OUR SOLUTIONS
We are empowering transformation
PX / EX / DX
Our solution offerings
At Beyond Materials, we empower clients to navigate the complexities of digital transformation (DX), portfolio transformation (PX), and environmental transformation (EX). Our comprehensive solutions are designed to support key megatrends such as sustainability, the circular economy, vehicle electrification, digitalization, and artificial intelligence. From ideation to implementation, we provide support along the whole product development journey, helping material manufacturers and related industries stay competitive and future-proof. Our commitment to innovation and sustainability ensures that your business not only meets current demands but also thrives in a rapidly evolving market landscape.
Portfolio transformation, environmental transformation and digital transformation - we support our customers' needs
SOLUTION
Market and technology intelligence
Identifying the impact of long-term consumer and technology trends on target markets can be challenging for material manufacturers and companies who work with those materials, due to the operational distance from end users. However, understanding these trends – and their implications on your business – is crucial for staying competitive.
Our market and technology intelligence services provide valuable, actionable insights and pre-sales information for material manufacturers and beyond, empowering validated and strategic decision-making. Discover how our services can help: tailored to your individual needs, we provide regulatory analyses to ensure compliance and future-proof products, market forecasting and demand modeling to uncover growth opportunities, technology roadmapping to guide strategic decisions, and competitive analyses to give you a decisive edge.
CASE STUDY
Gigacasting impact on automotive material mix in 2035
A leading Asian steel manufacturer was concerned about the trend towards aluminum giga casting for automotive body-in-white applications. They wanted to understand the global impact of this technology trend on the automotive material mix until 2035.
Beyond Materials conducted a detailed investigation of the ongoing development activities of automotive OEMs, Tier-1 and Tier-2 suppliers to develop a giga casting transition timeline. Technical deep dives on opportunities, risks and development trends were conducted, including comparisons with competitive technologies, to gather industry expectations and incorporate our technology expertise. Collected insights were collated in a forecasting model to predict representative shares of material types until 2035.
Graphite demand model for strategic decision-making
An Asian processor of graphite materials wanted to understand the market outlook for graphite in battery electric and plugin hybrid vehicles to be able to make an informed decision on the required future investments for capacity expansion.
Beyond Materials conducted technology workshops with leading industry experts to derive major technology trends affecting automotive batteries and their impact on cell performance requirements. Identified cell requirements were further broken down into performance and quality requirements for anode active materials, incl. graphite. Collated information acted as a baseline for estimating global graphite demand for automotive applications until 2035 and complemented.
SOLUTION
New application opportunities
Our material and application experts analyze each material’s unique properties, strengths and weaknesses to provide clear explanations ofIn a rapidly evolving and highly competitive market, identifying the right applications for your material offerings – both today and in the future – is crucial to ensure sustainable growth. However, determining where your materials are best suited and utilized can be a complex challenge.
Our new application opportunities service systematically reviews your materials portfolio to uncover candidates with a high fit potential for current and future applications. Our material and application experts analyze each material’s unique properties, strengths and weaknesses to provide clear explanations of. One of our unique qualities is our ability to offer workshops in our Benchmark Center where we have state-of-the-art technology laid out for you to experience in a hands-on way. These insights help you refine and strategically position your materials for the most relevant applications and industries, ensuring a distinct competitive advantage by becoming one of the pioneers or early movers.
CASE STUDY
Idea generation for ceramics in the automotive industry
An Asian supplier of ceramic materials recognized that their current product portfolio was highly focused on internal combustion engine propelled vehicles. The client approached Beyond Materials to guide their ideation process for ceramic products in future-relevant electric vehicles.
Beyond Materials brought the right application and material experts within our network together with the client’s key stakeholders to prepare, conduct, moderate and document product ideation workshops. More than 200 product ideas were brainstormed and prioritized to identify the 9 most promising ideas based on an assessment of technical feasibility, market attractiveness and capability fit. The 9 most promising ideas were further detailed and assessed with regards to market and technical attractiveness as well as their strategic fit to the existing portfolio. For the shortlisted ideas, strategic implementation approaches were defined.
