Why manufacturers need B2B market research

You need strong insights to navigate supply chain disruptions

With unpredictable global disruptions, supply chain challenges are more complex than ever before. Manufacturers must solve for concurrent challenges across areas like demand fluctuations, product sourcing systems, supplier risks and relationships, import and export bottlenecks—all while maintaining growth and profitability. 

To meet the demands of a globalized supply chain, manufacturers need multidimensional insights from professionals throughout their current and potential supply chain. Custom B2B research can provide the exact expertise needed across procurement, production, and product development functions to dimensions like lead times, component sourcing, and geographic risks. Furthermore, developing research practices to spot trends and potential disruptions early will be critical to maintain a competitive advantage over industry peers. 

It takes expertise to actually gain efficiencies through digitization

“For companies that get digital manufacturing right, the results are impressive—production efficiency gains of 15% to 20%, as well as improved production flexibility and quality. Those returns dwarf the average 2% to 4% returns from classic continuous improvement methods” (Bain).

Digitization is key to leading the future of the manufacturing industry, staying ahead of competitors, and sustaining long-term company success. From smart factory initiatives to Industry 4.0, manufacturers need viable insights strategies to implement connectivity and IoT, analytics and intelligence, automation, and advanced engineering technologies—from factory floor to corporate office.

In one example, NewtonX partnered with a leading German auto manufacturer who needed to understand the impact machine learning and advanced technologies could have on their profitability. Initial results after six months show implementation of new processes combined with better data capture led to over $5 million in cost savings.

B2B market research enables you to retain and reskill your workforce

Rising digitization brings new needs in talent and human resourcing. During industry-wide labor shortages, manufacturers must not only recruit new talent, but also provide the training to upskill and reskill workers alongside increased industry automation. With an increasingly distributed workforce that prizes flexibility and quality of work, manufacturers need to rethink workplace culture, brand perception, employee professional development, and retention measures. 

The best training and retention strategies for the manufacturing workforce are powered by insights on best practices and a deep understanding of the industry’s current perceptions. HR professionals in the manufacturing industry also need to learn what benefits and offerings competitors and partners are implementing to retain talent.

NX can recruit professionals from all stages of manufacturing — procurement managers, heads of production and engineering, production line workers, quality managers, health and safety managers, technicians, field engineers, and more — whom you can survey or consult to design the evolving nature of their roles. 

Invest in ESG and sustainability measures in confidence

With rising sustainability and diversity priorities across the world, manufacturers are due to meet more rigorous standards in environment, social, and governance (ESG) factors. Due to the sensitive nature of these topics, they take deep expertise and careful implementation. Environmental initiatives must track with regulatory goals and diversity measures need to be stewarded with care. All the while, companies must develop tracking and reporting systems for accountability and continuous improvement. 

B2B market research delivers insights on topics like complex and fast-changing regulatory measures, decreasing energy consumption, carbon footprints and neutrality initiatives—to ensure you can be confident you’re making the right choice in high stakes decisions for the world and society.

For critical decisions like these, you need custom primary research rather than secondary, syndicated sources. Any third-party report you can purchase is just as easily procured by your competitors. On top of that, syndicated research lacks the depth, breadth, and hyper relevance of custom market research that’s tailored to your business needs.

For guaranteed B2B research success, partner with NewtonX

The best risk mitigation and business growth strategies are powered by accurate insights and high-quality, custom sourced data. As the world’s leading B2B research company, NewtonX is the partner of choice for manufacturers seeking to not only survive, but to thrive with an edge over competitors in an evolving global economy.

Our proprietary, AI-driven NewtonX Knowledge Graph scans an open network of 1.1 billion professionals—with 90 million in the manufacturing industry—to find answers for your most pressing business questions. All professionals go through a 2-step ID check to ensure you’re receiving verified insights to help you innovate, weather market uncertainties in confidence, and stay ahead of the competition. Make the right choices with the insights your company needs to take the win in a high stakes manufacturing market.