There is much talk about the strong competitiveness of Swedish industry, but competitiveness is decided on the factory floor. When productivity slows, geopolitics is uncertain and global competition intensifies, it is not enough to rely solely on increased skills and regulatory simplification – Swedish industry must accelerate automation, at greater scale, writes Susanne Dahl, VP of Industrial Automation for the Nordics and Baltics at Schneider Electric.
Since the financial crisis, productivity growth in Swedish industry has slowed markedly. Since 2011, annual growth has fallen to just over one percent, while productivity has effectively been stagnant for more than a decade, according to Industriarbetsgivarna.
This is not a marginal issue. Industry accounts for roughly 20 percent of Sweden’s GDP and employs nearly 200,000 people in the basic industrial sector. When productivity stalls, so do competitiveness and the Swedish economy. The question is not whether this is a problem, but how long we can afford to wait.
At the same time, the world is moving quickly. In our latest report, Global Autonomous Maturity, global industrial leaders highlight automation as a decisive competitive issue and a key driver of productivity growth. The report also explains why speed matters: 59 percent warn of higher operating costs if implementation is delayed, 52 percent point to increased skills shortages and 48 percent cite weakened competitiveness.
Another study shows the same pattern: closed automation systems create substantial hidden costs. The analysis indicates that these costs can average the equivalent of 7.5 percent of revenue for medium-sized industrial companies.
One country that stands out in the report is Sweden — and not in a positive way. A quarter of Swedish industrial companies have not yet begun their automation journeys, even though the technology is now a decisive growth factor. This creates a growing and worrying gap, not only in industrial efficiency but for our future competitiveness.
At the same time, there is a clear ambition to strengthen Swedish industry. From the national AI strategy to Vinnova’s investments in strategic technology and innovation clusters, the intent is visible. However, the focus remains largely on frameworks and future analyses rather than on scaling technology here and now.
Sweden therefore risks getting stuck in a prolonged implementation phase. We have the skills, the technology and the prerequisites, but the pace of transition and implementation is too slow, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises.
To reverse this trend and strengthen the competitiveness of Swedish industry, a clearer focus on execution is required:
Move from pilot projects to production and scale across the industry. To achieve real impact, automation, AI and digital solutions must be deployed broadly in production, not remain in tests and isolated projects. This requires investment and changed ways of working where implementation and optimization are prioritized ahead of further analyses and feasibility studies.
Make automation a strategic management priority. Automation can no longer be treated as merely a technical issue. It must be integrated into business strategy and become a decisive factor for investment decisions, skills planning and long-term competitiveness. Otherwise Swedish industry will quickly lose ground.
Ensure the entire value chain can transition. The greatest productivity gains are realized across the breadth of industry. Targeted initiatives, partnerships and business models are therefore needed to enable smaller actors to invest in and adopt advanced technology in their operations.
What is lacking today is not technology, but pace. If Swedish industry is to strengthen its competitiveness, automation must be prioritized now — in investments, in production and across the entire value chain.
About Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric is a global leader in energy technology, driving efficiency and sustainability by electrifying, automating and digitizing industries, businesses and homes. The company’s technology enables buildings, data centers, factories, infrastructure and power networks to function as open, connected ecosystems — improving performance, resilience and sustainability. Its portfolio includes intelligent devices, software-defined architectures, AI-driven systems, digital services and expert consulting. With 160,000 employees and a network of one million partners in more than 100 countries, Schneider Electric is repeatedly recognized as one of the world’s most sustainable companies.