Easier design and extra use of AI for administration can enhance manufacturing, mentioned survey respondents. Supply: MISUMI Americas
Synthetic intelligence and digitalization are reworking world business in response to persistent volatility, in keeping with a the “11th Annual State of Manufacturing & Supply Chain Report” by Fictiv and MISUMI International. The businesses surveyed greater than 300 senior provide chain and manufacturing leaders.
“Global manufacturing has entered a new phase, where quality, compliance, and transparency are non-negotiable,” said Ryusei Ono, consultant director and president of MISUMI. “This research reflects what we see across our customer base: a growing expectation for consistent performance at scale amid increasing regional, regulatory, and technological complexity.”
Fictiv mentioned companies use its manufacturing facilities in India, Mexico, China, and the U.S. to entry high-quality manufacturing, optimize logistics, and mitigate provide chain threat. The San Francisco-based firm has delivered greater than 39 million prototype and business elements and assemblies for early-stage firms and huge enterprises alike, serving to them innovate quicker, unencumber assets, and develop earnings.
MISUMI Americas brings scale to machine elements, automation
In April 2025, MISUMI Group Inc. acquired Fictiv for $350 million. MISUMI Americas supplies configurable parts, commonplace elements, and customized manufacturing for automation, robotics, medical, automotive, electronics, aerospace, and industrial gear markets throughout the U.S. and Mexico.
The mixed firm mentioned it delivers a unified digital manufacturing platform that connects design, engineering, and manufacturing with precision, velocity, and reliability.
“MISUMI is a 70-year-old public Japanese company and has been in the U.S. market for over 20 years,” mentioned mentioned Dave Evans, CEO of Fictiv and now president and CEO of MISUMI Americas. “It is differentiated from other standard components providers in simplifying the bull of materials by [also] providing configurable and custom components.”
“We ship 200,000 boxes a day — there’s a 747 that flies from Japan to Chicago every day,” he informed The Robotic Report. “We get to plug in this amazing technology supply chain with everything that Fictiv has done over the past 10-plus years.”
“I’ve toured centers where shelving, pick and place, and bundling of orders were being automated,” he added. “You can’t get to high levels of quality, cost, and time without automation, and I’ve seen firsthand how robots don’t replace jobs but drive productivity.”
AI is changing into important to business, leaders inform MISUMI
Dimensional Analysis carried out the survey of certified people on the director stage or larger who work in engineering, provide chain, manufacturing manufacturing, analysis and improvement, or digital innovation roles. Many of the firms concerned produce items in clear power, electrical autos, robotics, or medtech industries.
The 2026 “State of Manufacturing and Supply Chain Report” discovered that know-how and provide chain experience at the moment are important to staying aggressive.
- AI is reworking manufacturing and provide chains: 95% off survey respondents mentioned implementing AI into their operations is significant to their firms’ future success.
- AI addresses workforce shortages: 95% mentioned AI and automation are serving to tackle labor shortages, however they acknowledged that they can’t exchange specialised experience.
- Digitalization can enhance manufacturing: 97% of business leaders mentioned digital manufacturing platforms are important for manufacturing.
- Reshoring is a prime precedence: 93% mentioned shifting manufacturing again to the U.S. is a prime precedence.
- Provider sourcing is difficult: 81% mentioned provider sourcing and manufacturing are too time-consuming and dear.
- Exterior tariff experience is required: 77% mentioned commerce compliance necessities are too complicated to handle with out exterior experience.
“This year’s data makes clear that speed, predictability, and resilience now define competitive advantage,” mentioned Evans. “The companies that are pulling ahead are the ones leveraging AI and digital manufacturing platforms, robust global networks, and embedding quality into their operations.”
“Overseas is already heavily automated. I visited a factory in China with 450 high-precision CNC machines and maybe a dozen or two employees,” he recalled. “There are a lot of places for robots to drive innovation — from cobots in machine tending, welding, and grinding and sanding, all the way to general-purpose humanoid robots.”
“It’s critical that we don’t see robotics and AI as a competitive advantage but as table stakes,” Evans mentioned. “We’ve seen an explosion in investment in AI, primarily around foundation models and LLMs [large language models], as market leaders recognize the need to move from the digital domain to the physical application of AI.”
Supply: “State of Manufacturing & Supply Chain Report,” MISUMI and Fictiv
Manufacturing administration challenges stay
Practically the entire 300+ manufacturing leaders surveyed, or 99%, mentioned provider tariff and commerce experience is now important in companion choice, mentioned MISUMI Americas. Ninety-eight p.c reported that rising raw-material prices are actively informing methods for extra resilient sourcing.
On the identical time, business leaders are figuring out the operational enhancements that would ship the best impression, mentioned the corporate. At this time, 83% of engineers spend 4 or extra hours per week on procurement-related workflows, whereas 93% of leaders mentioned productiveness improves when administrative duties are offloaded. Fictiv provides tariff administration help.
Additionally, rising complexity is intensifying provide chain administration pressures throughout the manufacturing lifecycle, discovered the survey. Manufacturing planning was cited as the highest problem for balancing price, high quality, and time to market, adopted by manufacturing, sourcing, design, and demand forecasting.
MISUMI famous that 81% of leaders mentioned that provider sourcing and administration is simply too time-consuming and dear, up from 73% in 2025. The corporate mentioned this factors to a rising want for extra built-in working fashions.
AI adoption has additionally moved from experimentation to execution. AI is already embedded throughout core manufacturing and provide chain workflows, mentioned 97% of respondents.
As well as, 95% of the leaders mentioned they think about AI a requirement quite than an choice. Lots of them anticipate AI-driven productiveness features of fifty% or extra, with some projecting enhancements of two to 5 occasions as workflows are redesigned round automation and intelligence.
“Our belief at Fictiv is in humans plus machines,” Evans mentioned. “As we simplify sourcing for complex mechanical products, speeding time to revenue, we’ll see more innovation. Small and midsize businesses [SMBs] and manufacturers have been struggling for years — not with lights-out automation, but how to make local production more economically viable.”
“I was talking with a manager at an SMB a few weeks ago, and he put a pedometer on his operators,” famous Evans. “When it passed three to four miles, he said, ‘You’re a robot.’ I thought about it, and in factories, we should think about time wasted moving rather than operating. In Asia, we’ve tackled that with vendor-managed inventory machines.”
Nearly all of business leaders surveyed mentioned they count on AI and reshoring to enhance their provide chains. Supply: MISUMI Americas
The way forward for manufacturing is digital
An growing variety of business leaders are targeted on digital manufacturing platforms, with 97% saying they’re important, up from 86% in 2024. They’re additionally prioritizing providers that scale back handoffs and compress cycle occasions, in keeping with MISUMI Americas.
Ninety-three p.c reported that engineering productiveness would considerably or reasonably enhance by way of managed manufacturing or provide chain providers, the corporate added. Ninety-eight p.c noticed clear optimization alternatives— significantly in high quality administration, provide chain design help, design for manufacturability (DFM), costing, and engineering providers.
“Over the past few years, supplier sourcing and management have become significantly more complex and resource‑intensive,” mentioned a senior sourcing supervisor at a worldwide automation integrator. “Increased volatility, along with the need for greater visibility and resilience, has made managing suppliers much more challenging.”
The total eleventh “Annual State of Manufacturing & Supply Chain Report” is out there from Fictiv and MISUMI Americas.