SOLUTION
Material gap analysis
Material manufacturers are experts at developing advanced material grades, but often lack a comprehensive understanding of their target applications. This makes it challenging to ensure that the unique properties of their materials align with the diverse and changing needs of their target applications – a crucial aspect for effective marketing.
Our material gap analysis service addresses this challenge by providing a thorough assessment of how well your materials match their intended applications. Through collaborative workshops with both material and application experts, we evaluate the compatibility of your material’s properties with target applications’ functional requirements. We highlight areas of strong fit as competitive USPs and identify improvement potentials. This analysis ensures that your materials are positioned for the right applications and customer segments, facilitating a more strategic and effective approach to promoting your material offerings.
CASE STUDY
Requirements of centralized control units in software-defined vehicles
An Asian material supplier was considering the use of their high-performance engineering plastics in automotive control units. Beyond Materials was asked to investigate future trends for automotive E/E architectures, identify the most suitable and demanding control unit types, and determine the compliance of their materials with future target requirements.
At first, Beyond Materials summarized key technology and regulatory trends affecting future control unit designs. Next, we defined a reference future E/E architecture layout and prioritized the most promising control unit types. To assess the suitability of our client’s material line-up, we derived the target material requirements from the functional and test requirements of control unit housings. After that, we compared the specifications of our client’s line-up against the target requirements and recommended the best suited material grades. In the last step, we highlighted the key strengths to be highlighted as USPs for product promotion and outlined further improvement potentials.
SOLUTION
Strategy development
The pace of change in today’s world is unprecedented. Global megatrends such as digitization and sustainability are reshaping entire industries, creating a landscape where established manufacturers and suppliers must compete for market shares with both traditional rivals and emerging tech players. Consequently, organizations must adapt to these new realities, and even proven strategies must be reviewed.
At Beyond Materials, we help material manufacturers and adjacent clients to navigate these challenges and make informed decisions by crafting sound, unique strategies tailored to their specific organizational situations. Whether developing a holistic corporate strategy, a focused product portfolio strategy, or targeted market entry strategies, our deep understanding of both materials and their applications enable us to clearly articulate the “What”, the “Why” and the “How” for the successful future of your organization.
CASE STUDY
Go-to-market strategy for an adhesive manufacturer
An Asian supplier of adhesives and related raw materials sought to expand its business footprint in the European and North American markets. Beyond Materials was tasked with developing a market entry and expansion strategy that is tailored to the client’s unique capabilities and strengths, ensuring success in the new and culturally distant markets.
Beyond Materials began by conducting a comprehensive review of the client’s organization and product portfolio, assessing their current capabilities and material line-up. We then outlined regional value chains in the target markets, identifying key players and typical customer-supplier interactions. A survey of over 50 potential automotive customers was conducted to understand key buying criteria and supplier nomination requirements. These requirements were mapped against the client’s existing capabilities to identify gaps and develop mitigation strategies. Based on these analyses, along with client’s revenue and growth targets, we developed a sound go-to-market strategy for Europe and North America. These results were supplemented with detailed implementation roadmaps, key steps and milestones, and the most viable alternative with the strongest business case was recommended.
SOLUTION
New product development
To capture the attention of key decision-makers in engineering and procurement on the customer side, material manufacturers must demonstrate how their materials enhance the target application’s performance. Whether it’s through weight reduction, increased energy efficiency or improved durability, customers need tangible proof of these benefits.
Our new product development service supports you in optimizing your materials for specific target applications and creating compelling demonstrators. By collaborating with material and engineering experts in our partner network, we help you develop proof-of-concept (PoC) simulations and prototypes that effectively showcase your materials’ advantages. This approach not only builds trust in your application and co-engineering capabilities, but also fosters recurring business and partnership opportunities.
