using AI-based solutions, compared to 20% in the DACH region. This divergence is particularly noteworthy because 6% of all respondents rate the impact of AI in manufacturing processes in the coming years as fundamental, 22% as very high, 32% as high and 27% still as moderate.

"Everyone has actually recognized the enormous potential of industrial AI. In our view, it is all the more worrying that the UK and the DACH region in particular are failing to exploit this potential," says Prof. Dr. Johann Kranz, Professor of Digital Services and Sustainability at LMU. A key reason for the significant differences between countries when it comes to AI-based solutions is the lack of suitably qualified employees. In China, 88% of respondents agreed with the statement that they have enough team members to complete the work in AI projects. In the DACH region, only 36% said yes.

Biggest obstacle: the shortage of skilled workers

In general, the lack of skilled workers is the biggest obstacle to the introduction of Industry 4.0 technologies. Worldwide, 52% of participants see it this way. This is followed by the presence of legacy systems (in simple terms: outdated or incompatible company software) and the complicated integration into day-to-day business, with 47% agreeing in each case. It is worth noting that last year, the uncertain assessment of the return on investment was still the most frequently cited argument at 67%. In this year's survey, only 43% of respondents agreed with this.

It has an absolutely positive effect on the introduction of Industry 4.0 technologies and the implementation of AI projects if the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is part of the management team. If this is the case, companies perform better in all aspects. For example, participants from such companies rate their own level of AI maturity 91% higher than participants from companies without a CIO on the management board. And they are significantly more satisfied with the financing of AI projects. The fact that China sets the tone in almost all aspects of Industry 4.0 and Industrial AI can therefore also be explained by looking at the role of the CIO: In 48% of all companies surveyed, the CIO is part of the management team. In China, this is the case in 83% of all cases.

The Industry 4.0 Barometer 2024

The Industry 4.0 Barometer 2024 is published by the management and IT consultancy MHP in cooperation with LMU Munich. The survey, which was conducted for the sixth time in 2023, involved 856 people working in industrial companies in China (248), the USA (204), the DACH region (203) and the UK (201).
The underlying questionnaire refers to the four topic clusters of technology, IT integration, strategy and goals as well as barriers and drivers in order to ensure comparability every year. In addition to this, the focus topic of Industrial AI was examined in more detail this time. The empirical part is supplemented by interviews with various experts and the presentation of successful Industry 4.0 use cases.