Rockwell Automation, the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation, today announced the France findings of its 11th annual State of Smart Manufacturing Report. The research shows French manufacturers moving into a more disciplined phase of digital transformation: one defined less by technology experimentation and more by execution, return on investment and operational impact.
Eighty-five percent of French manufacturers say digital transformation is now necessary, broadly aligned with the European average but still trailing the global benchmark. While overall technology spend remains measured — around 24% of operating budgets — the intensity of investment is increasing. The share of manufacturers allocating more than half of their operating budgets to technology has risen from 3% to 5%, signalling a growing cohort moving beyond incremental upgrades toward deeper industrial modernisation.
Investment decisions are increasingly anchored in long-term business outcomes. Sixty three percent of manufacturers cite long term impact as their primary investment driver, while 55% prioritize expansion and increased production capacity.
“French manufacturers are becoming more selective and more disciplined in how they invest,” said David Lefebvre, country director, France, Rockwell Automation. “The focus is not adopting technology for its own sake, but on ensuring it delivers clear, measurable value, whether that is improving quality, strengthening resilience or securing operations in an increasingly complex environment.”
Artificial intelligence is now embedded across much of French manufacturing. Half of manufacturers have already invested in AI or machine learning, with a further 32% planning investment within the next year. Adoption of generative and causal AI has also increased, rising to 50%, as manufacturers look to advanced analytics to support decision-making and automation.
Despite this progress, France continues to lag slightly behind other major European manufacturing economies in overall AI adoption. Ninety-three percent of manufacturers report using or planning to use AI, the lowest level among key European markets. However, perceptions of value are changing rapidly. The proportion of manufacturers identifying AI as the technology delivering the strongest return on investment has surged from just 2% last year to 21%, indicating a transition from experimentation to measurable business impact.
Meanwhile, workforce transformation has re-emerged as one of the most pressing challenges facing French manufacturers. Difficulty finding employees with the right skills is cited by 41% of organizations, while communication challenges (36%) and change management (35%) continue to constrain digital progress.
Skills shortages, which had eased last year, have risen again to 32%, reinforcing their role as a structural barrier to competitiveness. Workforce capacity pressures have also increased to 20%, though they remain below European and global averages.
Cybersecurity is now firmly embedded at the center of industrial strategy in France. Sixty-four percent of manufacturers have already invested in cybersecurity technologies, with a further quarter planning additional investment within the next year.
Overall, 98% of French manufacturers are investing or planning to invest in cybersecurity — up from 93% previously — placing France among the most security focused manufacturing markets in Europe.
French manufacturing is moving steadily toward more integrated and intelligent operations, guided increasingly by return on investment. Cloud platforms are now identified as the technology delivering the highest ROI, doubling year on year to 32%. Generative AI and robotics also rank highly, reinforcing a broader shift toward technologies that deliver improvements in quality, efficiency, and resilience.
Taken together, the findings suggest French manufacturers are building a more measured and execution focused approach to digital transformation — one that balances innovation with operational discipline, and ambition with measurable outcomes.
Methodology
This report analyzes feedback from 1,560 respondents across 17 of the top manufacturing countries representing roles from management through C-suite and was conducted by Sapio Research in association with Rockwell Automation. The survey sampled from a range of industries including Consumer Packaged Goods, Food & Beverage, Automotive, Semiconductor, Energy, Life Sciences, and more. With a balanced distribution of company sizes with revenues spanning $100 million to over $30 billion, it offers a wide breadth of manufacturing business perspectives.
