Manufacturers are at a pivotal inflection point, not just adopting smart technologies but reimagining how work gets done. At Forvis Mazars, our recent panel discussion, The Resurgence of Manufacturing: Harnessing Technology for the Future, explored how agentic artificial intelligence (AI), modern enterprise resource planning (ERP), automation, and innovation-driven cultures are converging to help reshape operations, unlock resilience, and accelerate growth.
To better understand how manufacturers are approaching technology transformation, we polled attendees to gauge how organizations are navigating this shift. The results below, paired with insights from our knowledgeable manufacturing team at Forvis Mazars, surface cultural constraints, especially risk aversion and non‑collaboration, and point to practical paths forward.
Polling Responses on Harnessing Technology, AI, & Automation
How Would You Describe Your Company Culture?
Most respondents find their organization to be focused on lean practices and standard procedures, taking a more traditional process-driven approach. Professionals at Forvis Mazars note that a shift toward performance-based culture with dedicated resources, cross-functional collaboration, and a “continuous improvement” mindset can enhance productivity, performance, and profitability in manufacturing.
- Innovation-Focused: We encourage experimentation, continuous improvement, and new technologies on the shop floor.
- Performance-Based: We emphasize productivity, output targets, and operational excellence.
- Process-Driven: We rely on standardized procedures and lean practices to ensure consistency and efficiency.
- Safety & Compliance-Oriented: We prioritize regulatory adherence, employee safety, and risk mitigation.
Culture is often the catalyst for scalable innovation. As manufacturers adopt new technology and agentic AI, fostering experimentation and collaboration becomes essential to building intelligent platforms.
How Would You Describe Your Company’s Approach to Adopting New Technology?
Technology adoption remains a priority. Recognizing the need to stay agile, top technology investments focus on data management, robotic process automation (RPA), and AI. Respondents were nearly evenly split between cautious and proactive approaches. While many companies are exploring emerging technologies, they are doing so with strategic discipline. They’re actively seeking innovative technology solutions while maintaining a structured framework for evaluation, integration, and successful pilots before expanding across the organization.
- Cautious: We evaluate new technologies carefully and adopt them only after proven success.
- Proactive: We actively seek out and invest in emerging technologies to stay ahead of the curve.
- Reactive: We implement technology primarily in response to challenges or competitive pressure.
- Traditional: We rely on established methods and are slow to change or adopt new tools.
This balance of curiosity and control reflects a thoughtful approach to innovation. Agentic AI is already helping finance leaders shift their ERP systems from a passive system of record into a system of action. For instance, AI agents are orchestrating workflows from automating sales orders to managing supplier interactions.
Which of These New Technologies Excites You the Most?
Respondents are most excited about the transformative potential of AI and intelligent agents. These technologies are rapidly evolving in capability depth and breadth. Leading ERPs are increasingly making available autonomous agents to support key operations functions such as sales order processing, supplier communications, and account reconciliation. Manufacturers should explore what agentic capabilities their ERP offers and gauge their readiness to adopt out-of-the-box capabilities.
When in-application agentic capabilities aren’t available, manufacturers can leverage leading AI platforms with extensive model libraries and a wide range of prebuilt connectors to design custom AI agents aligned with specific business objectives. Adopting a programmatic center of excellence (CoE) approach embeds governance from the start, helps enforce lifecycle best practices, and provides a framework for continually measuring and communicating each solution’s value and impact.
Manufacturers should also carefully consider the skills, preparedness, and openness of their workforce to effectively integrate agentic technologies. Whether utilizing out-of-the-box or bespoke AI agents, it is essential not to overlook the transition to service and organizational change management processes, including end-user adoption, process redesign, and employee upskilling initiatives.
In the short term, agentic AI can help manufacturers to improve operational efficiency, elevate the employee experience by automating repetitive and low-value tasks, and enhance customer interactions. In the long term, agentic AI presents an opportunity for manufacturers to realize substantial cost reductions and transform their target operating models.
Respondents also expressed a strong interest in robotics, particularly how mobile robots are reshaping warehouse automation and driving inventory management efficiencies. As noted by Forvis Mazars, a practical approach to technology adoption begins with accessible solutions and gradually expands to more complex innovations.
Building a Resilient Culture of Innovation
Successful innovation requires more than tools. It requires a mindset. Manufacturers may benefit from identifying diverse thought leaders, encouraging brainstorming, challenging the status quo, and securing executive sponsorship. Establishing guiding principles and realistic milestones can help support sustainable transformation.
To help manufacturers build a resilient culture of innovation, the manufacturing team at Forvis Mazars has identified eight interconnected themes that reflect the strategic priorities shaping the industry. These themes represent a holistic framework for aligning culture, technology, and operations in ways that can help support modernization, resilience, and long-term growth:
- Culture as a strategic enabler
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Modular and connected systems
- Security and governance by design
- Agentic ERP and autonomous operations
- Low-code innovation pathways
- Scalable platforms for growth
- Value-based technology adoption
How Forvis Mazars Can Help
Explore how your organization can advance innovation securely and sustainably. Connect with a professional at Forvis Mazars today to learn more and start your next project.
Ready to learn more about cyber resilience in manufacturing? Join our next webinar in this series, The Resurgence of Manufacturing: Cyber & Organizational Resilience, on October 27, 2025 for a discussion on how manufacturers can strengthen both organizational resilience and cybersecurity posture.
Related Content:
- The Resurgence of Manufacturing: Harnessing Technology for the Future
- The Resurgence of Manufacturing: Trends & Challenges Top Takeaways
- The Resurgence of Manufacturing: Workforce Development Top Takeaways
- Building Resilience With Intelligent Supply Chain Technology
*Data was collected from approximately 400 individuals who attended the Resurgence of Manufacturing webinar on August 25, 2025 and answered several poll questions. The majority of middle-market companies represented are manufacturing organizations, but others span a range of industries with an interest in the state of the manufacturing industry. Participants were nearly evenly split between associate, manager, and supervisor levels, and participants holding higher positions, listing themselves as directors, assistant controllers, controllers, C-suite, vice presidents, and executive directors. (Only people who responded were included in the results shown.)