Service marks a newly emphasized component of manufactured products that help brand-building efforts. More manufacturers are grappling with the challenge of “wrapping and
incorporating services into manufactured products and exploit the
fact that they can somehow combine the two,” says Tuck’s Johnson. “The real trick for manufacturing consultants is to realize
that any time you start combining services, it changes the manufacturing supply chain. It changes the product in many ways, but
you can’t treat them as separate things. The service and the product supply chains really need to become integrated in many ways.”
That need for that integration helps explain why PA Consulting’s supply chain practice is working more frequently with
client-side sales and marketing executives and why BearingPoint’s CRM practice has become more involved in manufacturing engagements. One of BearingPoint’s clients now off-shores
all of its manufacturing; the company’s U.S. operations have
transformed into service centers. “The work is about helping
clients expand how they serve their customers because they know
they need to do much more than deliver the product,” notes Bill
Baver, senior manager in Bearing Point’s CRM practice.
Leaner is not always better, especially when it comes to talent. Talent concerns are simmering in most manufacturing in-
T-Shaped Demand
Just like their clients, consulting firms seek a blend of industry
and discipline expertise on their engagement teams. This desired
blend contains a much richer variety of skills and experiences
than in years past. Baldwin, a 20-year veteran, recalls a time, during the ERP implementation wave, when manufacturing practices perhaps favored capabilities like ERP, supply chain
management and strategy, over industry expertise. “Now, we
have to focus both on industry content and continue the discipline focus,” he notes. “Clients want you to know how to do the
work and, equally important, how to do the work in the industry
in which they operate. It’s not good enough to just be horizontal
in nature. We have to be vertical as well.”
So-called “T-shaped expertise,” which is both broad and deep,
is in demand now on engagements, agree other manufacturing
practice leaders. Gardner has seen clients emphasize the importance of that mix to a much greater degree in the past 18 months.
He and others have also witnessed clients place greater emphasis on the importance of assigning the right internal talent to
work side-by-side with consultants on the project team. “I find
myself working in group sessions with many more client people
from [client] operations around the world,” says Archstone’s Ferreira. In the past, manufacturing consultants could expect to work
“The half-life of a strategic position has decreased dramatically.
Eric Schwalm, Bain & Company ”
with a couple of client managers assigned from corporate headquarters and, perhaps, the division in which the project took
place. Now, more consulting engagements are cutting across numerous divisions and corporate functions.
dustries and already are boiling over in a few. “All of the
chemical engineers seem to be 55 to 65 [years old],” notes Smith.
“And not enough are entering the workforce … It’s a potentially
massive demographic time bomb.” The electronics industry also
is hard hit. Other manufacturing industries have a bit more time
to contend with growing talent shortfalls.
“In some [manufacturing industries], there is not as
much talk about [talent] as there should be,” notes Capgemini Vice President of Manufacturing Gary Baldwin. “But I
believe the discussion is more and more relevant. We expect
to do much more talent-management work this year and
next year.” That work consists of helping clients understand
the strengths and weaknesses of their talent pool and then
develop plans, such as outsourcing, related to acquiring, retaining and developing talent.
In addition to a growing need for specific industry experience,
manufacturers also face a growing need for general managers
with, for want of a better term, global chops. “Suppose a U.S.-based company wants to build an Asian sourcing network and an
Asian indigenous market effort,” Schwalm notes. “It’s very difficult to find and then quickly transfer the right people from one
place to another. It’s also difficult to find people locally who can
fulfill the GM role, which involves managing P&L.”
Time is Shrinking
As opportunities continue to increase, time seems to be growing shorter. The cycle time for a winning strategy, business or
product line has shrunk dramatically. Not so long ago, helping a
company move to a low-cost manufacturing base or create a
highly advantageous product line offered a sizeable benefit for a
good five to 10 years, says Schwalm. “Now, it seems like that
may help for 18 months,” he explains. “Companies are constantly
having to reinvent product lines, their processes, the way they go
to market, and who they are. The half-life of a strategic position
has decreased dramatically.”
While this trend may cause significant scrambling and suffering over the short-term, Schwalm believes this work places U.S.
manufacturers in a refreshingly advantageous position, which explains his optimistic long-term forecast for the sector. “As painful
as it is,” he says, “the ability to change and adapt other areas in the world.” niistymtuhcahn gitreiaste inr in the U.S. manufacturing and business commu C
