How Open Innovation Optimized an Entire Manufacturing Process: From Product Design through Order Fulfillment
THE CHALLENGE:
Driving sales in a highly fragmented market requires strategic differentiation.
THE OUTCOME:
WANDA: the all-in-one information platform that functions to capture and expedite an order.
THE STORY:
Manufacturing in the US has seen slow sustainable growth. But with policy uncertainty and the rise of consumer spending at the loss of savings, companies are now investing in their manufacturing processes to mitigate future risk. If used strategically, these investments can be multi-focal: they can both reduce costs, and become a sales driver.
A BITCADET client found themselves positioned in a fragmented market with high competition and low brand loyalty. They were dependent on commodities pricing and looking to grow an online sales channel to bolster their competitiveness.
By optimizing the engineering and information flow processes, WANDA decreased costs and helped the company grow 120% over 4 years.
After initial customer surveys and hypothesis testing, BITCADET found that focusing on both engineering and manufacturing processes was the strongest path to increased sales. Cross-departmental idea and execution meetings were then regularly hosted. The outcome of an extremely powerful but humbly named platform, WANDA.
Through WANDA, customers are given a novel experience: they can customize (aka, engineer) their product with real-time pricing and part changes. They also receive their individualized digital assembly instructions in 3D.
Internally, WANDA assisted with more than just the engineering department. According to management, some of their favorite benefits are:
Drafting: creates 3D models and bill of materials
Engineering: models quickly integrate into testing software
Costing: immediate pricing change to react to supplier pricing pressures
Production: creates easy to manage order list and guides workers to reduce material waste
Shipping: works with shipping partner to automatically call prices and tags
By optimizing the engineering and information flow processes, WANDA decreased costs and helped the company grow 120% over 4 years. Through open team meetings and working with digital specialists, every company can create their own WANDA.
