Capital goods and engineering technologies are subject to strong market fluctuations and high innovation expectations. Manufacturing, processing and refining industrial materials, semi-finished products and products is energy and capital intensive. The industry is subject to strong market fluctuations in the prices of iron and steel. To optimise costs, processes and structures should be made more effective and production should be digitalised.
Other topics with continuing high importance for industrial production and especially for machinery and plant manufacturers remain the digitalisation, automation and networking of products and the advancing technologisation of work. Information and communication technologies in particular are having an increasing influence on the key factors of corporate success and are thus forcing companies to adapt to the new circumstances. Current developments and topics such as Big Data and Industry 4.0 support more and more business processes or make them possible in the first place.
In addition, the relevance of information as a resource and as a sound basis for transparent and sustainable decisions is increasing. The redesign of individual value creation stages or entire value chains has the potential to completely change production and distribution structures, organisational forms, jobs and customer behaviour. Converging and disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things and blockchain can trigger a massive, disruptive change in business models. New and non-industry-specific market participants intensify competition or niche technologies make the leap into the mass market. The dynamics of disruptive business models have often been underestimated. Even if a company's own innovation and development projects are better presented than in previous years, the consideration of substitution and disruption risks in many annual reports still leaves room for improvement.
Whether it is about optimising net working capital, expanding geographical presence, realigning operations or implementing a digitalisation strategy: KPMG is a competent and reliable partner for you. Our interdisciplinary teams identify potential for improvement in all areas of the company, point out alternatives and help you achieve your goals.
Find out here how KPMG can help.