CASE STUDY
Simulation study to assess material feasibility
An Asian supplier of engineering plastics was struggling to convince Tier-1 customers to adopt their innovative material technology due to the radical nature of their innovation. The company sought the support of Beyond Materials to help visualize the benefits of their technology and identify a more effective way to persuade their Tier-1 customers.
Beyond Material recommended a suitable application that would benefit from the client’s material technology. A component manufactured by one of the target Tier-1 customers, already used in production vehicles, was procured and reverse-engineered. The original design was then modified to incorporate the client’s material technology. Visualizations of the updated design were generated, showcasing the quantified benefits over the original design. By the end of the study, the client had a modified design and the original as a benchmark, allowing them to quantitatively showcase the advantages of their materials technology to Tier-1 customers.
SOLUTION
Benchmarking
While focusing on the development of own material technologies is important, understanding competitors’ innovations can also offer valuable insights. Analyzing the materials and technologies used in cutting-edge applications today can help secure second-mover advantages, saving valuable development time and resources.
At Beyond Materials, we offer comprehensive benchmarking and teardown studies that reach to the material level combined with expert workshops, giving you transparency into the latest technologies and product designs. Our global benchmark centers provide access to state-of-the-art technologies, showcased on original hardware. This hands-on experience allows you to see, touch, discuss and draw inspiration from existing solutions, sparking ideas for future innovations.
Please find more information on our benchmarking services here:
SOLUTION
Sustainability
In the face of growing environmental concerns, adopting circular economy strategies is no longer optional – it’s a necessity. Increasing pressure from consumers, regulators, and the planet itself demands immediate action from businesses to reduce emissions and enhance the sustainability of their operations. However, by rethinking “waste as a resource,” companies can already unlock new opportunities and drive growth while reducing their environmental impact.
Material manufacturers are especially key to the successful implementation of circular economies. By establishing sustainable supply chains, incorporating recycled and bio-based feedstocks, and offering environmentally friendly materials, material manufacturers can pave the way towards a greener future.
At Beyond Materials, we help material manufacturers understand and embrace their role in the circular value chain. We guide the development of sustainability strategies and approaches, with a focus on reducing carbon footprints and maximizing the value of their material offerings. We help material manufacturers achieve their business goals while contributing to a more sustainable future – securing both environmental and economic success by turning waste into wealth.
CASE STUDY
Design-for-recycling feasibility study for EDUs
An European premium passenger car OEM sought insights on the design of future electric drive units (EDUs) considering recycling requirements. They were aiming to understand how recycling requirements would impact EDU design by identifying the most efficient EDU dismantling process.
Beyond Materials’ support was enlisted to determine the feasibility of EDU recycling based on current state-of-the-art approaches. We modelled three levels of disassembly, analyzing over 240 dismantling steps, with special emphasis on the dismantlability and recycling of rare earth metal magnets. By evaluating the dismantling effort (incl. automation potential), economic value, and CO2 savings potentials, the most efficient dismantling route was identified. This dismantling route now serves as a benchmark for defining the recyclability of the client’s next-generation EDUs.
SOLUTION
Portfolio management
In a rapidly evolving market, where customer requirements change frequently, maintaining a broad materials portfolio can quickly lead to “diseconomies of scope” – increasing process inefficiencies and operational costs – putting material manufacturers in a position of competitive disadvantage. Thus, it is essential to ensure that your material offerings not only align with customer requirements, but also support your overall business strategy and profitability.
Once the need to streamline a portfolio is identified, material manufacturers still need to determine which products to retain, refine, or phase out. Such analysis requires a deep expertise and an understanding of future market and application potentials. This often proves to be a significant challenge for material manufacturers with challenging consequences.
At Beyond Materials, we help you optimize your materials portfolio by assessing its alignment with market needs, business objectives and industry best practices. Our industry experts conduct a comprehensive analysis to identify product and process synergies, eliminate inefficiencies, and ensure that your portfolio is strategically positioned for profitability and growth.
