Machinery and Industrial Automation

Companies focused on manufacturing machinery, components, and equipment for industrial automation have two critical roles to play over the next few years: First, their products enable other industrial companies to transform into highly automated, digital, and sustainable businesses. Second, they need to understand and successfully harness the top trends transforming the machinery and industrial-automation industry if they want to succeed in the decade ahead. BCG’s machinery and industrial-automation consultants collaborate with leaders at these organizations to explore:

• Digital Disruption. How can machinery and industrial-automation companies monetize the vast volumes of data that digital technologies generate and capture? How can digital offerings and services generate additional revenue streams to help these companies compete against software giants and telcos? How do traditional companies make the leap from manufacturing hardware-centric equipment to delivering fully digitized products and services? (See the exhibit below.)
• The Challenging Future of Automation. How will advances in automation technologies erase the boundaries between information and operational systems? How can industrial-automation companies navigate the cyber-physical hybrid networks that combine new technologies such as the industrial Internet of Things, machine learning, and cloud or edge computing? What are the implications for product positioning and business models? And how can machinery and industrial-automation companies best set their game plans to capture the value pools emerging from these new ecosystems?

Winning Strategies in Machinery and Industrial Automation

BCG’s machinery and industrial-automation consulting offerings include a comprehensive suite of advisory services and tools. We help our clients navigate the challenges and address the opportunities emerging in the machinery and industrial-automation industry landscape. Our team comprises more than 200 core senior consultants and experts around the globe who possess in-depth experience across the entire value chain of machinery and industrial automation—including general machinery and components, digital machinery, industry-specific machinery, industrial automation and controls, and building technology.

Our machinery and industrial-automation consultants are supported by researchers, analysts, and experts in 90 offices around the world, as well as a cadre of senior advisors. We have supported more than 1,400 global client projects in the machinery and industrial-automation industry since 2015, helping our clients tackle various challenges in such areas as strategic planning, corporate development, operations, marketing and sales, and workforce planning.