Expert Analysis

Industrial Insights

Market intelligence and operational expertise from our teams in Europe and Asia.

From our experts

Industrial Strategy13 min read

Portugal’s Cork Industry Is Going High-Tech: What This Means for Suppliers and Buyers

Portugal produces roughly half the world’s cork, and after a century of grading stoppers by hand, the sector is moving to AI-powered vision inspection. The large groups have already made the switch; only around 8% of Portuguese SMEs have adopted AI tools at all. With equipment prices falling and Portugal 2030 and PRR co-financing reaching 50–75%, the gap between the two speeds of this industry is being decided right now.

September 4, 2026Read

Market Intelligence15 min read

Morocco: Europe’s New Neighbouring Workshop, and China’s Gateway to the EU

Renault now builds more cars in Morocco than in Spain, 93% of Moroccan textile exports go to the EU, and since 2025 Chinese battery groups have committed several billion dollars to a battery supply chain in Kenitra built explicitly to serve Europe. Morocco has become both a mature nearshoring base and a structured route for Chinese industrial capital into the EU — which makes “Made in Morocco” a due-diligence question as much as a sourcing opportunity.

August 28, 2026Read

Supply Chain12 min read

Vietnam in 2026: The Transshipment Risk European Buyers Are Underestimating

A 40% US transshipment penalty with no mitigation or remission mechanism, a legal basis that has changed twice in six months, an additional 12.5% Section 301 forced-labour tariff from July 2026, and CBP inspectors now walking Chinese-linked factory floors inside Vietnam. European buyers shipping into Europe are not exempt from the fallout — they share supply chains, suppliers, and increasingly the same origin questions. We set out what has actually changed, and what to verify in a supplier file.

August 19, 2026Read

Supply Chain10 min read

Rare Earths: What China’s New Export Restrictions Change for Your Electronics Supply Chain

In July 2026 China blocked exports of rare earths and permanent magnets to 14 EU companies, one month after doing the same to ten US entities — and a second wave of controls covering five more elements takes effect on 10 November 2026. For European buyers of motors, actuators, sensors and magnetic components, the exposure sits inside the machines, not just on the supplier list. We separate what is confirmed from what is not, and set out what a sourcing strategy should actually cover.

August 10, 2026Read

Market Intelligence12 min read

Additive Manufacturing: Why European SMEs Are Turning to Chinese Suppliers

Chinese manufacturers shipped more than 90% of the world’s entry-level 3D printers in 2025, and four Shenzhen companies alone account for roughly nine in ten consumer units — while Beijing’s draft 15th Five-Year Plan targets RMB 150 billion in industrial additive manufacturing by 2030. Meanwhile European SMEs are moving 3D printing out of the R&D lab and onto the production floor. We map where those two curves meet, and where the diligence work actually sits.

July 31, 2026Read

Market Intelligence10 min read

China’s Robotics Rise: What the Cobot Boom Means for European Manufacturers

China now operates roughly 2 million industrial robots — about 4.5 times Japan’s installed base — and took delivery of some 54% of all robots installed worldwide in 2025. With the 15th Five-Year Plan placing AI-integrated robotics at the centre of national industrial strategy, and European manufacturing facing a structural shortage of skilled operators, a genuine alignment is forming between Chinese supply-side maturity and European demand. We map the policy, the numbers, the company-level evidence, and what a European buyer must verify before sourcing.

July 13, 2026Read

Industrial Strategy11 min read

The Machinery Behind the Mattress: How the Equipment Industry Restructured — and Where It Is Heading

Two announcements eighteen months apart — ABM International’s roll-up of America’s legacy machinery brands and Somnigroup’s $2.5 billion acquisition of Leggett & Platt — have reshaped the North American mattress equipment market more completely than anything in six decades. We map the new American landscape, the global machinery players from Turkey to China, and the five structural trends defining the next decade.

June 19, 2026Read

Supply Chain12 min read

The Hidden Chemical at the Heart of Europe’s Biomethane Revolution

Europe’s most ambitious renewable energy programme — the REPowerEU target of 35 billion cubic metres of biomethane by 2030 — quietly depends on concentrated sulfuric acid. We explain the chemistry that connects manure to clean gas to fertiliser, why the resulting acid demand is uniquely price-inelastic, and what the 2026 sulfuric acid supply crisis reveals about the industrial interdependencies hidden inside the energy transition.

June 8, 2026Read

Industrial Strategy20 min read

How Antalya Built a Yacht Industry from Scratch — and Why It Works

In 2000, the Antalya Free Zone launched three yachts. By 2021 it had produced 500 vessels worth $1.3 billion, and Turkey had risen to second in global luxury yacht production — with 95% of output exported. This is the story of the policy instruments, craft traditions, and cluster logic behind a deliberately engineered industrial ecosystem, and what other industries can learn from it.

May 25, 2026Read

Industrial Strategy18 min read

Made in Europe: The Toy Manufacturers Who Refused to Leave

Most European-branded toys are designed in Munich, Paris or Copenhagen — and built in Guangdong. This article maps the manufacturers who chose otherwise: from LEGO and Steiff to Croatia’s UNESCO-recognised wooden toy tradition, the producers that built durable competitive positions on European soil and the strategies that keep them there.

