In many ways, manufacturing makes the world go round. A strong and efficient manufacturing process is essential for you to get all of your daily items (e.g., your cellphone, your laptop, a car, etc.).
The manufacturing world was rocked during COVID-19 when several industries were met with supply chain disruptions. A manufacturing consultant will get an up-close work in how companies’ manufacturing processes work and will help optimize their clients’ processes. If you have a passion for manufacturing consulting, you're in the right place.
Today, we'll reveal the top 10 manufacturing consulting firms, ranked according to these 7 criteria: Prestige, Culture, Compensation, Work/Life Balance, Type of Project Work, Investment in Local Community, and Future Business Outlook.
Top 10 Manufacturing Consulting Firms List
1. BCG
Website: www.bcg.com
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts
Executive Team: Christoph Schweizer (CEO)
Specialty: Works across the manufacturing industry including supply chain management, procurement, and digital strategy
Notable Projects:
- For an automobile company: optimized supply chain processes to reduce manufacturing expense by $120M annually
Awards: Best Company for Women, Best Company Culture
2. McKinsey & Company
Website: www.mckinsey.com
Headquarters: New York, New York
Executive Team: Bob Sternfels (Global Managing Partner)
Specialty: Works across the manufacturing industry including supply chain management, procurement, organizational design, and digital strategy
Notable Projects:
- For a pharmaceutical company: created industry-wide benchmarks on operational costs to improve pharmaceutical company’s efficiencies
Awards: Most Prestigious Consulting Firms
- 2 rounds of edits on 1 Resume
- Digital pass: 24 resume & cover letter templates
3. Bain
Website: www.bain.com
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts
Executive Team: Manny Maceda (Worldwide Managing Partner), Orit Gadiesh (Chairman)
Specialty: Works across the manufacturing industry including supply chain management, procurement, and digital strategy
Notable Projects:
- For a medical supply company: developed a low cost strategy to grow production capacity and support company’s growth trajectory
Awards: Glassdoor’s Best Place to Work
4. Deloitte Consulting
Website: www2.deloitte.com/us/en
Headquarters: New York, New York
Executive Team: Dan Helfrich (Chair & CEO, Deloitte Consulting), Ambar Chowdhury, (Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer, Deloitte Consulting)
Specialty: Works across the manufacturing industry including supply chain management, procurement, and digital strategy
Notable Projects:
- For a manufacturing company: developed manufacturing strategies and outsource versus insource recommendations
Awards: Forbes one of America’s best management consulting firms
5. Alvarez & Marsal
Website: www.alvarezandmarsal.com
Headquarters: New York, New York
Executive Team: Tony Alvarez II (Co-founder and co-CEO) and Bryan Marsal (Co-founder and co-CEO)
Specialty: Works across variety of areas including cost efficiency, operational processes, and insourcing versus outsourcing decisions
Notable Projects:
- For a diesel pump manufacturer: increased operational efficiency of the manufacturers (quality, supply chain efficiency etc.), leading to a 5% EBITDA improvement
Awards: Financial Due Diligence of the Year
6. EY
Website: www.ey.com
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Executive Team: Julie Boland (EY Americas Area Managing Partner and EY US Chair and Managing Partner)
Specialty: Works across the manufacturing industry including supply chain management, procurement, and digital strategy
Notable Projects:
- For DuPont: Digitized supply chain enabling DuPont to run its business more efficiently and effectively (e.g., by developing scenario models)
Awards Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For
7. KPMG
Website: kpmg.com
Headquarters: Amstelveen, Netherlands
Executive Team: Bill Thomas (Global Chairman and CEO)
Specialty: Works across the manufacturing industry including supply chain management, procurement, and digital strategy
Notable Projects:
- For steel and metals companies: Supported companies on their ESG strategy (e.g., decarbonization strategy)
Awards: M&A innovator by ALM Intelligence Pacesetter Research
8. Strategy&
Website: www.strategyand.pwc.com
Headquarters: New York, NY
Executive Team: Peter Gassmann (Global Leader)
Specialty: Strategy projects across industrial manufacturing players (e.g., business strategy, data strategy, organizational strategy, operations strategy)
Notable Projects:
- For industrial manufacturers: Assessed cost structure and evaluated opportunities to rationalize costs through outsourcing / offshoring analysis
Awards: Considered Vault’s #6 most prestigious consulting firm
9. Accenture
Website: www.accenture.com
Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland
Executive Team: Julie Sweet (Chair and CEO)
Specialty: Works across variety of areas including cost efficiency, operational processes, and insourcing versus outsourcing decisions; additional focus on digital engineering
Notable Projects:
- For CHN Industrial: Supported client to build a digital factory with focus on the digital operating model
Awards: Listed as one of Fortune’s world’s most admired companies; listed as #1 from HFS’s Industry 4.0 Service Providers
10. Kearney
Website: www.kearney.com
Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois
Executive Team: Alex Liu (Managing Partner and Chairman, Kearney)
Specialty: Works across variety of areas including cost efficiency, operational processes, and insourcing versus outsourcing decisions
Notable Projects:
- Across manufacturing players: Optimized balance sheet and cash flow by reducing working capital needs
Awards: America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity 2023
Conclusion
Therefore, several firms have a strong presence in manufacturing consulting. These firms support clients with many aspects of their manufacturing process. As such, if you are a manufacturing consultant at these firms, you will get a wide variety of experiences and will gain a broad understanding of manufacturing processes.
If you want to work as a manufacturing consultant, it is important to have a clear and articulate story around why you want to specialize in manufacturing. If you want to nail your story on why manufacturing consulting with an ex-MBB consultant, click here.
Additional Resources:
- Top Consulting Firms
- Top 10 Boutique Consulting Firms in US
- Consulting Resume: Complete Guide
- Case Interview: Complete Prep Guide