Industries
Data for the Manufacturing Industry
Discover how Dun & Bradstreet's data and analytics help manufacturers with digitalisation, sustainability, supply chain resilience and customer centricity.
MEETING MANUFACTURING DATA CHALLENGES
Data to power smarter decisions in the manufacturing industry
Manufacturers operate in one of the most complex and volatile business environments. The sector is undergoing a major transformation due to technological change, global supply chain disruption and geopolitical risk, cyber security threats and increasingly complex regulations.
In addition, manufacturing organisations are under pressure to adapt, while maintaining operational continuity and profitability.
Dun & Bradstreet helps transform data into insights, enabling smarter decisions around suppliers, customers and markets. We support manufacturers across the full value chain, from innovation to after sales, by providing a single, trusted view of business partners, built on the globally recognised D-U-N-S® Number.
Why manufacturers choose Dun & Bradstreet:
- Global manufacturing data coverage
Insights on 600M+ businesses across 220+ markets - The D-U-N-S® Number
The world’s most widely used unique business identifier - Trusted, AI-ready data
Powering analytics, automation, and digital transformation - Proven expertise in the manufacturing sector
Experience working with clients around the world
The Future of Manufacturing: How Data and AI Are Transforming the Industry
Watch the video for expert perspectives on how data and AI are transforming manufacturing, driving smarter decisions, greater efficiency, and long‑term resilience.
Manufacturing Customer Stories & Insights
Discover how leading companies turn data into actionable strategies. Explore real-world customer experiences and insights that shape resilient businesses.
Watch the video: our customers and partners discuss why data is so important in manufacturing
Featured Content: Manufacturing Pulse Report
How Manufacturing Leaders Are Building Resilience in an Era of AI, Supplier Risk, and Uncertainty.
Customer Stories
BOSCH is aware of its responsibility for climate change. Sustainability, especially in the supply chain, is an essential part of the company's culture. Bosch carefully monitors all emissions and is actively involved in working with suppliers who contribute to sustainability. For example, Bosch has several programs to support suppliers in validating their environmental management. Through an interface in the system, the data required for this is provided by Dun & Bradstreet and continuously updated.
"Improved transparency in the supply chain, real-time data and alternative sources of supply are key factors," - Dr. Thomas Schulte.
With an individual scorecard from Dun & Bradstreet, the global life science group BAYER has automated its credit checks to a very high degree and optimised its monitoring. Depending on the credit limit, Bayer specifically requests different risk data from customers at Dun & Bradstreet. The data is sent directly to SAP's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) via an interface.
"Because both our own internal data and external data from Dun & Bradstreet are incorporated into our scorecard, our risk assessment becomes much more robust. This makes a significant contribution to the high quality of our risk assessment. In clarifying these and other questions, we relied entirely on the technical expertise of Dun & Bradstreet – and we did an excellent job.” – Andreas Wenzel
With a global customer base, DANISH CROWN could see that their manual compliance processes couldn’t scale. They introduced Dun & Bradstreet’s Risk Analytics Compliance Intelligence platform to support automated onboarding and monitoring of business partners. With policy-Led workflows it was possible for Danish Crown to define risk parameters according to their risk policy, check Ultimate Beneficial Ownership and complete other compliance checks, and automate perpetual KYC monitoring for near real-time updates.
"With customers all over the world, compliance is a challenge, and because we are owned by a collective of over 5,000 Danish Farmers, compliance is something that is very important to us.” – Helle Nielsen
VOLVO CAR GERMANY has strengthened its compliance work by systematising the review of all business partners. With the help of D&B RACI, the team can now identify risks early, ensure transparency in decision‑making and protect the company’s brand from potential compliance breaches.
"To protect our brand from reputational damage, we review every business partner for compliance risks and continuously monitor the companies. For this purpose, we use Dun & Bradstreet Risk Analytics Compliance Intelligence - a solution that has become indispensable for us in risk management, enabling us to make fact-based decisions." – Claudia Grüninger
How data can help manufacturers make smarter decisions
Mastering Data
Tier-N Supply Chain
Compliance and ESG Insights
Strategic Market View
How we help
Discover how Dun & Bradstreet works with manufacturing companies to solve the challenges of digitalisation, supply chain resilience, sustainability, and customer centricity.
Data strategy as the backbone of digitalisation and AI-supported processes
Relevant and accurate third-party information is not only key to minimising disruption and strengthening supply chains, but also enabling modern sales and operations strategies.
