In late 2024, the manufacturing industry entered 2025 with a mix of urgency, experimentation, and cautious optimism. Industrial AI, workforce augmentation, sustainability, circularity, and supply chain resilience were set to define the year. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, we can clearly see that these themes did shape manufacturing, just not always in the ways that were originally expected.

What follows is not a scorecard. It’s a retrospective on what 2025 truly revealed about the state of industrial transformation:
where momentum accelerated, where friction appeared, and what modern manufacturers learned about navigating rising complexity. As an IFS consulting and reseller partner, JumpModel saw these shifts up close while helping organizations modernize operations, unify processes, and scale their digital capabilities.

Industrial AI in 2025: Real Progress, Uneven Execution

Our early outlook predicted that Industrial AI would reshape how manufacturers plan, monitor, and optimize operations. That direction proved correct—but the path was far less linear.

Where AI Delivered

Some organizations made meaningful progress by deploying AI in:

  • Production scheduling
  • Predictive maintenance
  • Energy management
  • Shop-floor optimization

Manufacturers that invested in industrial-grade platforms, systems capable of handling complex data, cross-department workflows, and large-scale orchestration, saw real ROI. In these environments, AI wasn’t a novelty; it became part of the everyday operating system.

Where AI Stalled

Across the broader market, however, adoption remained fragmented. Many manufacturers ran pilots or tested isolated use cases, but few made the jump to enterprise-wide deployment.

Common blockers included:

  • Data quality and system fragmentation
  • Inadequate governance
  • Difficulty integrating AI into legacy systems
  • Workforce readiness concerns

The Rise of Agentic AI

One of the most important developments was the emergence of agentic AI, semi-autonomous digital agents that execute and orchestrate workflows, not just generate insights. Still early stage, but deeply promising, this shift signals a future where AI is an active operational participant.

How JumpModel helps:
IFS Cloud’s embedded AI capabilities, combined with JumpModel’s implementation frameworks, enable manufacturers to move beyond experimentation and operationalize AI across asset management, planning, quality, and service.

Workforce Transformation in 2025: Generative AI Became a Cultural Tool

Generative AI was expected to face workforce resistance. Instead, the opposite happened.

Employees Embraced AI

Workers, across tenure and skill levels, used generative AI to:

  • Simplify documentation
  • Speed reporting
  • Reduce administrative work
  • Support troubleshooting and process guidance

AI became a practical assistant, not a perceived threat.

Knowledge Preservation Emerged as a Breakthrough

Experienced technicians used AI tools to capture expertise through:

  • Video walkthroughs
  • Prompt-driven process capture
  • Digital instruction sets
  • Automated knowledge libraries

This dramatically accelerated onboarding and reduced operational risk.

Cultural Integration Became the Differentiator

Where companies provided clear policies, transparency, and safe test environments, adoption flourished.

How JumpModel helps:
IFS Cloud’s UX, mobile workflows, and AI-supported documentation make it easier to embed generative AI into daily work. Our consultants guide clients on governance, training, and workflow design to ensure adoption sticks.

Sustainability & Circularity: Progress, but Not Transformation

Sustainability was positioned as a top priority for 2025, but real-world pressure points shifted how it progressed.

Regulation Accelerated, Then Complicated the Landscape

Digital Product Passports (DPP), Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and evolving CSRD timelines influenced strategy—but delays and uncertainty slowed execution.

AI for Sustainability Lagged Behind Other Use Cases

While AI showed promise in:

  • Energy optimization
  • Emissions tracking
  • Resource efficiency

Most investment flowed toward cost reduction and productivity initiatives with faster ROI.

Circularity Proved Difficult to Operationalize

Challenges included:

  • Lack of standardized data
  • Infrastructure limitations
  • High cost of reverse logistics
  • Limited cross-stakeholder participation

Circularity initiatives tended to be isolated rather than enterprise wide.

How JumpModel helps:
IFS Cloud’s sustainability management, asset lifecycle tracking, supply chain visibility, and circularity tools help manufacturers build long-term compliance and environmental capability into their core systems—not as one-off projects.

Resilience & Localization: The Reality Looked Different Than the Prediction

We predicted greater localization and supply chain resilience in 2025, driven by strategic long-term planning. The reality was more chaotic.

Tariffs Reshaped 2025 Overnight

Unexpected tariff actions forced immediate cost-driven shifts rather than strategic, long-horizon localization.

This exposed a core truth:
Localization is not a resilience strategy by itself.

Manufacturers Needed Flexibility More Than Geography

The real differentiators became:

  • Agile planning
  • Diversified sourcing
  • Scenario-based forecasting
  • Multi-site coordination
  • Faster decision cycles

Resilience Became About Adaptability, Not Proximity

The manufacturers that performed best were those that could flex, not necessarily those that were closest to customers or suppliers.

How JumpModel helps:
IFS Cloud gives manufacturers a unified operational backbone—enabling multi-site planning, real-time visibility, and adaptive supply chain response. Our implementation teams help organizations build resilience directly into processes and data models.

What 2025 Ultimately Revealed

2025 was a formative year for manufacturing. Not because it delivered perfect transformation, but because it exposed what truly matters:

1. Ambition Without Foundation Doesn’t Scale

AI success depended on strong data, unified systems, and operational discipline—not enthusiasm alone.

2. Transformation Requires People, Processes, and Systems Working Together

Technology only delivered real value when integrated across functions, not deployed as isolated tools.

3. Adaptability Was the Most Valuable Capability of the Year

Manufacturers that embraced iterative change—test, fail, learn, refine—advanced faster than those waiting for perfect conditions.

4. The Industry Is Now Prepared for What Comes Next

The technology is mature. The opportunities are real. What matters now is execution.

Looking Ahead to 2026: What Comes Next

In the coming weeks, JumpModel will publish our 2026 Manufacturing Outlook—exploring how:

  • Agentic AI
  • Workforce-integrated intelligence
  • New operating models
  • Evolving regulatory landscapes
  • Next-gen industrial software
  • And shifting macroeconomic realities

will shape the next phase of digital transformation.

2025 laid the groundwork.
2026 is about scaling what works.

How JumpModel Helps Manufacturers Move Forward

As an IFS consulting and reseller partner, we help manufacturers:

✔ Modernize operations on IFS Cloud
✔ Integrate AI across asset, planning, production, and service workflows
✔ Build sustainable, circular-ready, compliant operations
✔ Improve supply chain flexibility and resilience
✔ Navigate change with proven delivery frameworks
✔ Train and support teams for lasting adoption

If you’re looking to turn the lessons of 2025 into momentum for 2026, we’re here to help.