Industrial Manufacturing and Public Sector
Industrial Manufacturing
Compared to the previous year, there were fewer special projects in assurance, leading to a decrease in revenues in our industrial manufacturing industry unit. But revenues in tax and legal in this sector were slightly higher than in the previous year.
The market conditions for industrial manufacturing are quite difficult nowadays. The trade war between the US and China and the crisis in the automotive industry have a negative impact on the order volume of industrial companies. Correspondingly, sales growth is predicted very conservatively, and decision-makers are cautious.
Digital transformation is one of the biggest challenges in this sector when it comes to production as well as client-oriented value chains, such as sales and service. In mechanical engineering, determination to meet the digital challenges is still very low, causing a substantial backlog at the industry’s core. There are only a few companies with full digitisation of production, logistics and service.
Preparing the ground for industry 4.0
In the coming reporting year, our focus for industrial manufacturing is on supporting and managing targeted digitisation. We support our clients with our many years of industrial knowledge, expertise in digital manufacturing processes, in industrial Internet of things, cloud solutions, advanced analytics, 3D printing as well as in virtual and augmented reality. We show them how to improve digital value-adding, to adapt their business model correspondingly, to bring their staff up to date and to create added value for their clients.
In industrial manufacturing, attention must be placed on transparency and trust, since this global sector is dealing with huge amounts of data. We therefore focus on reliable data processing, worldwide data protection and security of products, since this can be decisive in the success or failure of a production company.
In PwC Tax and Legal we have a partner who advises us quickly and easily on tax issues.
Public Sector
In the Public Sector, we were able to slightly improve our gross fee revenues to 62 million CHF, which is quite satisfactory. Public authorities are increasingly making use of our digital competence, taking advantage of our expert knowledge and network which ideally combines global experiences and local knowledge.
Global mega trends such us sustainability, digitisation or an ageing society are gaining momentum and are therefore omnipresent on the public sector’s agenda. Public administrations and authorities need to develop their own digital strategy, implement a new generation of ERP systems, guarantee data and cybersecurity as well as control the quality of their products. In this sector, we were able to accompany several projects and assist our clients with our wide range of knowledge and our effective network.
Increasingly public and digital
In the medium term, new technologies such as bots, virtual, computer-supported and enlarged reality, robotic process automation or AI will be increasingly used in the public sector as well. This leads to a greater need of digital capabilities, cybersecurity and quality control in the respective projects. If economic development is indeed slowing down, public corporate governance will regain importance.
Global network, local knowledge
The focus for the coming reporting year will remain unchanged. We want to actively support the public sector with our existing services and our experiences in a global and strong European network. In Switzerland, we also have excellent local knowledge. Our digital competence promotes the use of new technologies in the sector. It strengthens the confidence of the authorities and the public in such tools. It is our goal to play an even greater role in projects at federal level and in connection with sustainable budget management.
Together with PwC, we developed a guide called ‘smart government’ for political and administrative leaders. Thanks to this valuable pioneering work, public decision-makers have a tool to organise their authorities in a more digital way. They become more agile, team- oriented and sustainable – in other words, they get smart.
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