2H 2020 Manufacturing M&A Report

In the manufacturing industry, it can sure look like the virus picked sides in 2020. There were losers, winners, and potentially bigger winners ahead. In general, manufacturers were smacked hard in the first half of the year with uncertain, even fearful, consumers laser focused on necessities and stocking the pantry. Then came lockdowns, outbreaks, and the largest manufacturing shutdowns seen since World War II at home and abroad. Plants were idled, supply chains seized, and workers lost jobs. As downtown office buildings emptied, business and employees began adapting to work-from-home arrangements. Once unthinkable, companies realized they could trust employees throughout the workforce to work at home online, sparking big changes – not only in today’s COVID environment, but potentially into the future. Industries and employees will apparently need to adapt. For workers, spending more time in the home and the home office is looking like an unavoidable result. And manufacturers will likely need to adapt processes that were shaken by supply chain snarls and workplace outbreaks. In a world shaken and stirred, a couple of winning segments may be emerging…