06 The Block What is stopping small mid-market from acting.

The skepticism is rational. It is also the obstacle.

The top barriers preventing manufacturers from successfully adopting AI describe a market that has been burned by big bang implementations, pitched too many demos with too little ROI, and is not about to bet the floor on another six figure rip and replace.

Percentage naming this barrier. Respondents could select multiple.

01Leadership does not understand what AI can realistically do63%

02Existing systems, ERP and MES, cannot easily integrate56%

03Workforce resistance and fear of job displacement55%

04Data is too fragmented, unstructured, or unreliable49%

05Lack of internal IT or technical resources to implement40%

06The ROI case has not been made compellingly enough34%

07Previous failed implementations created skepticism32%

08Budget constraints21%

The reframe

The barriers cluster around credibility, not capability. The leaders asking these questions are not skeptics. They are the audience this report is written for.