Chapter 10: Best Manufacturing Themes
Posted on February 4, 2024 | Updated on February 4, 2024
Finding the best manufacturing themes for a company website can be just another task in a long list of things you must accomplish. The industries that fall under the umbrella of manufacturing can be highly varied. Figuring out what works best for one may not apply to all.
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology via the U.S. Department of Commerce, approximately 12% of the national GDP is from manufacturing. A resurgence of demand for Made in America products saw some growth in the industry. The number of new startups means more opportunities for designers to create a website presence for a variety of niches within the category.
Designerly looks at manufacturing business from time to time, offering advice on best web design practices and ideas for marketing. We decided to devote this chapter in our ongoing best WordPress themes series to our assembly, building and mid-size factory readers.
We started by looking at the industries that fall within manufacturing, such as:
- Metal fabrication
- Food production
- Electronics
- Robotics
- Automotive manufacturers
- Textiles
- Building materials
Although the list above isn’t exhaustive, it gave us a good starting point for the elements each business niche needs for their online presence. We were then able to narrow the options down and eventually find our top five choices for WordPress themes.
What to Look for in Manufacturing Themes
Manufacturing website design is similar to any other type of site. You’ll want a site that’s highly intuitive. However, some things that stood out as we studied examples of the best sites in this category included:
- Clear navigation
- Dark-toned colors for a serious, professional look
- Lots of beautiful imagery
- Blocks of text
- Clear calls to action (CTAs)
- Mobile responsiveness
One thing that is a bit different with manufacturing websites is that companies tend to sell to a third party rather than direct to consumers. This means you won’t need a way to set appointments or create a shopping cart on your site. Manufacturing designs tend to focus mainly on providing information.
We did find an exception with the way some of the automakers are now selling cars. However, where they allowed people to order a customized model, they had a separate site for selling to the public and the person then went through the third party, the local dealer.
Our Favorite Manufacturing Themes
We started by heading over to WordPress.org to look at their 11,564 free themes. Many themes are free with basic features, but you must upgrade to access the pro version options. We’ve included those as you can get started, tweak them and then decide if the added features are essential for your site.
After looking at dozens of options, we finally decided on the ones we felt would likely work for almost anyone. You’ll notice how different these themes are than some of the other chapters in this series, such as cosmetology themes and the need for booking plugins and additional images.
We hope you enjoy these themes as much as we did.
Engineering Manufacturing
Engineering Manufacturing theme offers a beautiful grid layout that has a very newsy feel. Since the goal of most manufacturing websites is to teach others about what you do, this has a nice mix of categories and hero images to engage the site visitor and encourage them to read more about your brand.
The design is responsive with mobile devices and has a minimalistic feel. The uncluttered look shows that your firm is highly organized and understands the industry. Upgrading to the Premium version costs $49. You’ll gain translation ready themes, ability to customize almost anything on the page and WooCommerce compatibility should you want to sell from your website at some point.
Manufacturing Industry
We love the overlay blocks on the Manufacturing Industry design. They create a clean, crisp appearance. Change the colors to something more suited for your niche to really grab user attention and brand the site. Note the large hero shot in the background, featuring a photo of your facility. This sets the tone. You could also swap a video into the hero image to showcase various elements of your production process. This might be particularly helpful in the food industry, so you can show how clean your operations are.
If you upgrade to Premium for $49, you gain a banner slider, more theme options, customizable innerpage and more templates.
Product Industry
The Product Industry theme has a nice, block look that is neat and organized. It provides an opportunity to showcase different elements of your facility with photos or text and icons. This is the second Luzuk theme we chose. We debated for a bit whether to showcase the same maker twice, but it was one of the best examples out of the contenders, so we chose to go with it.
The layering of the boxes over one another creates a sophisticated look that is well suited to complex industries, such as electronics or chemicals. Upgrade for $39 and gain the ability to hide and show sections, add Woocommerce support and change colors and images.
Classic Corporate
If you want to introduce the people behind the brand and tell potential buyers about what you do, the Classic Corporate theme may be exactly what you need. The look gives a professional vibe and allows you to showcase the history of your company and the founders/leaders.
A hero shot fills the top of the screen with a navigational overlay. Trust factors, such as contact information appear at the top of the page. Just under the hero shot is a link to a post that details the company’s information, including a featured photo.
Note the box that allows you to highlight how many years you’ve been in business or some other statistic.
We really like the flow of this page. The vertical line moves the reader from the subheading down to the headline and the body text. The pro version allows you to use the theme on unlimited websites. You’ll gain the ability to adjust widgets, access a font icon library, improve page headings and add parallax and video sections for $39.
Our Winner: Industrial Manufacturing
After careful consideration, we chose Industrial Manufacturing as our winning WordPress theme for this category. The little details are what made this theme stand out, from the color palette that repeats in the smallest elements, such as the horizontal lines to the spacing with plenty of negative space to allow CTAs to stand out from the rest of the content. We love everything about this theme and how professional it looks, but also how functional it is.
Some of our favorite features of the winning theme include:
- Fully customizable background color, logo, fonts and title
- Responsive pages
- Compatible with WooCommerce
- Tons of documentation and support
The free version offers a lot of design options. If you upgrade to Premium for $39, you gain:
- Multilingual themes
- Social media integration
- Testimonial section
- Unlimited slides
- Video section
- Added services section
- Blog post on home page
- Full width options for secondary pages
The flexibility of this theme makes it adaptable to almost any type of niche within the manufacturing industry.
Choosing the Right Manufacturing Theme for Your Brand
How do you know which theme might work best for a brand? Look at what others are doing in the same niche and try to hit the popular points while still maintaining individuality. At times, you’ll need to try a theme before you can see if it will work for your clients’ needs. Don’t be afraid to install several options and play around with them to find the one that works best.
These five manufacturing themes are a great place to start. With a little customization, you’ll be able to create the perfect website for any business.
