Neil Smith, CPG Segment President at Schneider Electric, and Jochen Weiland, VP Motion Control, discuss the critical challenges facing CPG manufacturers in the DACH region. According to Schneider’s survey of 1,400 executives worldwide, manufacturers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are losing €121 billion of their manufacturing value due to downtime, waste and operational inefficiencies – a figure projected to double to €251 billion over the next five years. The experts explain how AI-enabled automation solutions can address these challenges, but reveal a significant disconnect between AI ambitions and actual implementation. Key barriers include a lack of contextualised data, legacy systems and skills gaps. They emphasise that successful AI deployment requires a solid infrastructure foundation and open, software-defined automation systems capable of integrating existing equipment with new technologies. #interpack #industrialAI #CPG #automation #SchneiderElectric #manufacturing #DACH #packaging #digitaltransformation #industry40