Machinery and plant engineering

Publication: OPPORTUNITY - Facts for decision makers

In this OPPORTUNITY we take a look at machinery and plant engineering and discuss how companies in this sector can position themselves future-proof and systematically expand their business. Various approaches to expanding the business will be presented, based on the product-market portfolio. Here, the focus lies on operational excellence, activities regarding a market approach and innovation that concentrates on customers.

Under the keyword operational excellence, the possibilities for increasing efficiency as to aquisition and execution of projects are illustrated. In doing so, the modularization of machines and systems will be discussed among other things. In the context of approaching the market, we focus on data-based market development, the importance of which is also growing in machinery and plant engineering. The chapter “Innovation concentrating on customers” explains how machine and plant manufacturers can generate more bussiness with additional services and digital products. Finally, we present ten patterns for success that we have derived from the different positionings of companies with above-average success.

Contents of this OPPORTUNITY

positioning by the range of services
positioning in markets
approaches to expanding business
10 patterns of success in machinery and plant engineering

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Successful collaboration

“This project was important for our profitability. We were able to maintain our day-to-day business and complete the project at the same time – and my team kept their spirits up. The profitability of my business area for components has been increased tremendously and we are prepared for the future: we are introducing optimizations to our range of products much faster.”

Heinrich Steinbrecher

Managing Partner

Bürener Maschinenfabrik GmbH

“I strongly believe lean management can set the foundation for good business performance in a dynamic market environment as in China. The UNITY team successfully motivated our lean agents and our management team to identify improvement potentials and develop an implementation plan. We are very pleased to see that all of the initiated actions are being managed by lean agents now and that all of our employees are participating in them.”

Markus Clement

Managing Director

EMAG Taicang

Project Stories

Artificial intelligence in air traffic management – quantitative business model assessment

Machinery and plant engineering
Artificial intelligence in air traffic management – quantitative business model assessment

Basis created for further business planning

Austro Control Digital Services GmbH has developed an AI-assisted software called TRAVIS that uses current weather data to support the planning of flight routes. Similar to the traffic jam reports used in navigation apps, TRAVIS forecasts thunderstorm cells along the route and then calculates the optimal route to the destination airport. This reduces fuel consumption and minimizes and predicts delays in arrival time. The latter also reduces complexity at the destination airport, as air traffic is based on fixed planning.

Based on the Corporate Finance expertise of the UNITY Innovation Alliance, UNITY conducted an assessment of the business model and the business case of the product in terms of a fair value proposition. Therefore, the market environment was analyzed and the target customers were defined. In order to be able to further develop and concretize the business model, a pricing and revenue plan were then derived. In the project, a business case for the product was developed and a 5-year forecast was derived. Finally, a quantitative business model evaluation was conducted based on discounting and multiplier methods – this serves the company in its further business planning.

Further development and concretization of the business model

Development of a business case for the product

5-year forecast to support the business planning

“Together with UNITY, we evaluated our product with regard to potential business development. This enables us to make a sound assessment of our further business planning.”

Gernot Waldsam

Managing Director

Austro Control Digital Services GmbH

Your Contacts

Jannik Woste

Head of Strategy, UNITY Innovation Alliance AG

Paderborn, Germany

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Thomas Ulrich

Partner

Paderborn, Germany