Again, Higher Returns for Less Integrated Wind Turbine Manufacturers

In a follow up to our earlier on wind turbine manufacturers, we found that there has been a reversal of the previous trend toward vertical integration in turbine manufacturing.  We also found two of the least vertically integrated players—Goldwind and REPower—have the highest returns on capital.

During this work we also had the opportunity to identify best-in-class manufacturing practices among wind turbine manufacturers, and determined that fewer than half of them do best-in-class supply chain management activities comprehensively:

• Lean and six sigma up the supply chain
• Hands-on supplier quality management
• Evaluate total cost (including cost of quality, working capital), not just landed cost or ex-works unit cost
• Optimize collaboration with strategic suppliers
• Use comprehensive IT tools for supplier evaluation and management

Download a detailed set of findings here.