3con

What 3con does

3con Management Consultants GmbH is a privately held, owner-managed boutique management consultancy headquartered in Bonn, Germany, founded in 2002 by Dr. Gebhard Grimm and Dr. Marcus Heinrich. The firm serves global corporations and medium-sized enterprises in the process industry — with deep historical roots in the European chemical sector — across three service lines: Operational Excellence (production systems, value stream analysis, restructuring, outsourcing), Sustainability (CSRD/ESG readiness, sustainability strategy, climate targets), and Digitalization & AI (digital strategy, AI readiness assessments, change management, PMO). The firm operates with approximately 20 staff including partners, consultants, and support, deliberately maintaining a boutique scale since relocating to its Bad Godesberg villa in 2010. Client engagements begin with a free 30-minute introductory meeting and are delivered as senior-advisor, project-team, or reinforcement models on a co-creative, equal-footing basis.

The firm's core technology footprint is concentrated in the 2021 spin-off AllocNow GmbH — an independent Product Sustainability Platform (cleantech SaaS) that automates environmental impact / Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) calculations across multiple impact categories and implements the TfS (Together for Sustainability) Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) guidelines co-developed with BASF. The consulting practice itself relies on proprietary methodologies, optimization algorithms for value chain analysis, AI readiness frameworks, and internal AI agents supporting consultant communication, rather than on a unified proprietary software platform. Additional branded assets include the "Fünf Minuten Management" podcast on Spotify and a registered AllocNow trademark.

3con generates revenue exclusively through professional services: project-based and retainer consulting engagements under multi-year contracts, with custom quote-based pricing tied to scope, team composition, and duration. There is no standardized pricing or productized SaaS revenue within the parent firm (AllocNow is independently capitalized and not a subsidiary). Revenue is concentrated in enterprise and mid-market process-industry accounts across Europe, with named relationships including BASF and Covestro (the latter deploying AllocNow for ~50,000 products). GTM is enterprise field sales via direct engagement, with thought leadership (LinkedIn, podcast, DNK training partnership) feeding top-of-funnel awareness. The firm is bootstrapped — no external investors, parent, or funding rounds are disclosed.

Name

3con

Legal name

3con Management Consultants GmbH

Website

https://3con-consultants.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

3con Management Consultants is a privately held, owner-managed boutique management consultancy headquartered in Bonn, Germany, founded in 2002. The firm serves global corporations and mid-market enterprises in the process industry with Operational Excellence, Sustainability, and Digitalization/AI advisory services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bonn

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Management Consulting Services: 3con generates revenue through professional consulting engagements, offering services in Operational Excellence, Sustainability, and Digitalization. Engagements operate on project-based and retainer models, with senior advisors, project teams, or supplementary consulting support provided to clients across the process industry. The firm emphasizes implementation-oriented consulting rather than purely strategic advisory.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

3con is a boutique management consultancy providing advisory services to global corporations and medium-sized enterprises in the process industry. Core offerings are organized into three practices: Operational Excellence (production systems, value stream analysis, restructuring, cost reduction, supply chain optimization, in-/outsourcing), Sustainability (ESG compliance, CSRD implementation, climate and biodiversity strategy), and Digitalization & AI (AI readiness assessments, digital strategy, change management). Engagements are delivered through senior advisors, project teams, or as embedded consulting reinforcement on a project-based or retainer basis.

