Product portfolio strategy
for manufacturing companies
Excellence through focus ensures sustainability
TMG Consultants helps manufacturing companies strategically realign their product programs with a clear focus on resilience, efficiency, and sustainable growth.
With our proven approach, we help you find the right balance and develop a product portfolio that both reflects your individual business models and strengthens your market position – fact-based, methodologically sound, and operationally effective.
Our target: We help you build a product portfolio that clearly supports your business strategy. By reducing complexity, you can use your resources more efficiently across the entire value chain. At the same time, we encourage innovation and ensure your product portfolio is focused and effective – for long-term success and a strong competitive position.
Future-proof with resilient products
Why is your product portfolio strategy so important today?
Manufacturing companies are under tremendous pressure to change due to global crises, supply shortages, and volatile markets under the influence of the megatrend of individualization.
Today more than ever, a resilient, focused and value-generating product portfolio is a prerequisite for future viability and competitive strength.
Optimize portfolio, exploit market potential
Product portfolio as an enabler of your corporate strategy
TMG combines sound analytical expertise with operational implementation strength. Our “Future Business Fit” approach makes it clear whether your portfolio supports the goals of your overall strategy – and how it specifically contributes to them.
The experts at TMG Consultants bring in-depth industry know-how, project and change management as well as the necessary feel for markets, customer requirements and product life cycles.
The result: A portfolio that utilizes market potential, creates differentiation and can be managed efficiently at the same time.
Tailor-made portfolio excellence strategy
Roadmap to product portfolio excellence
How TMG Consultants support your path to product portfolio excellence
The requirements for an effective product portfolio vary greatly depending on the business model. Customer-specific supply relationships, vertical integration or market requirements also shape the scope for design and management. We tailor our approach to your individual business strategy – well-founded, methodically clear and focused on impact.
Our 5-stage process model forms the basis for a strategically and operationally viable product portfolio structure:
1. Create transparency
Structured data collection on products, variants, margins, volumes and customer relationships – across all stages of the value chain – creates complete transparency and provides the basis for every informed decision.
2. Evaluate and segment the portfolio
Based on the transparency gained, a systematic evaluation is carried out using economic and strategic criteria (e.g. margin, manufacturing costs, degree of differentiation, customer benefit). The goal is to create meaningful product segments and to make the “value contributions” of individual products visible. This helps to identify high-performers, margin killers and strategically important products.
3. Realize quick wins
Even simple measures – such as eliminating redundant variants, bundling parts, or switching to standard components – can have a significant impact. These “quick wins” improve profitability in the short term, motivate the team and, if necessary, fund further project steps.
4. (Re)align portfolio strategy
Define the target structure in line with market requirements, technological trends and corporate goals. Clearly define the segments in which the company wants to grow, focus or exit.
The future portfolio structure is based on market logic, technological potential and operational capabilities. In this step, innovation requirements, standardization and modularization are specified as the basis for a focused, future-proof orientation.
5. Establish control and governance
Once the strategic direction is set, it is important to ensure sustainable implementation. We establish a customized management system with clear responsibilities, decision-making rules and KPIs.
Regular portfolio reviews, defined stage gates, and a structured variant management process embed the target structure into operational routines. Effective governance is critical to ensure the portfolio remains stable, agile, and strategically aligned over time.
Key factors for strategic decisions
Current drivers and strategic factors
- Digitization & AI
Integration of digital products, AI-supported services, smart variant control - Sustainability & circular economy
ESG criteria, CO₂ optimization, from “cradle-to-cradle” assessments - Supply chain risks
Re-shoring analysis, reduction of complexity, portfolio alignment with logistics costs - Servitization
Transition to hybrid business models (product & service)
Focus on strategy
Product portfolio or project portfolio?
Aligned and coordinated.
- Product portfolio strategy:
Focus on the active product line – developing, optimizing and decommissioning in the context of the market, customers and technology. - Projectportfolio strategy:
Prioritizes the right initiatives to efficiently implement your overall strategy.
TMG offers consulting in both areas – and ensures strategic consistency between the product and project worlds.
We are always there for you
Get in touch with our team of experts
Want to reorganize your product portfolio? Make it strategic, lean, and future-proof?
We take you from analysis to implementation.
Talk to
Martin
Fuzik
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions about the product portfolio strategy
CTOs, CIOs and CFOs are faced with strategic questions in the context of growing market requirements and increasing complexity. A focused product portfolio strategy provides reliable answers.
CTO – Technology transfer & innovation management
“How do we reduce technological complexity and accelerate innovation?”
“How do we strengthen the implementation of our technology roadmap?”
“How do we bring new solutions from prototype to market faster?”
Technology-driven organizations face the challenge of combining innovative strength with operational clarity. TMG helps to translate technological development goals into market and product-related decisions – for example through modularization, variant reduction and prioritization of innovation projects along the value chain.
The result: Leaner portfolios, greater roadmap impact, and faster time-to-market.
CIO – Transparency, data & decision-making
“How do we create cross-divisional transparency across products, data and processes?”
“How do we measure the value of technology investments for productivity and business success?”
“How do we remove blockages in decision-making processes and data flows?”
Digital excellence requires a permeable, data-driven product portfolio. TMG uses data-based portfolio analyses, a value stream view and KPI systems to create the basis for fact-based management – even across divisional boundaries.
This turns transparency into decision-making power: obstacles in processes, responsibilities and control logic are identified and addressed in a targeted manner.
CFO – Governance, management & resource efficiency
“How do we support the transition from agile action to strategic innovation?”
“How do we improve the predictability and controllability of our product performance?”
“How do we increase decision-making speed without sacrificing quality?”
An economically viable portfolio requires governance that delivers impact – not bureaucracy. TMG anchors product portfolio management with robust decision criteria, value contribution logic, and clear KPI-based management models.
As a result, finance departments not only become better forecasters, but also active drivers of strategic portfolio prioritization – including CapEx/OpEx considerations.
What is the difference between product and project portfolio strategy?
In manufacturing companies, both portfolio strategies complement each other – but differ significantly in their focus and objectives:
Product portfolio strategy
It focuses on the selection, development and optimization of a company’s product range. The goal is to create a balanced portfolio that both meets current market needs and capitalizes on future opportunities. This includes decisions to introduce, enhance or discontinue products based on factors such as market trends, customer needs and technological developments.
Project portfolio strategy
This deals with the selection and prioritization of projects that contribute to the implementation of the company’s strategy. It ensures that resources are used efficiently and that projects deliver the greatest strategic benefit. Projects are evaluated and managed in terms of their risks, resource requirements and expected results.
TMG Consultants combine both perspectives: We ensure the alignment of product and project decisions – and help companies to systematically focus on the “right products” and “right initiatives”.
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