How is UFP Industries using AI?

On its own account, UFP Industries, the wood products manufacturer, is investing in AI, though its filings don't say on what or how much. Its 10-K for 2025 was filed in February 2026. In it, UFP says "we have made, and expect to continue making, investments in the integration of artificial intelligence into our platforms, products, and services". That sentence sits in a new risk factor, which also warns the company "may not be successful in our artificial intelligence initiatives". The 10-K for 2024 does not mention AI at all. What the filings do describe and quantify is automation: robotics, high-efficiency pallet machines and efficiency projects across all segments. In 2025, $163 million of capital spending went to expansion and efficiency. On its July 2026 call, the chief executive spoke of investing "in automation, technology, and machine learning to improve operations in real time", with no further detail.

What the usual answer says

Descriptions of UFP's technology say it uses AI and automation in manufacturing, including robotics in pallet and truss production. They add design software for customers, and data analytics for pricing and supply chain. Robotics and customer design tools do appear in the filings. The filings don't describe any of them as AI, and say nothing specific about AI in pricing.

What the filings say

The 2025 10-K adds a new risk factor. It calls AI "an emerging area of technology that has and may further impact various aspects of our business operations". So the company says AI has already affected operations, without saying how. It states that investments in integrating AI have been made and will continue. It lists the risks: AI may need large capital investment, "specialized talent, and new safety protocols", and "competitors may develop more effective or efficient AI solutions". The cyber-security section adds that the company's risk frameworks "have been adapted to include the assessment and management of risks associated with emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI)".

In all, the 2025 10-K uses AI six times and artificial intelligence four times in about 48,000 words. The 2024 10-K uses neither. The Q2 2026 10-Q mentions AI once, in a list of factors that could affect forward-looking statements.

Where the capital goes

The same 10-K is specific about automation. The company says it regularly invests "in automation" to improve the efficiency of its plants "across each of the segments". In packaging, "keys to our success" include "low-cost production through expanded automation, including robotics and high efficiency pallet machines". In construction, "we've made a variety of investments in automation".

In 2025, UFP "invested $269 million in capital expenditures". Of that, $163 million was expansionary and efficiency spending and $106 million maintenance, with a further $18 million in business combinations. For 2026, it expects "approximately $300 million to $325 million on capital expenditures".

The 10-K also names a mobile application offered to site-built construction customers. It is software sold alongside physical products.

What the latest call says

On the Q2 2026 call on 30 July 2026, the chief executive said the company was "rightsizing and optimizing capacity while investing in automation, technology, and machine learning to improve operations in real time and create greater value over time". That is the only mention of machine learning, and AI was not otherwise discussed. The rest of the technology talk was automation to "improve our cost position" and enhancements to an online ordering platform for dealers.

What it means for other manufacturers

UFP's filings show two tracks. The first is physical automation: robotics and machines that make each plant faster and cheaper, planned and measured through capital budgets. The second is AI and machine learning, which the company says it is already investing in and which it says has affected operations, but with no project, benefit or budget yet shown to investors.

The practical first uses of AI for a manufacturer like this sit around the automation, not inside it. In our view, AI earns its place by using the data automated lines produce for scheduling, pricing and quoting, which the machines themselves don't decide. A benefit attached to one of those would be the sign that AI has moved from the risk factors into operations.

When it doesn't apply

Filings show what is material and disclosed, and AI tools may be in use below that threshold. A risk factor saying AI investment is under way may also be standard legal drafting. Its placement shouldn't be over-read in either direction.

Quarri for wood products is built around how a wood products plant runs, where the order book meets real capacity.

Quarri is an AI-native data platform for the timber supply chain. It connects buying, production, sales and inventory for forest management, sawmill, wood products and pulp, paper and packaging operators.