This article was first published in Expansión
In this article in Expansión on BCG’s report 'How the Factory of the Future Is Reshaping the Economics of Manufacturing Competitiveness', Pelayo Losada, Managing Director and Senior Partner, explains how artificial intelligence is changing the logic of global manufacturing. For decades, companies moved production to countries with lower labor costs. Now, AI is making it possible for some manufacturers to become more competitive by modernizing existing plants instead of relocating production.
The report shows that around $1.03 trillion in manufacturing value could be at risk of relocation from Western Europe and the Nordic countries, with most of this shift expected between 2030 and 2040. On this, Pelayo argues that manufacturers and policymakers have a window of around five years to act, especially in sectors such as electronics, automotive, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and equipment manufacturing.