2021 Manufacturing Outlook
2021 Manufacturing Outlook
2021
MANUFACTURING
OUTLOOK
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CONTENTS
6 Introduction
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OVERVIEW
In May 2020, just 34% of respondents to a National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) quarterly outlook survey1
expressed optimism about their company’s future. That finding, the lowest since the height of the Great Recession in
2009, reflected just how bleak 2020’s series of catastrophes looked to leaders in the manufacturing sector amid supply
chain disruptions and sudden, crippling shelter-in-place orders that shut down factory floors.
But by the end of the year, nearly three in four respondents2 to NAM’s survey had regained their optimism, perhaps
believing their organizations were stronger for weathering 2020, or merely seeing the light at the end of the COVID
tunnel. To be sure, the perseverance of many manufacturers has been remarkable, but industry leaders must make
anticipated gains real despite continuing difficulties and new challenges as 2021 begins.
Supply chain problems persist, factory floor capacity remains diminished, consumer needs and spending patterns have
changed, and the biggest factor—a once-in-a-century pandemic—remains a potent global force whose resurgence is
uncertain and one whose remaining effects have yet to be realized.
We’re writing this outlook to help the industry identify challenges and seize opportunities. We see a manufacturing
sector where the leading companies will prepare for the unexpected, double down on resiliency, continue to support
the health and wellbeing of employees, and accelerate their investing and advancement of Industry 4.0 initiatives. Fast-
changing circumstances call for maximum agility and the ability to make strategic decisions in response to events.
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INTRODUCTION
2020 was a year like no other: A global Despite some impressive success stories, we
pandemic collided with simmering social anticipate a challenging 2021, especially in the
unrest exacerbated by unemployment, first half. While recovery is underway and there
economic recession, and political chaos. Add are glimmers of hope, several factors present
in devastating natural disasters like ravaging obstacles and opportunities for manufacturers in
wildfires in California and a deluge of floods 2021 and beyond:
and tornadoes in the Midwest, and 2020 almost
seemed out to prove the old maxim: Anything • COVID-19 cases will continue to appear
that can happen, will. as vaccine distribution lags behind
needed levels.
The pandemic hit manufacturing hard. One of
the first shockwaves stemmed from government • The new presidential administration and
categorization of essential and non-essential new Congress will likely bring tax and
businesses. Some manufacturers in the latter regulatory changes.
category were forced to completely shut down
or drastically reduce production. Others deemed
• International supply chain pressures will
essential were stretched to the limit trying to
persist as tensions with China and others
keep up with demand. As the pandemic wore
may not be resolved for some time.
on, consumer needs and spending patterns
also drastically changed, causing further
disruption and response—some experiencing While every manufacturer is dealing with
unprecedented demand and success, while different challenges, risks, and opportunities,
others struggled to remain relevant. those who powered through 2020 and continue
to adapt and remain nimble will see the greatest
success. Those who are still hesitating, or
Through the gauntlet, manufacturers rose to
waiting for things to return to normal, may
meet the challenge. Many were able to quickly
never fully recover and will certainly not remain
implement PPE requirements to ensure the
relevant in a post-pandemic world.
health and safety of employees who couldn’t
work remotely. For employees who could work
from home, management had to move quickly to
establish new security protocols and employee
operations. And, most critically for the nation,
many factories were able to rapidly increase
production or retool production lines to fill in the
gaps in production for essential products and
PPE supplies.
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CHAPTER 1
Managing through
uncertainty
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The manufacturing sector has seen its share of choppy waters in the
past, from the Great Recession to supply chain issues stemming from a
prickly trade relationship between China and the United States. Still, after
the events of 2020, manufacturers face a long road to recovery.
But to act on them, sector leaders must get comfortable—if they aren’t
already—with managing the fluid nature of COVID-19. Its effects will be
with us for some time, a fact most are coming to realize. In our quarterly
executive poll for Q1 2021,3 a majority of organizations conceded that
they plan to be in recovery mode until mid to late 2021.
