McKinsey Europe in Manufacturing : how frequent travels can be ? Thinking of applying as an Experienced Hire but I’d like to understand first how heavy it is in terms of travel ? And how long projects are in average ?

Hi there,

it depends on the client location, project type, and office location. I’ve seen a wide range of setups, from 20-minute taxi rides (with 1-3 days on site) to cases involving 2-3 hour domestic flights combined with an additional 1-2 hour car journey (with 4-5 days on site).

Manufacturing projects typically run longer than classic strategy engagements and often follow distinct phases such as diagnosis, design, and implementation. Teams tend to leverage your background and expertise as an experienced hire along these phases, which usually results in longer engagements (around 3-9 months) and deeper client integration.

As an Experienced Hire joining the Operations/Manufacturing Practice, your travel load will be significantly higher than the average consultant focused on purely local strategy work.

When you are hired specifically for a specialized practice (like Manufacturing or Implementation), your primary resource pool isn't just your local office; it’s the entire regional or global Practice. Because manufacturing projects are inherently operations-heavy—meaning you are frequently on a factory floor or supply site—the projects require intensive, weekly on-site presence. You should baseline your expectation at 4 days of travel per week. Remote work in this sector is highly limited because the work is about implementation and getting hands-on with processes.

Regarding project length, Manufacturing engagements are often longer. Pure strategy projects might last 8–12 weeks; implementation or operational improvement programs frequently run 6 months to a year, or sometimes longer, with follow-on phases. This structure is actually a benefit, as it gives you stability, but it locks in that heavy travel schedule for longer periods.

When you speak to the recruiters or consultants, don't ask about the possibility of local work—ask specifically about the typical travel cadence for an Engagement Manager staffed on the Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain track. This will give you the unvarnished truth, which is likely high travel, even by European standards.

Hope this helps set expectations.

Hi,

I think travel is fairly frequent because you have to be on-site and most of the time on-site means at the factory. The challenging aspect of this is that, versus other industries (e.g. Financial Services, or even Telco), the manufacturing locations are often not in prime city locations, so a fair amount of travel is often expected.

I did a manufacturing footprint optimization strategy once in China - we stayed at a hotel that was 2 hours away from Shanghai city. We stayed there because that was the last ~4 star hotel that was approved by our travel policy. And from that hotel, it was another 1.5 hour car ride every morning to get to the factory :)

Project length really depends on the scope, diagnostics are normally quicker ~6-12 weeks and op improvement projects can be longer, especially if there is implementation component of it. 

Given your profile - i think you might find my articles helpful:

5 Reasons Why Experienced Hires Fail the Interview

Using AI for Case Preparation

Succeeding in Consulting as an Experienced Hire

Hi there,

The amount of travelling really depends on how many manufacturing projects there are locally. If most manufacturing projects are elsewhere, you'll be expected to travel weekly to the site UNLESS you're willing to work in non-manufacturing projects that are available locally. You can get a sense of this by speaking to the office's consultants and HR. 

It's actually impossible to tell. Why?

Because it depends on the office that you join, your level of seniority, and the types of clients you'll have. 

What I can expect, high level, is that if you enter as an experienced hire in manufacturing, they will want to benefit from your in-person expertise. More so than, let's say, if you were going in the Private Equity practice and mostly doing DD projects. 

But how much exactly? I can't really tell. 

If this is a critical thing for you then I'd recommend you have a couple of coffee chats with people in manufacturing in MBB to find out. 

Best,
Cristian

Hey there,

travel at McKinsey in Manufacturing really depends on the team, client, and project. Some projects are mostly on-site with clients, others can be a mix of office and client work. Project lengths usually range from a few weeks to a few months, but it varies a lot. You can expect flexibility depending on the specific engagement.

Best, Alessa :)