Top performers are:
- Over 3 times as likely to use rules-based design approaches.
- About twice as likely to develop a single, global product.
- 50% more likely to leverage platform design techniques.
- 38% more likely to use modular design approaches.
A new study published by independent research and consulting firm, Tech-Clarity, has some good news for industrial equipment manufacturers: just about everyone is on the rise.
The report, which examined the technologies and strategies employed by 378 manufacturers around the world, indicates that on average most companies have effectively grown revenue and profit margins over the last two years.
Some companies, however, have seen significantly more growth than others.
The top 17% of the industrial equipment manufacturers surveyed for the study showed a revenue growth 2.2 times faster than the average rebounding companies and reported a 2.4 times greater increase in profit margins.
This stark contrast between the average and best manufacturers would seem to indicate a similarly stark contrast in the strategies and technologies leveraged by these companies to better take advantage of the recovery period. That is not the case, however.
"What was surprising was the strategies the companies took didn't vary that much," said Jim Brown, president of Tech-Clarity and author of the report. "Most of the companies, regardless of performance level, were trying to innovate, were trying to customize product, were trying to become global and compete in a global market."
As the chart below demonstrates, even the technologies leveraged by these companies showed little deviation.
With these results, "the question becomes, what are they doing differently?" noted Brown. "If they have the same strategy and use the same technologies, they must be accomplishing it in a different way."
According to Brown, this comes down to one thing: Product design.