By leveraging our verified, comprehensive data, detailed market analysis and industry benchmarks, manufacturers can:
- Optimise and automate their business processes
- Identify trends at an early stage and develop innovative strategies to capitalise on these
- Facilitate the integration of new technologies.
Ultimately, leveraging Dun & Bradstreet's rich and reliable data builds a solid foundation for digital transformation and AI.
Creating a resilient, stable supply chain
By providing companies with accurate information about their suppliers and partners, as well as macroeconomic data, Dun & Bradstreet helps strengthen supply chain resilience.
Detailed supplier analysis enables better supply chain planning and optimisation which can strengthen adaptability and improve the ability to respond proactively to challenges.
By assessing the financial stability, compliance, and reliability of immediate and tier-n suppliers in this context, risk is minimised. If there is potential for disruption, this can be detected at an early stage and alternative vendors or strategies can be identified before too much impact occurs
ESG is no longer optional!
Data from Dun & Bradstreet helps manufacturing companies understand and create transparency around ESG in their supply chain.
Our comprehensive, global data is enriched with a range of ESG risk information including GHG emissions, extreme weather events and human rights violations, minimising the need for suppliers to self-report. Furthermore, when combined with other key data points like compliance and tier-n supply chain illumination, manufacturers can understand wider risk from immediate suppliers and those further removed to cultivate a resilient supply chain.
This provides a solid base for corporate sustainability reports, complying with regulatory requirements and meeting customer and stakeholder expectations.
Putting the customer at the centre of the strategy
Detailed company data and insights into customer profiles, behaviours, and segmentation enables greater personalisation of offers and more targeted sales and marketing initiatives.
By becoming data-driven throughout all prospect and customer touchpoints, manufacturers can optimise prospecting and improve buyer journeys, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and associated revenue growth.
Global market and trend analysis from Dun & Bradstreet also helps manufacturers to react quickly to changes in customer behaviour and adapt products and strategies accordingly. By combining our company information with our financial risk data, manufacturers can be sure that they are targeting and working with low-risk customers.
Example Sub-Sectors
Dun & Bradstreet works with manufacturing clients in all the different sub-sectors around the globe. Below is a sample of challenges we support in just three of those.
Automotive
The automotive industry is being driven by ‘industry 4.0’, and M-A-D-E (Mobility, Autonomous Driving, Digitalisation of Product, Electrification). Both are transforming the way vehicles are designed, built, marketed, and sold, including areas such as environmental impact, and human resource management. Data-driven decisions are crucial to navigate challenges like growing competition from the Far East, rising costs, resource shortages and regulatory requirements.
Chemicals
Chemical manufacturers are being impacted by regulation and expectations. In addition, macroeconomic factors such as energy and raw material costs, as well as subsidies in other markets, jeopardise profitability. Customer centricity, supply chain resilience, shortage of skilled workers and cyber security are also creating challenges for the industry. Digital transformation (including new technologies and supporting data) accompanies and enables many of these trends, along with the evaluation of alternative locations or suppliers.
Machinery
In the machinery industry, growth is slowing in mature markets, while emerging markets with cheaper production opportunities are seeing significant expansion. Manufacturers must adapt their strategies to secure their market position, often through product or service differentiation, new technology and digital transformation. The industry is also under pressure to adopt sustainable practices to meet regulation and buyer standards. A shortage of skilled workers is a further challenge. Dun & Bradstreet helps companies make smarter decisions to prevail through these trends, by providing transparency into market conditions and business partners.
Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences companies face stringent regulatory oversight, demanding product traceability, high data‑integrity standards, and complex third‑party compliance across specialised global supply networks. Dun & Bradstreet delivers trusted business data, risk and compliance insights, credit indicators, and master data management to support due diligence, supplier and customer qualification, and continuous monitoring. Our data integrates seamlessly into enterprise data clouds, core systems, and AI tools, embedding risk and commercial insights directly into workflows to support resilient, compliant operations while protecting revenue and reputation.
Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)
FMCG companies face intense margin pressure from inflation, retailer pricing power, and volatile demand, alongside rising expectations for product availability, sustainability, and supply‑chain transparency. Dun & Bradstreet provides trusted business data, credit and financial risk insights, ESG intelligence, and master data management to improve visibility across complex supplier, customer, and retail networks. By integrating data into enterprise data clouds, analytics platforms, and AI tools, we enable faster, more confident decisions that reduce risk, protect margins, and support sustainable growth.
