The construction and building materials industry is entering a period where technology is changing not only how products are made, but how businesses operate and make decisions. Deloitte’s 2025 Smart Manufacturing and Operations Survey, based on responses from 600 manufacturing executives, found that 92% believe smart manufacturing will be a primary driver of competitiveness over the next three years. Companies implementing smart manufacturing initiatives reported, on average, 10% to 20% improvements in production output. For building materials, this shift has implications across the value chain. Rising customer expectations, increasingly complex supply chains and a stronger focus on resource efficiency are creating new demands on manufacturers. Automation, connected systems, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly embedded in industrial operations.
The first phase of digital transformation focused largely on visibility. Enterprise systems brought functions onto common platforms, dashboards replaced manual reporting, and sensors made equipment performance easier to monitor. The value of that visibility now lies in what organisations can do with it. Production data becomes more useful when considered alongside inventory levels. Demand signals can influence planning and procurement when connected to the relevant systems. Equipment data becomes actionable when it can inform maintenance and production decisions.
This is driving the development of more connected digital architectures. Integrated enterprise platforms and centralised data environments can provide a common operating context across functions, allowing information to move between planning, operations, supply chains and management. The shift is from data as a record of what has happened to data as an input into decisions.
The same connectivity is changing the factory itself. Sensors, connected equipment, automation and digital tools can provide more granular insights into plant performance, supporting equipment reliability, reducing unplanned downtime and enabling more responsive monitoring.
{{/usCountry}}The same connectivity is changing the factory itself. Sensors, connected equipment, automation and digital tools can provide more granular insights into plant performance, supporting equipment reliability, reducing unplanned downtime and enabling more responsive monitoring.
{{/usCountry}}Industry 4.0 technologies are also creating applications across manufacturing, from predictive maintenance and computer vision-based quality monitoring to digital SKU counting and warehouse monitoring. When operational data is connected to the wider enterprise, information generated on the factory floor can contribute to planning, quality management, inventory and resource optimisation. This creates a feedback loop between physical operations and business decision-making, making manufacturing more measurable and responsive.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is moving from experimentation towards practical applications across manufacturing. AI can support demand planning, identify patterns in operational data, automate repetitive activities and provide decision support. Its usefulness expands as the underlying data infrastructure matures.
The larger opportunity is not simply automation. It is decision intelligence. AI-enabled R&D platforms can support research, testing and formulation, while analytics can help organisations interpret complex operational and market information. As more data becomes connected, AI can identify patterns, anticipate potential issues and support decisions across interconnected processes.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network provides evidence of this broader shift. Its network of leading industrial sites has demonstrated the use of AI and advanced analytics to improve productivity, quality, supply chain resilience and sustainability at scale.
Digital transformation is also changing how manufacturers interact with customers and channel partners. Sales force automation, digital loyalty platforms, product-level QR capabilities and conversational interfaces are creating new ways to capture market signals and strengthen engagement.
When these platforms connect with the wider organisation, customer and channel insights can feed into planning and decision-making. Conversational AI can make interactions more immediate and contextual, while also creating new ways to gather information. The result is a more continuous flow of signals between the market and the enterprise, extending digital transformation beyond the factory floor.
Greater connectivity also brings greater responsibility. As enterprise platforms, manufacturing systems, supply chains and customer-facing applications become increasingly interconnected, cybersecurity becomes closely linked to business continuity.
Protecting digital infrastructure requires more than securing individual systems. It involves governance, access controls, monitoring, employee awareness and security practices that evolve with the technology environment. For manufacturing organisations, this is particularly important because a disruption to connected production or supply chain systems can have physical consequences. Digital resilience is, therefore, becoming an integral part of operational resilience.
Technology is also changing how sustainability can be integrated into industrial operations. Energy consumption, material utilisation, waste generation and production efficiency can increasingly be measured through digital systems. This provides greater visibility into where resources are being used and where processes can be improved.
For an industry with significant manufacturing and supply chain requirements, this makes sustainability more closely connected to everyday operational decisions. Digitalisation can help identify inefficiencies, improve resource utilisation and make sustainability performance more measurable. The World Economic Forum’s Lighthouse Network has similarly highlighted the role of digital technologies in improving productivity and sustainability outcomes across manufacturing value chains.
The next stage of technology adoption will not be defined simply by the number of AI, IoT or automation solutions an organisation deploys. It will depend on how effectively these capabilities work together.
For construction and building materials, this integration can influence how products are developed, manufactured, distributed and improved. Connected manufacturing can provide operational visibility. Enterprise platforms can connect that information with planning and supply chain decisions. AI can add interpretation and predictive capability. Customer-facing platforms can bring market signals back into the organisation.
The result is a shift from isolated digital initiatives towards a more connected value chain. Innovation will increasingly exist not only in the products themselves, but also in the systems that enable them to be designed, produced, delivered and continuously improved.
The future of building materials will, therefore, be defined not only by what manufacturers produce, but by how intelligently they connect the systems that design, manufacture, move and improve those products.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by Rajesh Rajan, chief information officer, BirlaNu.