anufacturing sector has long been the backbone of national economy. However, today it faces challenges that threaten its competitiveness in a rapidly changing industrial landscape. Power shortages, rising energy costs, outdated machinery and limited capacity for innovation continue to strain factories across the country.

While the global manufacturing landscape is being redefined by artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven automation, most local industries remain anchored in legacy systems and manual oversight. But change is coming. A growing global shift toward AI-readiness, the ability of factories to collect, interpret and act upon data in real time, is beginning to redefine industrial productivity. For Pakistan, this transformation could mark a turning point in how its factories operate and compete.

At its core, AI-readiness is not merely about technology adoption. It is about intelligence, the integration of sensors, analytics and decision-making systems that enable machines to learn from every process. In an AI-ready factory, data is not an afterthought but the foundation of efficiency. It allows manufacturers to predict breakdowns before they happen, reduce energy consumption and make precise, informed adjustments at every stage of production. A recent comparative study by Tetra Pak, a global food processing and packaging solutions company, shows that highly automated beverage factories achieve 20 percent higher overall equipment effectiveness, 45 percent lower product waste and 20 percent fewer packaging line stops compared to less automated facilities. Yet, many producers struggle to adopt automation due to limited digital expertise and difficulty in finding holistic end-to-end solution providers with industry expertise.

For many Pakistani factories, achieving AI-readiness remains an uphill task. Much of the country’s machinery base still depends on reverse-engineered systems designed for replication rather than innovation. These machines often lack digital connectivity or standardised data protocols, making real-time monitoring difficult. Consequently, maintenance is largely reactive. Valuable production data goes unrecorded or is underutilised.

Transitioning to AI-readiness requires more than importing new equipment. It calls for a strategic rethinking of industrial processes; one that blends modern technology with local capacity-building. Factories can begin by digitising key operations. 

Transitioning to AI-readiness, therefore, requires more than importing new equipment. It calls for a strategic rethinking of industrial processes; one that blends modern technology with local capacity-building. Factories can begin by digitising key operations, deploying connected sensors and developing workforce skills in data interpretation and predictive maintenance. Over time, these steps create the digital backbone for advanced analytics and automation.

AI-readiness also offers an opportunity to tackle one of Pakistan’s most persistent industrial challenges, energy inefficiency. Intelligent systems can identify power fluctuations, optimise production schedules and balance energy loads automatically. As published in an international journal article, manufacturers in similar developing economies have reported considerable savings in energy costs through AI integration, while improving reliability and reducing carbon footprints.

The packaging sector has been among the early adopters of digital transformation globally. Pakistan is beginning to follow suit. Tetra Pak Pakistan, for instance, has introduced an AI-enabled factory platform as part of its global Factory OS initiative. The system links production, maintenance and quality processes, allowing operators to monitor performance in real time and detect potential issues before they disrupt output. Such initiatives demonstrate how data-driven systems can help local industries modernise sustainably.

The broad trend is unmistakable. The industrial AI market, valued at $43.6 billion in 2024, is expected to grow to nearly $154 billion by 2030, with automation and predictive analytics becoming central to competitiveness. For Pakistan, the manufacturing sector contributed 11.89 percent to gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023-24. Embracing AI-readiness could determine how well its factories adapt to global production standards.

Ultimately, AI-readiness is not a distant technological goal; it is a practical framework for survival in a data-driven economy. It represents a shift from reactive to predictive, from fragmented to connected, from manual to intelligent.

For Pakistan’s factories, the question is no longer whether they should adopt AI. In an era defined by smart production and resource efficiency, the factories that learn will lead; and those that fail to adapt this change may find themselves left behind.

The writer is a communications expert