May 6, 2026Read

Supply Chain8 min read

The Screw That Sailed 12,000 Kilometres: Why Europe Chose China Over Its Own Backyard

In 1989, Eastern Europe had the industrial base to supply Western Europe with the hardware it needed. Instead, European buyers flew to Guangdong. The story of how — and why — that thirty-year sourcing model is finally beginning to change.

April 13, 2026Read

Supply Chain20 min read

The Invisible Architecture of the Medicine Cabinet: Europe’s Capsule, Blister, and API Industries in Transformation

Before a tablet reaches a patient it passes through a supply chain of extraordinary complexity and near-total invisibility: the capsule shell, the blister cavity, and the active ingredient inside. Together these three segments form a ~$60 billion European market — built by Western chemistry, displaced by Asian cost, and now being rebuilt under the banner of supply chain resilience. A deep analysis of capsules, blister film, and APIs heading toward 2030.

March 30, 2026Read

Supply Chain9 min read

The China+1 Strategy: How European Manufacturers Are Diversifying Their Supply Chains

Rising geopolitical tensions and post-pandemic supply chain vulnerabilities have pushed European manufacturers to rethink single-country concentration. We analyze the key considerations.

March 18, 2026Read

Market Intelligence8 min read

Vietnam's Manufacturing Rise: Opportunity and Challenges for European Investors

Vietnam has attracted $36B in FDI in 2024. But what does it really take to set up a successful manufacturing operation? Our team shares insights from the ground.

February 24, 2026Read

Process Optimization7 min read

Why Lean Manufacturing Implementations Fail in Asia — and How to Make Them Work

We've run dozens of lean transformation projects in Asia. Here are the five cultural and operational factors that determine success or failure.

January 15, 2026Read

Site Selection5 min read

Eastern Europe as a Nearshoring Hub: Poland, Romania, and the Manufacturing Opportunity

As labor costs rise in Western Europe and supply chains shorten, Eastern Europe has emerged as a compelling industrial destination. Here's what you need to know.

December 10, 2025Read

Industrial Sourcing6 min read

5 Costly Mistakes European Companies Make When Sourcing from China

From skipping factory audits to misunderstanding payment terms, we outline the most common — and avoidable — errors in cross-border industrial sourcing.

November 5, 2025Read

Production9 min read

How to Compress Your Production Commissioning Timeline Without Sacrificing Quality

Most commissioning delays are predictable and preventable. Our engineers share the planning and execution strategies that consistently deliver on time.

October 22, 2025Read

Supply Chain7 min read

Bulgaria as a Nearshoring Hub for European Fashion: The Case for Smaller Series Production

Bulgaria's textile sector produces for Hugo Boss, Balmain, Chanel, and Givenchy — yet remains largely unknown as a strategic sourcing option for mid-market European brands. We examine why that is changing.

September 12, 2025Read

Market Intelligence8 min read

Investing in Portugal in 2026: A Realistic Assessment of the Opportunity — and the Risks

Portugal's FDI reached €13.2 billion in 2024 — a 19% increase. But behind the headline numbers, the picture is nuanced. We examine both the genuine case for investing and the friction points experienced operators encounter.

August 11, 2025Read

Industrial Sourcing9 min read

Turkey: So Far, So Close — The Sourcing and Business Opportunity European Companies Can No Longer Ignore

For decades, European procurement teams flew eighteen hours to factories in Asia while a country of 85 million people with a shared EU customs boundary sat four days by truck from Paris. What has changed since 2005 is what that closeness is worth.

July 21, 2025Read

Industrial Strategy7 min read

Why Certification Cannot Be an Afterthought: The Case for a Partner Like DEDAL

CE marking is market access. ISO certification is supplier eligibility. Together, they are the conditions under which a manufacturer can compete in European markets at all. We examine why engaging a certification partner early is the most consequential decision most manufacturers delay.

June 13, 2025Read

Industrial Strategy8 min read

The Machine Behind the Mattress: How Turkish Manufacturers Rewrote the Rules of a European Industry

Mattress manufacturing is a €40 billion global business equipped by specialized, capital-intensive machinery. For decades, Italian and Spanish suppliers dominated. Then Turkish manufacturers built something neither side anticipated: a credible industrial alternative that has reshaped the entire sector.

May 23, 2025Read

Industrial Sourcing15 min read

Can You Source Sustainably from Asia and Prove It?

Asian production can be sustainable, but the proof requires more than collecting certificates. We unpack what OEKO-TEX, GOTS, FSC and ISO 14001 actually verify, where audit rigour breaks down, and what a credible eco-sourcing programme has to do beyond the supplier checklist before CSRD and CBAM make the gap legally consequential.

April 30, 2025Read

Market Intelligence15 min read

The European Shower Market: Chinese Components, German Certifications, and the Price Gap Nobody Explains

A €300 German-branded shower set and an €80 Chinese-branded one can share 70% of the same components by count. The remaining 30% — and the certification layer around them — is where the price gap is real. We map where shower products are actually made, what DVGW, ACS and EN 14428 verify, and which components inside the box determine five-year performance.

March 28, 2025Read