Industrial

Clients increasingly expect in-depth, up-to-date knowledge of their industry sectors, seamless execution of cross-border searches and a rapid demonstration of our expertise in their sectors.

The Industrial Practice systematically develops a body of industry knowledge, networks and technical know-how. This puts us in a position to execute searches for top executive management positions all over the world.

Most of our clients and their companies are global players. They are either specialists in defined and focused industry segments or multinational firms with strong market positions in different sectors of the industry. Over a quarter of all our clients have their core competencies in traditional industries. They are facing renewed challenges that stretch the capabilities of the organization and its management. These challenges include:

• Mega-mergers that give birth to new players with different cultures and identities
• The liberalization of formerly regulated industries and state-controlled corporations, which requires the rapid build-up of market-oriented and results-driven management teams,
• The freer movement of industrial goods and the standardization of products and processes all require management teams to work increasingly across national borders and understand the different needs and behaviours of each region.

Over 100 consultants from 37 different countries have specialized and focused their work to better serve clients in the fields of:

• Aerospace and defence – including commercial aircrafts, defense aerospace, defense equipment incl. electronics, space equipment, aerospace parts and materials and MRO.
• Automotive and transport – including automotive OEMs: passenger cars, commercial vehicles, buses, off-road trucks and automotive suppliers, railway equipment and the shipbuilding industry
• Building materials – including all kinds of aggregates and materials for construction, as well as building components and technology
• Chemicals and packaging - adhesives, agricultural chemicals, fine chemicals, industrial gases, in-/organic chemicals, paints/coatings, plastics, paper and all kinds of other packaging materials and products
• Energy and cleantech – including oil upstream and downstream, natural gas and power generation, gas and water transportation and distribution, waste management, as well as the new area of clean and renewable energy (Cleantech)
• Engineering and infrastructure – covering the engineering and construction business, plant engineering & complete production lines, the construction of commercial, industrial and residential projects, industrial services and maintenance of equipment and installations
• Machinery and automation – covering machine tools, motion and flow control, plant sized equipment, electrical equipment, power generation and transmission equipment, industrial components, material & fluid handling, automation & drives, measurement equipment, tools, construction & agricultural equipment
• Mining and metals – including coal, copper, iron ore, gold, lead and zinc and the processing of these raw material to semi-finished products within the steel or non-ferrous metals industries

Our team comprises highly professional consultants with a profound knowledge of, and extensive experience in, the manufacturing industry. Most Egon Zehnder International consultants in the Industrial Practice hold an engineering or technical degree plus a Masters degree in business, and have held management responsibilities in these industries. They understand business issues, and are fully aware of industry developments. As a result, we can offer our clients uniquely qualified advice on key human resources issues – not only in executive searches, but also in board member searches and Management Appraisals.

Our four regional Centers of Competence – in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia-Pacific – enable us to provide our clients with local expertise as well as global networking. Operating as a worldwide knowledge network, we are responsible for:

• Coordinating the work of client service teams around the world
• Generating benchmarking data for top candidates
• Identifying future competencies for general and functional top executives
• Pinpointing and analyzing trends within the relevant industry segments.

We proactively identify opportunities to work together with our clients. By providing maximum expertise we pave the way to success in every aspect of their executive management recruitment.