Factory floors To living rooms: Why industrial companies must start thinking like consumer brands

By Suraj Mehta

For decades, industrial companies have taken comfort in invisibility. As long as factories ran efficiently, customers were satisfied, and balance sheets were strong, branding was considered a concern best left to consumer-facing companies. That mindset, however, is steadily changing.

We now live in an information age shaped by social media, transparency and heightened consumer awareness. Today’s consumer is no longer indifferent to what lies beneath the surface of the products they consume. Whether the brand is business-to-consumer (B2C), direct-to-consumer (D2C) or firmly business-to-business ( B2B), awareness has travelled deep into the value chain. Industrial manufacturers may not sell directly to consumers, but they increasingly influence how consumers think, feel, and choose.

Consider something as everyday as a bottle of beverage or alcobev. A consumer today has clear preferences not just for the brand of beverage, but for how it is consumed. On tap, in a pet bottle, or in a glass bottle. These choices are driven by perceptions of quality, safety, taste and increasingly, health and sustainability. Packaging is no longer neutral. It carries meaning.

Glass, for instance, is no longer seen merely as a container. It is associated with purity, safety, recyclability and a premium experience. Consumers are asking sharper questions. Is the packaging safe? Is it recyclable? Does it leach chemicals? What is its environmental footprint? These questions inevitably lead them upstream towards companies that manufacture the packaging itself.

This is where industrial companies must rethink their role. Packaging material manufacturers sit at the heart of industries ranging from FMCG and pharmaceuticals to chemicals and beverages. Yet for years, this critical part of the value chain remained largely invisible to the end consumer. Most people could name the beverage brand they drink but not the company that made the bottle.

That invisibility is gradually fading.

Today, consumers are increasingly caring about who is behind the product. They want to know if the company manufacturing the packaging material follows global benchmarks. Consumers want to know if manufacturers are adhering to safety standards and complying with ESG norms. They are curious about materials, processes, fuels, emissions and recyclability. Packaging is increasingly becoming a proxy for trust.

This shift is even more pronounced in sectors like renewable energy. In solar power, for instance, glass is not just a protective layer. It directly affects efficiency, durability and output. As awareness grows, consumers get to understand that the quality of glass used in a solar panel directly impacts performance. Here, the supplier of industrial glass becomes visible, relevant and critical to what the brand is promising about the end product.

The same logic applies across sectors. If consumers discover that a packaging material is produced using environmentally harmful fuels or practices, they might distance and build resistance. Information travels fast. Furnace that still runs on pet coke or any process that falls short of sustainability norms is no longer just an internal operational issue. It can turn into a reputational liability not only for the manufacturer but for every brand linked to it across the supply chain.

This is why industrial brands can no longer afford to stay silent. Storytelling, design, purpose and values now matter as much as scale and capacity. Manufacturers must articulate what they stand for. They will have to show how they operate and why their processes matter to the final consumer experience.

Today, industrial branding is not just about logos or taglines. It is about credibility. It is about reassuring consumers that every layer of the product they consume has been created responsibly, safely and sustainably. In a world where transparency is demanded and information is abundant, the factory floor is steadily finding its way into the consumer’s mind.

Suraj Mehta is chief strategy officer, Hindustan National Glass & Industries Ltd.