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But since the pandemic shut down much of the All manufacturers should have an eye toward a stronger
economy a year ago, its impacts have generally focus on demand planning, forecasting, and supplier
stabilized. Ideally, businesses will have been able to durability. Simulation and tabletop exercises for disaster
use data and analytics capabilities to pinpoint the planning should be reinvigorated and reprioritized.
source of supply chain disruptions. If they haven’t Planning for worst-case scenarios or unexpected events
already, organizations should explore supply chain tools no longer seems dramatic; it’s this type of operational
(simulation, modeling, and prescriptive analytics) to resiliency that can make the difference between
help make decisions across their organizations amid surviving, thriving, or not making it out of the next crisis.
the transition out of the pandemic and to future-proof
themselves for the next disruptive event.
Sustainability
According to Mesirow,5 from 2013 to 2018, half of CPG growth came from products
marketed with a sustainability claim. Further, in 2018, sustainability-marketed products
delivered nearly $114 billion in revenue, a 29% increase vs. 2013. Where ingredients are
sourced and how a product is manufactured, shipped, and packaged are becoming
important considerations for consumers. Recent surveys indicate that approximately 88%
of consumers across the U.S. and U.K. want companies to improve their environmental
and social footprints.
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CHAPTER 2
Accelerating Industry
4.0 initiatives
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While large-scale I4.0 transformation utilizing all of DATA MONETIZATION: WHEN DATA
these components may be the long-term goal, many
manufacturers must find a way to start small and build
IMPACTS THE P&L
on initial successes.9 By focusing on ways to better
use their abundance of existing data, manufacturers Manufacturers must prioritize where to invest their
can leverage their existing assets and investments to limited resources to achieve the greatest balance of
accelerate transformation and generate near-term value benefits across people, operations, and customers.
without a huge investment or long-term initiative. In order to do that, they must start with the business
problem, not the technology.
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Leveraging data from existing sensors and field reports If manufacturers don’t evolve their current business
can open pathways to new subscription models and models to generate new and recurring revenue streams,
other forms of recurring revenue to offset the impact of they will continue to be susceptible to boom-or-bust
sales downturns. Michelin10 used this strategy to great market conditions. The time is now for transformation,
effect when it transitioned from a company that simply moving away from one-time sales transactions and
sold tires to one that uses a product-as-a-service (PaaS) toward sustainable and recurring revenue streams,
model to sell tires with embedded sensors as a full possibly even subscription-based models. This will lead
package of maintenance and performance. to increased agility, decreased friction in sales, and
decreased customer carrying costs.
Creating throughlines to product usage data will
generate insights that can lead to the development
of new revenue streams, potentially through the
optimization of products or predictive maintenance,
ultimately increasing customer satisfaction
and retention.
Cybersecurity
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CHAPTER 3
Resetting expectations
and achieving growth
goals
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If they haven’t done so, now is the time to focus on using or collecting
the data necessary to identify the most profitable customer segments—
as well as segments that are ripe for retention or clusters that should be
allowed to move through an attrition cycle.
These plans should not fall by the wayside. Rather, they ought to be a
top priority for 2021. Integrating front- and back-office systems will lay
the necessary groundwork for scalable growth through digital sales
channels by standardizing data across the organization.
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The importance of clean, consistent, and standardized A key opportunity for any manufacturer is to assess the
data cannot be understated as a prerequisite for any current state of product master data and the fidelity with
scalable e-commerce strategy. With the continued which that data is managed and distributed across other
emergence of e-commerce as a viable revenue source for internal systems. Clean and consistent data relating to
manufacturers, many are identifying challenges related products across platforms facilitates the ability to more
to synchronizing product master data across systems, easily stand up and update e-commerce, CPQ, and order
especially as it relates to product content management entry systems from a single source of truth. Inefficiencies
such as product brochures, marketing materials, website and poor compatibility of existing systems can lead to
content, POS systems, and other e-commerce platforms. inconsistent data sets that are required for organizations
to make the shift towards AI/ML based pricing models.