CASE STUDY
Product portfolio assessment and market potential analysis
An Asian industrial conglomerate was exploring the possibility of carving out its engineering plastics, specialty chemicals, and non-woven fabrics businesses into an independent organization. They sought support in assessing the attractiveness of these business areas, particularly focusing on identifying their most innovative materials.
Beyond Materials was tasked to review the product portfolio and assess the market potential of 13 product groups in three underlying business areas. We analyzed the industry dynamics and market forces to gauge the attractiveness of each product group. The strengths of the materials and their ability to capitalize on market opportunities was also evaluated. Products that aligned with the strategic goals and positioning of the new company were recommended for selection, and a direction for further portfolio enhancements was also provided.
SOLUTION
Organizational excellence
Organizational excellence describes mastering the different functions (e.g., R&D, manufacturing, quality, procurement or sales) by establishing the right processes, organizational structures and tool landscape. Achieving a balance of efficiency and effectiveness throughout the different functions is crucial for material manufacturers to maintain profitability and a competitive edge. In reality, however, managing day-to-day operations can often be challenging and overwhelming for an organization. As a result, flaws and inefficiencies build up. For example, R&D investments may not have been stringently planned and monitored or the complexity of the product portfolio may increase.
At Beyond Materials, our holistic organizational excellence solutions help you avoid such crises. Our industry experts conduct comprehensive reviews of individual functions, processes and tools in your organization to validate key strengths, identify areas of improvement and propose tailored target concepts. We also provide a detailed implementation roadmap designed to promote tailored initiatives to mitigate identified gaps without over-burdening your personnel or organization.
CASE STUDY
Review of organizational structure, process efficiency and tool landscape
A European supplier of elastomeric sealing solutions was facing issues with the sales of their new e-mobility portfolio falling behind expectations. Our client asked for support to investigate potential causes and identify key corrective actions to improve market penetration. One focus of the investigation was on the organization.
Beyond Materials started with a comprehensive status-quo assessment by interviewing up to 20 key internal stakeholders as well as 7 existing customers to receive internal and external outlooks and feedback. In parallel, we benchmarked 3 competitor organizations in order to derive more than 10 industry best practices on how other material manufacturers are building-up their organizations. Based on this, we identified 15 bottlenecks within the existing client organizations and recommended 30 improvement measures with regards to organizational structure, process efficiency and tool landscape. To kick-off the implementation of the improvement measures, Beyond Materials organized several technical and training workshops for the sales and business development teams.
SOLUTION
Sales and marketing support
The difference between invention and innovation lies in a product’s marketability and commercial success. In the materials industry, many innovative material grades are developed each year, but struggle to gain traction, often failing to stand out in a crowded and competitive marketplace.
At Beyond Materials, our goal is to ensure that your material innovations reach the right audience and achieve the commercial success they deserve. We help innovative material manufacturers identify their strongest breakthrough products and make them shine. Leveraging our extensive industry network, we support with connecting innovative material manufacturers and potential OEM, Tier-1, and Tier-2 customers. By helping you understand the real needs of your target customers, you can adjust and refine your marketing approach and strengthen your connections within your customer’s ecosystem.
CASE STUDY
Promotion strategy and customer engagement support
An Asian chemicals company planning to enter the European market was struggling to define an effective customer approach and engagement strategy. They enlisted the support of Beyond Materials to help identify the best promotion strategy for successful customer engagement.
Beyond Materials reviewed the client’s product offerings to identify key USPs likely to attract attention of European automotive Tier-1 customers. We benchmarked industry best practices and promotion strategies of the top eight European competitors. Using this information, we developed a tailored promotion strategy and roadmap, prioritizing the most effective promotion channels. We also supported the client with the creation of compelling marketing material, anticipating customer questions and information needs. Finally, we identified potential contacts and assisted in the organization and moderation of meetings with interested Tier-1 customers.