A new report from PwC, a global advisory firm, says: “Adopting AI [artificial intelligence] in R&D can reduce time-to-market by 50% and lower costs by 30%” in sectors such as automotive and aerospace.

The firm adds that 57% of South African manufacturers expect higher sales and 50% expect lower operating costs as AI embeds in their plants and processes, reinforcing the near-term commercial case for deployment.

The tools reshaping workflows are multimodal systems that can read computer-aided drawing files, run physics-based simulations, and generate design options engineers might miss. The report says: “GenAI tools can propose improved configurations for a car chassis, simulate performance under different conditions, and even suggest designs that engineers might have overlooked,” and that teams can: “iterate diverse designs in hours not weeks,” test virtually before prototyping, and troubleshoot more issues ahead of production.

Early proof points are emerging on factory floors. PwC notes: “A large commercial vehicle manufacturer who introduced AI tools for its procurement achieved reduced time needs for low value-added tasks, increased accuracy on tasks completed, and higher staff satisfaction,” suggesting that productivity and morale gains can arrive together.

The potential macro lift matters in South Africa’s industrial base. The report states: “Manufacturing contributes around 13% of the country’s GDP,” and employment in factories totalled 1.7 million in the second quarter of 2025, with exports central to sector growth, making cycle time and unit-cost improvements strategically valuable.