Full Report
Welcome to the latest issue of the International Society of Automation’s digital magazine, Automation.com Monthly. This is the 10th Annual Industrial Automation & Control Trends Report.
Analysis Summary
# Industry News: May 2025 Automation Insights on AI, AR, and Industrial Security
## Summary
The May 2025 edition of Automation.com highlights significant industrial adoption of AI, with a majority of manufacturing leaders using the technology weekly, while also emphasizing the preparedness needed for upcoming Augmented Reality (AR) transformations. Concurrently, there are strong internal debates and deep dives into critical operational technology topics, including securing ICS, sustainable manufacturing, and the technical challenges surrounding AI adoption and UPS systems.
## Key Details
- Date: May 2025 (Publication Date)
- Companies Involved: Various contributors including Automation.com/ISA, Google (as a data processor), Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Skkynet, etc. (The article is a compilation/digest).
- Category: Market Trends, Opinion/Analysis, Technical White Papers (Compilation)
## The Story
The Automation.com Monthly digest for May 2025 signals a maturing phase for digital transformation within the industrial sector. Key takeaways include the mainstreaming of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in manufacturing operations, moving beyond piloting to weekly, routine use among a majority of business leaders. Furthermore, the industry is being urged to prepare for the tangible benefits and necessary infrastructure changes driven by Augmented Reality (AR) technology. The content is heavily weighted toward operational best practices, featuring expert insights on securing industrial control systems (ICS) data connections to the cloud, understanding specialized power systems (DC UPS), and navigating the complexities of industrial communication protocols. Notably, there is a contrarian view predicting that AI *will* fail manufacturers in 2025, suggesting ongoing complexity and potential implementation hurdles.
## Business Impact
### For the Companies Involved
- **Content Contributors/Vendors (e.g., Skkynet, Bicker Elektronik):** These firms gain exposure by providing solutions addressing immediate operational pain points identified (e.g., cloud security, reliable power), positioning themselves as thought leaders and essential partners.
- **Automation.com/ISA:** Solidifies its role as the central hub for industrial technology intelligence, driving subscription and engagement through relevant, high-value analysis.
### For Competitors
- **AI Providers:** The consensus on widespread AI use confirms a large, active market, intensifying competition among vendors to prove efficacy and address the looming critiques regarding 2025 failure risks.
- **AR Solution Providers:** The direct spotlight on AR preparation suggests immediate market opportunity, accelerating the race to deploy robust, industry-specific AR solutions.
### For Customers
- **Manufacturers:** Customers are faced with an immediate imperative to integrate AI routines into their weekly workflows while simultaneously planning for the integration of AR in the near future. They must also prioritize operational hardening, focusing on ICS security and reliable power management based on the featured content.
### For the Market
- The prevalence of deep technical articles (UPS, protocols) alongside high-level technology adoption stories (AI/AR) indicates a market segment grappling with both rapid innovation and the critical need for rock-solid, standards-compliant infrastructure maintenance. The market is becoming bifurcated between early adopters pushing boundaries and the majority focusing on securing and optimizing core operations.
## Technical Implications
The articles signal a focus on robust, resilient connectivity:
1. **Industrial Communications:** Ongoing importance of understanding varied protocols (Drew Thompson) to ensure interoperability.
2. **Cloud Security:** Specific concern over establishing *secure* data pathways from OT environments to the IT cloud (Xavier Mesrobian).
3. **Power Resilience:** Emphasis on DC UPS systems due to their necessity for mission-critical applications, suggesting increased operational sensitivity or awareness of grid instability.
## Strategic Analysis
- **Market Positioning:** The industry is moving past the hype cycle for AI and entering the implementation maturity curve, where practical application and mitigation of real-world risks (as highlighted by the "AI Will Fail" article) are paramount. AR is positioned as the next major productivity driver.
- **Competitive Advantage:** Companies that can successfully bridge the gap between advanced AI deployment and fundamental OT security/resilience (like reliable power) will secure the most operational uptime and efficiency gains.
- **Challenges:** The primary challenge identified is the risk of AI implementation failure, likely tied to data quality, integration complexity, or unrealistic expectations, as well as managing the inherent security risks associated with connecting traditionally isolated ICS networks to the cloud.
## Industry Reactions
- **Analyst Opinions:** Analysts likely view the weekly AI adoption rate as validation of long-term market forecasts, but the inclusion of articles predicting AI failure serves as a necessary cautionary note against over-promising on RoI for poorly planned rollouts.
- **Expert Commentary:** Experts are providing tactical guidance rather than strategic vision, focusing on fundamentals like standards (Agriculture/ICS), battery life, and anti-CSRF measures, reflecting a mature, pragmatic operational focus.
- **Market Response:** The market appears receptive to solutions that offer measurable improvements in uptime and security, evidenced by the dedicated content silos supporting these topics.
## Future Outlook
- **Predictions and Expectations:** Expect an increase in demand for "AI auditing" and specialized consulting services aimed at preventing the predicted 2025 failures. AR integration proofs-of-concept will rapidly escalate throughout the latter half of 2025.
- **What to watch for:** Monitoring which sectors within manufacturing are most successfully deploying AI weekly versus those lagging, and observing the standards bodies' response to AR integration requirements.
## For Security Professionals
Cybersecurity practitioners, particularly in OT/ICS environments, must prioritize initiatives addressing cloud connectivity security and robust hardware resilience. Securing sensitive operational data traversing these new pathways is critical, as is ensuring underlying infrastructure (like power systems) won't be the point of failure before the higher-level AI systems can even be exploited. The content serves as a mandate to validate existing ICS security postures against increased data sharing.