McKinsey QuantumBlack for manufacturers: optimization for process plants
Strategy, change management and a packaged optimization product, aimed at large process plants.
Contents
| Type | Strategy firm |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New York, US |
| Founded | 1926 |
| Pricing | Not published |
| Website | mckinsey.com |
QuantumBlack is McKinsey’s AI arm, and it sells industry AI products alongside consulting1.
Best for: Large process manufacturers that want strategy, change management and a packaged optimization product from one firm.
Not the right fit for: Smaller manufacturers, or buyers who want published pricing and named references.
What McKinsey QuantumBlack does for manufacturers
Its process-industry product, OptimusAI, gives control-room recommendations to improve throughput, energy, emissions and quality in materials, food and energy production. The products can be run by the client, by QuantumBlack as a managed service, or fully as a service.
McKinsey's best-known manufacturing figures, 30 to 50% less downtime from predictive maintenance and 18 to 30% more output at one chemical plant furnace, come from a 2017 article on process industries and do not name the clients2. McKinsey treats change management as the most significant enabler of results.
Published evidence
No manufacturing case studies are published.
Strengths and limits
Strengths
- A packaged product for process industries, which can shorten time to a first result.
- Several ways to run it: by your team, as a managed service, or fully as a service.
- McKinsey treats change management as the main enabler of results.
Limits
- No named manufacturing client on the pages we read.
- Its widely quoted manufacturing figures date from 2017 and come from process industries.
- Pricing is not published.
Choose another option if: You make discrete products in one or two plants, or want a partner you can price before the first meeting.
Pricing
Not published.
Questions to ask McKinsey QuantumBlack
- Which plants run OptimusAI today, and can we speak to one?
- What does each operating model (client-run, managed, as a service) cost?
- How much of the engagement is strategy and how much is deployment?
- What results have you measured since 2017?
See how McKinsey QuantumBlack compares with the other firms in the main guide.
Sources
- McKinsey’s industry AI products deliver value across a wide range of use cases. McKinsey & Company. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Manufacturing: Analytics unleashes productivity and profitability. McKinsey & Company, 14 Aug 2017. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- McKinsey & Company. Wikipedia. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.