Sheet molding compounds (SMC) have been around since over half a century and have found varied automotive applications like body panels, pickup boxes, tonneau covers, front-end modules, cowling, air deflectors, underbody shields, aero skirting, floors, skins for panelized siding on-truck trailers and more.
Eager to know the market of Glass Fibre SMCs within the automotive realm, a top manufacturer of engineered materials offering fiber-reinforced plastics, sought to collaborate with us. They knew to thoroughly understand the market landscape and uncover investment gaps they needed a deep understanding of market, competitor, and customer movements along with supplier dynamics.
About the client
Our client is a leading manufacturer of engineered materials offering fiber-reinforced plastics, Glass Fiber(GF) Sheet Moulding Compounds (SMC), and thermoplastic and thermoset structural products, since 1980. Their other offerings include sheet molding compound (SMC), spray-up, hand-lay-up, direct long fiber thermoplastics (D-LFT), structural foam and structural web injection molding (SIM), resin transfer molding (RTM), and reaction injection molding (RIM) processes.
Objectives
The client wanted to redefine their existing market positioning by exploring business opportunities, assessing market potential, and analyzing stakeholder perspectives on the GF-SMC market within the automotive space.
The company approached us to achieve the following:
- Understand current automotive market developments and reinforced plastics for automotive applications (GFRP/GFRTP/CFRP/CFRTP)
- Analyze the existing size and growth rate of the GF-SMC market within automotive
- Understand current capabilities and future solution expansion aspirations of value chain stakeholders
- Define market segmentation by product, vehicle type, geography, resin materials, and end-use applications
- Examine and identify market trends, drivers, and challenges
- Determine and assess competitors’ operating margins, business models, and potential revenue streams
- Outline future market opportunities and investment pockets
Netscribes solution
To meet our client’s ask, we conducted a detailed, phase-wise market analysis and provided valuable insights into the GF-SMC automotive market, focusing on the following four verticals:
1. GF-SMC Market Overview:
- Automotive market overview:
1. Market size
2. Key trend analysis
3. Industry growth
- GF-SMC & reinforced plastic overview:
1. Market overview
2. Pricing analysis
3. Competitive overview
4. Industry growth
2. OEM Preferences
- Identification of target audience
- Customer preference
- Gap analysis
3. Supply-Side Analysis:
- Analysis of key players
- Company profiling
- Competitive benchmarking
4.. Post-Life Recycling Dynamics:
- US & EU environmental law, government regulations
Approach
Phase One:
Step 1: Preliminary research
- Understand the existing GF-SMC market dynamics and market potential within automotive industries
- Outline the industry structure and value chain
- Analyze key discussion areas
Step 2: Secondary research
- Build base market data by scanning all available global statistics and data from associations or other sources
- Gather intelligence on key trends and their driving factors and inhibitors
- Collect information on market dynamics like investments, partnerships, and customer perspectives
Phase Two
Step 1: Preliminary research
- Conduct primary research to gain insights from practitioners and subject-matter experts
- Interview various stakeholders across the GF-SMC market value chain like manufacturers, distributors, raw material suppliers, and end-use application automotive industry to obtain an in-depth perspective
Step 2: Insight generation
- Generate insights into market dynamics of the GF-SMC solutions for the automotive industry
- Estimate the market growth potential by funneling value chain information from multiple sources like raw material suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and end-users
- Create a winning strategy by identifying the approach followed by companies in the GF-SMC market for the automotive industry
Results and benefit
With Netscribes’ exhaustive research, the client was able to gain an in-depth understanding of the GF-SMC market for the automotive sector and its current dynamics. The analysis also enabled them to gauge the competitor landscape and make strategic and technological decisions based on the insights delivered.
Download this case study to find out how the company was able to drive strategic decisions through a comprehensive
market landscape study to witness tangible outcomes in the Glass Fibre SMC space.
