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EY CGI article series

Rewriting the script for manufacturing growth: why now is time for CGI

Photographic portrait of Sachin Lulla

3 minute read 23 Feb 2026

Related topics

Advanced Manufacturing

Commercial, growth and innovation (CGI) helps manufacturers unlock revenue enhance customer value and future‑proof operations.

In brief

Industrial leaders can drive sustainable, organic growth by becoming customer obsessed, enhancing commercial excellence and leveraging digital and AI powered insights.
CGI equips manufacturers to boost profitability, unlock new revenue models and scale innovation—future proofing their business amid rapid disruption.

This article is part of a seven‑piece series exploring commercial, growth and innovation (CGI) and the strategies reshaping performance.

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Transformation, at its core, comes down to one thing: driving growth.

For decades, industrial and energy companies have relied heavily on mergers and acquisitions to expand — pursuing scale, efficiency and capability through inorganic growth. But as the pace of disruption accelerates, companies are now asking a more fundamental question:

How can we drive sustainable, organic growth from within?

To answer that, leaders must address three critical questions:

How do we become more essential to our customers?
How do we drive growth in our core business and adjacent markets?
How do we future-proof our organization for the next wave of change?

Commercial, growth and innovation (CGI) was designed to help industrial manufacturing companies answer these very questions and light the path ahead to transformative, purposeful growth.

Driving commercial excellence

The first pillar of CGI is commercial excellence and it starts with becoming customer obsessed. True transformation requires understanding not just what customers buy, but why they buy and how they use products across every stage of the lifecycle.

This means expanding the definition of “customer” beyond the end user. It includes distributors, dealers and collaborators across the value chain: the entire ecosystem that shapes experience and loyalty. By understanding these dynamics, organizations can create signature moments that define every touch point, from initial purchase to long-term service.

Through CGI, manufacturers can move from product-centric to customer-centric, shifting the focus from simply selling products and services to delivering outcomes and value. This approach integrates both the physical and digital dimensions of customer experience, combining smart, connected products with data-driven insights to anticipate needs, personalize interactions and strengthen relationships.

Driving profitable growth

Profitable growth is about resilience and reinvention. Industrial and energy companies must optimize what they already do well, while reimagining how they can create value.

Technology is the enabler. Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools can improve margins and reduce costs across the full value chain. From design and manufacturing to distribution and service, they also unlock opportunities to create entirely new revenue streams, effectively rewiring a company’s DNA.

Consider how businesses across industries have reimagined their core models to unlock new growth. Some have shifted from ownership to usage-based economies, while others have launched entirely new services—sometimes in markets far removed from their original focus. These examples show what’s possible when organizations look beyond their traditional boundaries to create innovative paths for expansion.

For manufacturers, this could mean monetizing data, offering products-as-a-service, or building digital platforms that connect customers to suppliers in new ways. Through CGI, these pathways are not hypothetical, they are structured, scalable strategies to drive both profitability and long-term value.

Driving innovation at scale

The third pillar, innovation at scale, is where transformation takes root. Innovation can no longer live in pockets of research and development (R&D) or one-off pilot projects. To be truly transformative, it must be embedded across the organization and powered by digital and AI adoption.

That journey starts with data. Data leads to insights. Insights lead to action. Actions drive results. Companies that can effectively capture, interpret and act on their data will move faster, adapt better and innovate smarter.

Through venture building and ecosystem collaboration, CGI helps industrial leaders turn ideas into outcomes. CGI is about building the infrastructure and mindset that make continuous innovation possible.

The moment to lead

As industrial companies navigate unprecedented complexity, the imperative is clear: transformation must be intentional, customer-centric and purpose-driven. CGI provides the blueprint by helping leaders operationalize innovation, strengthen commercial performance, grow and expand revenue streams to unlock new avenues of growth.

The companies that embrace this approach will not just keep pace with change — they will define it.

Summary

Industrial companies face accelerating disruption, prompting a shift from traditional M&A driven expansion toward sustainable, organic growth. The CGI framework provides a structured approach rooted in three pillars: commercial excellence, profitable growth and innovation at scale. By adopting customer obsessed strategies, leveraging digital and AI capabilities and embedding continuous innovation, organizations can transform their business models, strengthen performance and unlock new revenue streams—ultimately positioning themselves to define the next era of industrial growth.

About this article

Photographic portrait of Sachin Lulla

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