Series 20 – Episode 9 – the industrial automation landscape

This entry is part 2 of 31 in the series Electronic Specifier Insights

Industrial automation is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by the convergence of AI, Edge computing, robotics, and ever-more capable sensing and networking technologies. In a recent episode of Electronic Specifier Insights, host Paige Hookway spoke with Connor Doherty, Director of Industrial Automation at DigiKey, about where the sector is really heading – and what engineers should be doing now to prepare.

Doherty brings a rare dual perspective: he began his career as a DigiKey customer and semiconductor sales engineer before returning to his hometown of Thief River Falls, Minnesota, to lead DigiKey’s industrial automation business. As he puts it, his team now acts as “a big megaphone to the online engineering community,” making sure manufacturers’ latest technologies are visible, searchable, and supported with the right technical content so engineers can make informed design choices.

“We focus on bringing in all the new technologies that the manufacturers we partner with launch, making sure they’re merchandised correctly online, so engineers can find them and all the material that they need to make their decision,” Doherty explains.

His experience on both sides of the channel has sharpened his view of what engineers and buyers truly need – beyond what they say in meetings. He recalls routinely relying on DigiKey as a practical solution when customers wanted to try new parts quickly: “I would always have a tab pulled up with DigiKey’s website and say, ‘Hey, it looks like it’s available for sale right now. You could get two pieces on your desk tomorrow’.”

This immediacy and breadth of choice, he notes, mirrors modern consumer behaviour: engineers increasingly want a one-stop, self-service environment where they can survey what exists, filter by precise requirements, and move quickly from idea to evaluation.

AI as the most transformative trend

When asked about the single most transformative trend in industrial automation, Doherty doesn’t hesitate: artificial intelligence.

“I would be remiss not to say AI, just because I think that … it’s warranted for the wave of activity that’s happening.”

For years, the industry’s focus has been on generating and transporting data: more sensors, more bandwidth, more connectivity. Now the challenge is what to do with that data. AI, he argues, is the missing layer that will enable factories to make better, faster, and more autonomous decisions.

“AI … takes us up to another level of how we can process [data], make decisions on it, and then really kind of further what we’ve been trying to do all along – make smarter factories and processes all around us.”

The foundations – sensors, networks, compute – are largely in place. What’s emerging now are the AI tools and architectures that will sit on top of this infrastructure, from Edge inference on the shop floor to Cloud analytics and digital twins.

Industry 4.0: vision vs. reality

Despite the hype around Industry 4.0, Doherty is candid about where the market truly stands. Progress is uneven, and many manufacturers are still early in their transformation.

Greenfield plants, he says, are the easiest places to implement a complete “smart factory” vision. The harder problem – and the more common one – is modernising brownfield sites that have operated reliably for a decade or more.

“Quite a few are still retrofitting or trying to modernise some existing factories that have been up and running without hiccups for the last 10–15 years. So … we’re still in the very early phases.”

The business case must be carefully timed: if a facility isn’t struggling with capacity or quality, tearing it apart for a next-generation upgrade often doesn’t make economic sense, even if the technology is compelling.

Supply chain and the data centre effect

On the procurement side, lingering supply chain concerns have not vanished. With the AI-driven data centre boom, Doherty is seeing early signs of tightening lead times, even if the market hasn’t yet returned to crisis-mode shortages.

“The availability of supply is paramount, especially with the data centre boom … We see a lot of lead times maybe starting to extend a little bit as capacity becomes a little thin.”

He stresses disciplined planning, accurate lead-time management, and avoiding the “bullwhip effect” of over-ordering. Engineers need robust second-source strategies, and distributors like DigiKey play a central role in providing visibility and flexibility amid geopolitical and logistics uncertainty.

From distributor to strategic partner

One of the most striking parts of the conversation is DigiKey’s evolution. Historically viewed as a board-level components distributor, the company discovered through customer surveys that many already saw it as a go-to source for industrial automation.

“One of the highest results was industrial automation, which kind of surprised us, because our bread and butter had always been component level semiconductors and passives.”

That insight led to a dedicated industrial automation business unit, focused on end-equipment, solution modules, and system-level building blocks – plus richer technical content and resources tailored to automation engineers, not just PCB designers.

Doherty summarises DigiKey’s value proposition succinctly: “We have such a wide range of products … We ship globally in a matter of days … Most importantly, we want to be the biggest NPI partner for our manufacturers, so the moment they’re launching a new product, we want it on the shelf.”

With AI, robotics, and connectivity reshaping automation over the next three to five years, his message to engineers is clear: embrace data, plan your networking and compute architecture carefully, and leverage partners who can help you move quickly from concept to deployment.

To hear more on the industrial automation landscape, you can listen to Electronic Specifier’s interview on Spotify or Apple podcasts.