Do you have the right people or skills to lead and embrace these changes?
Most manufacturers do not take full advantage of all the OT data they already have.
According to Forrester Research, up to 73% of data goes unused for analytics.13 There
are various reasons for this. Some organizations aren’t aware of all the data that
currently exists and may not know how to extract or combine data so that it is useful.
But many simply lack the skills and capabilities to uncover insights and translate them
into impact on the P&L.
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To survive—let alone thrive—manufacturers must To help our clients succeed with transformational
keep pushing for more innovation, growth, and agility. efforts,16 we recognize that digital technology solutions
Transformation, with digital underpinnings, is required need to be a part of the broader business strategy
to achieve rapid, sustainable, step-change improvement conversation with the senior-most corporate leaders.
in business performance. The focus needs to be on We help our clients bake digital transformation priorities
enterprise-wide value creation efforts that improve into the core, DNA-level of their company so that a
shareholder value, which can include expansion into new commitment to digital enablement and growth are
markets, improving products to meet market demand, diffused throughout the wider culture.
enhancing customer satisfaction, or driving efficiencies
internally. Aligned transformational efforts drive growth We suggest identifying the most critical business
and fuel an organization’s competitive edge. problems facing the company—whether operational,
cultural, or growth challenges. Just as important as
Transformation is a team sport. The types of seismic the problems to be solved, leaders need to be able to
strategic shifts can’t be led just by a small digital or articulate the vision of where they want to go. Without
technology team within a larger organization. Impactful a cohesive vision for the future, few will be successful
and aligned leadership from the CEO, C-suite, and at integrating the digital capabilities, acquiring the
board of directors is required to ensure enterprise value key talent, and implementing the data-driven decision
is realized and that priorities are set top-down and making needed to stay relevant and competitive in a
company-wide. Having a dedicated team managing fast-moving, disruption-prone business environment.
the ongoing enterprise-wide value plan is critical for
sustained transformational results.
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CONCLUSION
It felt like the curveballs would never stop coming last year. But manufacturers have come out on the
other side better positioned to achieve new levels of growth.
There were many new lessons to learn from 2020’s upheaval, but in some ways the turmoil simply
reinforced old, timeless wisdom. While we may not be able to predict the exact events of the future, we
know they’ll be unpredictable. We can plan for that.
Managing uncertainty, building resiliency, adopting targeted transformative technologies, and achieving
new levels of growth are the keys for manufacturers to sustain and succeed in 2021 and beyond.
We are optimistic that manufacturers, prompted to action over the past year by necessity, are ready to
meet the challenges ahead.
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CONTRIBUTORS
LAURA BRIZGIS DENNIS MCRAE
Senior Manager, Corporate Transformation Senior Director, Consumer & Industrial Products
DAVID MCGRAW
Senior Manager, Consumer & Industrial Products
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SOURCES
1. NAM Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey – Third Quarter 2020 https://www.nam.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/
NAM-Outlook-Survey-Q3-2020.pdf
6. A pandemic digital silver lining: Companies digitized many activities 20 to 25 times faster during COVID-19 https://
www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/coronavirus-leading-through-the-crisis/charting-the-path-to-the-next-normal/
a-pandemic-digital-silver-lining-companies-digitized-many-activities-20-to-25-times-faster-during-covid-19
9. Start small, finish big: How manufacturers can obtain actionable insights from their data https://www.
westmonroepartners.com/perspectives/point-of-view/small-start-big-finish-how-manufacturers-can-obtain-
actionable-insights-from-their-data
12. The cyber resiliency mandate: Preventing business disruption in an age of cyberattacks https://www.
westmonroepartners.com/perspectives/point-of-view/the-cyber-resiliency-mandate
15. Chart of Wall Street’s ‘fear’ index in 2020 illustrates how unhinged stock markets have been over coronavirus
compared to the 2008 crisis https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-chart-of-the-stock-markets-fear-index-in-
2020-illustrates-how-unhinged-markets-have-been-over-coronavirus-compared-to-the-2008-crisis-2020-03-10
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