These Two Megatrends Will Redefine the Industry by 2030

Manufacturing These Two Megatrends Will Redefine the Industry by 2030

2026-01-21 Source: NTT Data | Translated by AI 1 min Reading Time

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In the long term, humans might no longer be necessary on the shop floor. Roles and responsibilities will also shift accordingly.

Humanoid robots are entering the factory floors, fully autonomous factories organize themselves. What is still a thing of the future could shake up the industry significantly in the coming years.(Image: © Gorodenkoff - stock.adobe.com) — Humanoid robots are entering the factory floors, fully autonomous factories organize themselves. What is still a thing of the future could shake up the industry significantly in the coming years.
(Image: © Gorodenkoff - stock.adobe.com)

NTT Data has provided an outlook on how humanoid robots and autonomous factories could fundamentally change industrial manufacturing by the year 2030. According to a statement from the IT and digitalization specialist, companies are facing a profound shift in roles, processes, and responsibilities on the shop floor.

The analysis focuses on two megatrends: humanoid robots and autonomous production systems. Humanoid robots represent a new stage of development in automation, it continues. Unlike traditional industrial robots, they do not operate solely based on pre-programmed processes but make independent decisions and dynamically adapt to changing environments. This is made possible by multimodal AI models that integrate perception, language, planning, and motor skills. Currently, however, the application possibilities are still limited, according to the company. Activities such as material handling or sorting are considered realistic, while complex assembly or fine motor tasks still require technological advancements. Accordingly, NTT Data recommends a structured approach with clearly defined pilot projects, a consistent data foundation, as well as high priority for IT/OT security and open architectures.

The second trend is the autonomous factory, often referred to as a "dark factory." The envisioned goal is a production environment in which machines independently coordinate processes, optimize them, and react autonomously to disruptions. This is based on IoT infrastructures, AI-supported decision logics, and digital twins that not only simulate but also actively control. Such concepts are gaining significance across industries, particularly where high variant diversity and volatile markets converge. According to NTT Data, however, the path to autonomous production is a multi-year transformation process that requires standardized data models, low-latency edge architectures, clear governance rules, and open communication standards.

Humanoid robots and autonomous factories are currently still considered a vision with initial pilot applications. Nonetheless, NTT Data sees significant potential for productivity, quality, and flexibility.

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