Product overview

3con is a management consulting firm offering professional services in three core areas: Operational Excellence, Sustainability, and Digitalization/AI. The consulting portfolio is organized as specialized service offerings rather than a unified software platform. Additionally, 3con has a spin-off company called AllocNow, which offers a standalone Product Sustainability Platform for automated environmental impact calculations (LCA) based on TfS PCF standards. The consulting services and the AllocNow software product operate as separate offerings—the consulting helps organizations develop and implement transformation strategies while AllocNow provides the technical tooling for sustainability measurement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Operational Excellence Consulting Advisory services for developing and implementing robust operational excellence strategies for process industry clients, including production systems setup, value stream analysis, debottlenecking, restructuring, cost reduction, supply chain optimization, and in-/outsourcing of production services. Targeted at global corporations and medium-sized enterprises in chemicals and adjacent process industries.
• Sustainability Consulting Advisory services supporting ESG compliance (including CSRD implementation), strategic sustainability positioning, sustainability strategy development, climate and biodiversity transition plans, and stakeholder dialogue for materiality analysis. Targeted at corporate clients in the process industry navigating CSRD, ESG, and other sustainability regulations.
• Digitalization & AI Consulting Advisory services for digital transformation including AI readiness assessments, AI integration strategy, digital strategy development, change management, product ownership, and PMO for digital initiatives. Includes development of digital optimization tools for highly integrated value chains and AI-supported scenarios for communication and conflict training. Targeted at corporate clients integrating AI and digitalization into transformation programs.
• AllocNow Product Sustainability Platform A cleantech software platform spun off from 3con that enables companies to automatically calculate the environmental impact of their products (LCA), communicate it clearly, and reduce impacts in a targeted manner. Covers multiple LCA impact categories and implements TfS (Together for Sustainability) PCF guidelines. Used by major chemical companies including Covestro for approximately 50,000 products.

Quantifiable outcome

• Recognized as Hidden Champion outperforming McKinsey, BCG, and Bain in customer ratings for process industry focus
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NABU (Naturschutzbund Deutschland)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 20253con and NABU offer joint advisory services combining strategy, transformation, and environmental expertise. The partnership provides companies with comprehensive sustainability consulting including risk and opportunity analysis, CSRD implementation, climate and biodiversity transition plans, and strategy development. The collaboration leverages NABU's ecological credibility and 3con's consulting expertise to address natural capital as a strategic asset for companies.
• BASFcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Partnership with BASF established in 2021 to develop uniform standards for calculating the carbon footprint of chemical products (PCF) based on the TfS (Together for Sustainability) industry network guidelines. The partnership supports the chemical industry's sustainability transformation by establishing standardized methodologies for Product Carbon Footprint calculations.
• B.A.U.M. e.V.minorOthersActive member of B.A.U.M. e.V. network, one of the largest networks for sustainable business in Germany. Participation in professional community for sustainability expertise and networking.
• btS – Life Sciences Studierendeninitiative e.V.minorOthersCollaboration with btS for university recruiting events and student engagement. 3con participates in career events organized by btS at universities to connect with potential candidates from life sciences backgrounds.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves9 records

Broad incumbents

• Kearney: Global operations and strategic transformation consultancy with a strong heritage in chemicals/process industry supply chain and procurement work; overlaps with 3con on operational excellence engagements at larger scale.
• Bain & Company: Global Big-3 consultancy referenced in the WGMB comparison; Bain's Performance Improvement and Sustainability practices compete for the same operational and ESG transformation work in European chemicals.
• Roland Berger: German-origin global management consultancy with strong chemicals and industrial operations practice; competes for the same European process-industry transformation work but at much larger scale and global footprint.
• McKinsey & Company: Global Big-3 consultancy explicitly benchmarked against 3con in the WGMB Hidden Champion study; competes for the same European chemical-industry transformation and sustainability mandates, but with vastly greater resources.
• Boston Consulting Group: Global Big-3 consultancy also benchmarked in the WGMB Hidden Champion study; BCG's Operations Practice and Climate & Sustainability practice directly overlap with 3con's core offerings in the process industry.

Direct peers

• Arthur D. Little: Long-established management consultancy with deep chemicals and process-industry expertise in Europe; similar boutique-adjacent positioning and competing for the same specialty transformation mandates.
• Porsche Consulting: Subsidiary of Porsche AG providing operational excellence and digital transformation advisory with deep industrial pedigree; comparable boutique scale and similar lean/operational methodology applied to process industries.
• h&z Strategy: Munich-based boutique consultancy focused on procurement, supply chain, and operational transformation — overlapping significantly with 3con's value-chain and operational excellence service lines.
• Staufen AG: German boutique operational excellence and lean transformation consultancy, very similar in size, sector focus (industrial/process) and co-creative delivery model to 3con; the most direct head-to-head competitor for European manufacturing transformation mandates.

Regional players

• Implement Consulting Group: Nordic-based boutique management consultancy specializing in operational excellence and transformation; comparable in scale and methodology though primarily competing in Northern European markets rather than DACH.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/1289876/admin/feed/posts
• Xx.com/3conconsultants

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about 3con