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Supply Chain by the Numbers

Oct. 2, 2026

Supply Chain by the Numbers for Oct. 2, 2026

Decent Q2 GDP, Service Robot Growth, US PMI Positive again in September, AI Advice from Gartner


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47%
That is the share of “service robots” that were sold in 2025 that were used for transportation and logistics, helping drive a total increase of 24% in global shipments of those robots to almost 250,000 units in 2025, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), according to a report released this week. What is a service robot, you ask? According to IFR, it’s almost any robot not part the manufacturing process. Sorted by application, transportation and logistics stayed in the lead as in 2024, with 117,500 units sold in 2025. This was up 21%, and represents a market share of 47%. Although traditional sales remained the main monetization channel, RaaS business models continued to grow in popularity and are already the dominant business model in the US, IFR says. Hospitality robots rank in second place. Machines for mobile guidance, information points in public environments, and telepresence account for the majority of these robots

2.2%

That was the rate of US economic growth in Q2, according to the Commerce Department this in its second revision this week, as it raised its reading for annualized gross domestic product growth in the second quarter, well above the previously reported 1.5%. Real final sales to private domestic purchasers, a key metric of underlying growth trends, also increased to 4.6%. The revised numbers added to evidence that the economy is powering past tariffs, high energy prices and an immigration crackdown, and fueling continued price increases.



9
That is now the number of consecutive months the Purchasing Managers Index from the Institute for Supply Management has been above the key 50 mark that separates US manufacturing expansion from contraction, with the numbers for September released by ISM on Thursday. With a score of 54.5 in September, the PMI was down a little from 54.6 in August but still above the 50 level. The New Orders Index expanded for the ninth consecutive month after four straight readings in contraction, registering 55.3, up 1.6 percentage points compared to August’s figure of 53.7. That’s again above the key 50 mark, in good news for future US manufacturing activity.

That was the number of recommendations the analysts at Gartner offered to improve A1 success, in s press release late last week. Those three recommendations are: Build autonomous-ready operations; Build intelligence around decisions, not technology; and Build an autonomous-ready workforce

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