Industrial Machinery

Global producers of machinery, equipment, systems and controls have learned to deliver a wide range of capital goods and services across global and cyclical end markets. Bain has spent several decades working with industrial machinery companies, ranging from some of the world's largest diversified industrial companies to pure-play systems and component suppliers. Through good times and bad in the capital equipment cycle, we are focused from day one on helping our industrial machinery clients mobilize their organizations to deliver results.

What we do

Bain has worked with clients across all major machinery sectors including, but not limited to:

  • Construction and farm equipment
  • Industrial automation and controls
  • Electrical distribution
  • Energy equipment (including fossil and renewable energy equipment)
  • Building and residential automation
  • Water and wastewater equipment

We help clients determine strategic options for their portfolio by defining economic and competitive boundaries and allocating resources to the businesses best positioned to win. At the business unit level, we analyze customer segments and needs, relative cost position and competitive position to identify attractive growth opportunities, optimize pricing, enhance sales effectiveness and improve operating performance.

Our perspective

The world’s leading producers of machinery, equipment, systems and controls are navigating several challenges—some old and some new. The industry has always been cyclical, and new challenges have emerged with shifts in demand from mature to developing markets, sharpened global competition from low-cost producers and volatility in raw material prices.

Relying on acquisitions to enter new adjacent markets has become more complicated with competition over scarce assets coming from both rival firms and private equity buyers. For many companies, the far-reaching decisions they must make about their product portfolios, customer acquisition strategies and global manufacturing footprints come around once in a generation. We believe that it has never been more important to develop a clear understanding of the company’s full portfolio, including how to draw on core products and capabilities. In an industry often confronting low-cost producers, it has become critical to bring a CEO mindset to managing the company’s integrated cost structure—aligning strategy, organization, systems and processes, and culture to optimize manufacturing assets, reduce complexity, manage purchasing and supply chains, and design efficient SG&A support models.

Our team

We work as an integrated part of your team, from frontline to C-suite, to deliver true results and make the changes stick. We have a core group of senior industrial machinery experts that we deploy across the globe.

  • Klaus

  • Klaus Neuhaus

    Leader of Bain's Global Industrial Machinery practice

    Dusseldorf