Structural change in the manufacturing industry - Hybrid products and production processes are transforming industrial business models

Since the mid-2010s, the production value calculated in the national accounts for the manufacturing sector has been developing much more positively than the monthly production index in the economic statistics. This growing discrepancy reflects a structural change in the manufacturing sector. While the production index primarily measures the development of the real value of goods production, the production value also includes the increasing non-industrial activities of industrial companies.

On the one hand, the products of industrial companies are becoming more hybrid, as goods are increasingly bundled with product-related services. On the other hand, production itself is becoming more hybrid, as companies outsource their goods production and concentrate their domestic activities on product development and utilization.

Even with declining production, companies can remain resilient through process optimization and value creation relocation. The study states: Increasing automation in the production process may have contributed to this, reducing the advantage of low labor costs in the former target countries of production relocation. At the same time, reshoring is likely to reduce the risk of value chains breaking down and disrupting production processes. A valuable tool for making production more stable and efficient, and above all for securing valuable expert knowledge, is the “Digital Service Assistant” from findIQ. Feel free to contact us!

Source: Lehmann, R., Linz, S. & Wollmershäuser, T. (2025): Strukturwandel im Verarbeitenden Gewerbe: Hybride Produkte und Produktionsprozesse verändern industrielle Geschäftsmodelle. ifo Schnelldienst digital, 6(5), S. 1–13.