Not price. Not technical specifications. 71.2% of survey respondents expected comprehensive partnerships from their automation providers. In interviews, we heard it over and over: “At the end of the day, you’ll make more money with exceptional technical support than if you went with somebody else with no support.” One customer told us they’d put someone in a truck and drive across the country for a part if they had to. Downtime costs dwarf equipment costs.
Research that
fuels better strategy.
What happens when you go directly to the market for answers.
CLOOS is a German welding robotics company with a century of engineering excellence—but almost no brand awareness in North America.
They were preparing to make a significant push into the U.S. and Mexican markets, and they needed to understand what they were walking into.
Not assumptions. Not vendor marketing. Not what competitors were saying about the market. They needed to hear directly from manufacturers who had actually lived through automation implementations—what worked, what didn’t, and why.
That’s where research comes in.
cloos
cloos
Client
Tactics
Four methods. One picture.
We designed a multi-method research approach to triangulate findings across different perspectives. When the same patterns emerged from customers, surveys, and the sales team, we knew we had real insights.
Quantitative survey. 100+ manufacturing decision-makers across North America—a mix of current customers and non-customers. Focus on awareness, perception, and purchase behavior. Distribution through industry lists, associations, and hyper-targeted paid advertising.
In-depth customer interviews. 13 North American manufacturing professionals, from shop floor managers to company presidents. Geographic coverage spanning the Great Lakes, Upper Midwest, Mountain states, Texas, and Mexico. Semi-structured conversations that let people tell their stories—some interviews lasted over an hour because people had things to say.
Sales team workshop. 90 minutes with the complete North American sales team. Seven participants representing different regions and market segments. These are the people on the front lines hearing customer frustrations daily—they know things that never make it into formal feedback channels.
Competitive analysis. Comprehensive review of competitor marketing materials, digital presence across all major platforms, trade show messaging and positioning. Documentation of what competitors were saying and where the gaps were.
This wasn’t research for research’s sake. Every method was designed to answer specific strategic questions and validate findings across multiple sources.
What the market actually told us.
Seven key themes emerged, validated across all four research streams:
The welding-first position is CLOOS's most powerful differentiator.
Robotics companies treat welding as one of many applications. Welding companies treat automation as an add-on. CLOOS is the only player with integrated expertise in both—and customers noticed. 61.9% ranked welding expertise in their top three selection criteria.
German heritage cuts both ways.
In Mexico, the German association generates immediate credibility. In the U.S., it creates concerns about lead times and local support. Same company, different perception by region.
Implementation excellence makes or breaks relationships.
58.8% of manufacturers prefer to “start small and expand”—not because they’re cautious, but because they’re smart. Each success builds confidence for the next challenge. And when implementation goes wrong, the damage is lasting.
Digital infrastructure is a competitive gap.
Customers described frustration with basic tasks like parts identification and ordering. Meanwhile, competitors like Lincoln and Miller have sophisticated online platforms and dominant social media presence.
Workforce evolution creates opportunity no one is claiming.
Labor shortage drives 56.2% of automation adoption—everyone knows this. But our research revealed something else: automation can transform manufacturing’s image and attract next-generation talent. When you show young workers robots and programming instead of dark floors and dirty overalls, “they’re like, ‘Now you’re talking.'” No competitor owns this position.
Research that fuels everything else.
For CLOOS, this research became the foundation for a comprehensive brand campaign. The insights informed positioning, messaging, content strategy, and go-to-market approach across North America.
But the research also demonstrated something about how we work: we have in-house capabilities for quantitative and qualitative research. We don’t outsource the thinking. We conduct stakeholder interviews, customer surveys, competitive analysis, and market research—cost-effectively and quickly—and deliver insights that fuel better strategy.
The best creative work starts with understanding what’s actually true. Research is how we get there.
From insights to industry stage.
The research didn’t stay in a report.
CLOOS’s president read the findings and saw something bigger than internal strategy. These insights were relevant to the entire industry—manufacturers struggling with the same questions about automation, service, and workforce development.
He invited us to present the research alongside him at FABTECH 2025—the largest welding industry trade show in the world.
Meredith Sheline, our Director of Client Service, stood on stage with Doug Zoeller and walked through the findings with hundreds of manufacturing professionals. Not as vendors. As researchers who had gone directly to the market and brought back insights that could help everyone in the room make better decisions.
The presentation covered everything: how manufacturers actually evaluate automation vendors, what separates successful implementations from expensive mistakes, and the hidden workforce opportunity that most companies are missing entirely.
That’s what good research does. It doesn’t just inform one company’s strategy—it advances an entire industry’s understanding.
Let’s Connect
Let’s Connect
Riveted?
Research doesn’t have to be expensive, slow, or disconnected from execution. We conduct in-house research that answers the questions that matter and delivers insights your team can actually use. Stakeholder interviews, customer surveys, competitive analysis, market research—whatever it takes to understand your market, your customers, and your opportunity.
Let’s talk about what you need to learn.
