Industrial Products

Making the leap to more digital, dynamic and efficient operations

The only constant in today’s industrial manufacturing environment is disruption. Disruption from new tech-based entrants, decoupling of the global supply chain, changing consumer preferences, new distribution models, pivot towards environment, health and safety issues and pressures related to non-financial reporting (ESG disclosures) are continuously reshaping the industry. However, with disruption comes the opportunity to innovate, particularly within the major industries in India.

To stay competitive, organisations must be able to integrate new resilient business models and technologies to accelerate and adapt. All the while, addressing critical risk, tax and assurance issues across the globe. PwC collaborates with industrial product companies to help tackle today’s challenges and find new ways to create value and realise the vision for tomorrow. Our solutions, which are human-centered and tech-powered, help to build trust and deliver sustained outcomes.

Sector Overview

Industrial products is a major growth sector for the Indian economy with diverse companies including those engaged in manufacturing of machinery and equipment, electrical and metal products, cement, building and construction material, rubber and plastic products and automation technology products manufactured in India.

Key sector focus areas

  • The proliferation of digital technologies will accelerate adoption and drive productivity gains in the overall business. Industrial leaders in India are embarking on digital transformation of their vertical and horizontal value chains from industrial product design to product development and purchasing to manufacturing, logistics and services. The need to repair, rethink, reconfigure and re-innovate existing business models have become imperative in the Covid world.
  • Within the industrial sector in India efforts are on forming multinational partnerships, alliances and joint ventures in order to secure FDI, benefit from advanced technologies, and improve productivity through factory automation. Companies are trying to move beyond functional cuts and focus on strategic remobilisation of the cost base allowing reinvestment to critical areas of a business in concert with new tools and levers.
  • Organisations are recognising that many of the disruptions of today - technology, customer shifts, digitisation, M&A, etc - are opportunities for growth. While focus continues on penetrating the domestic market, Indian manufacturers are also looking to gain a foothold in the global market by increasing sales in existing markets and by identifying new geographies.
  • With the Government of India having unveiled the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) to boost manufacturing and increase India’s global competitiveness, global manufacturers are looking to scale up their India operations, build new capabilities and increase the incremental investments and sales of industrial goods. New investors are also perceiving India as an advantageous investment destination.
  • Building resiliency and agility in supply chains to respond to the ongoing disruptive forces of Covid and broader strategic decisions is a key imperative. Supply chain control towers, move from physical only to phygital and digital operations, simulation models to stress test resilience, machine-learning enabled demand sensing, adoption of AI and other emerging technologies are now mainstream.
  • Climate change, environmental compliance and social responsibility, green growth, responsible finance and sustainability have become key issues. Companies are trying to understand contemporary challenges, associated impacts and opportunities that arise from embracing ESG Consulting. Knowing how to measure/report ESG metrics and design net zero and de-carbonisation strategies and roadmaps to get there, whilst customers expect more on sustainability and transparency, is the conversation topic in boardrooms.
  • Organisations are facing a shortage of talent and skills to keep up with digitisation and need to rethink the role of humans. Enhancing workforce capability is a priority - digital upskilling and workforce transformation rank top as the factory floor activity is most likely to increase and companies plan their “return to work” strategy.
  • Cyber risks are viewed as the one of the biggest challenges for industrial product companies driven by digitisation and closely linked to cloud transformation. Aside from IT, threats to OT infrastructure and product security issues have become operational priorities for firms.

How we can help

Strategic investments. Smarter value chains

Strategic, data-driven investments can help you make improvements across the value chain. These include building new capabilities, uncovering efficiency gains and incorporating new technologies like digital twins of the supply chain and business processes, AI-enabled demand sensing, intelligent and integrated planning and forecasting solutions.

We can guide you through cost and footprint optimisation, digitisation and deals to help strengthen your value chain and manage risk. And our real-time insights help you transform your supply chain to be more flexible, resilient and transparent. We can be your long-term, collaborative partner to help sustain powerful performance improvements.

Our Solutions:

Manufacturing - prepared to pivot

We see various forces at work reshaping the industry and the role of the manufacturer. And many are pivoting—embracing digital business-to-business (B2B) commerce and extended services.

These shifts open new profit pools, create opportunities and help you adapt to a rapidly changing marketplace and evolving customer expectations. We can work with you to understand where to make bold moves, how to sell and price and where and when to evolve.

Our Services:

Your workforce—your value driver

A highly skilled digital workforce has become critical to keeping pace with this evolving industry. PwC can help your employees unlock their full potential and the potential of digital manufacturing. We help to identify and fill talent gaps, improve engagement and build a culture of performance.

We also collaborate with you on workforce planning and long-term strategies to maximise the value of your talent investments.

Our Services:

Dynamic and ready for complexity

Manufacturers are constructing smart factories while building a global presence and enhancing supply chains. And as you build and grow, you must balance innovation with risk, regulatory and legal shifts and market considerations.

We bring together a team of cross-functional experts with fresh perspectives, local insights and global industry knowledge. This team guides you through new value-creation opportunities and helps you determine where and when to position your operations. Together, we can help you achieve the transformations you need to deliver value today and into the future.

Our Services:

Insights

Contact us

Sudipta Ghosh

Sudipta Ghosh

Partner, Data and Analytics Leader, Industrial Products Leader, PwC India

Tel: +91 99874 34327

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