Customer communication and the metal fabricator

Manufacturing is a tough business. You compete hard for every bit of it you get. When you win business, you know somebody is positioning to take it away. When you lose the business, you figure what you can do to displace the incumbent. Competition is fierce.

What can you do to put your company, your processes, and your products in the best position? One approach is to communicate effectively, smartly, and creatively to existing and potential customers so that they recognize the value you bring.

Value From Effective Communication

Think of your communications process as an extension of continuous improvement. If you have effective continuous improvement, then treat it as a marketable and distinguishing asset. Share this through the communications process. In doing so, you create value for both your company and your customers. Types of value include:

• Define what makes you different. The more you can define and articulate real differences between you and the competition, the less your company will be perceived as a commodity. Even if you are in a commodity business, what is it about your company that sets it apart?

• Educate the customer. Suppose you have customers where it seems people are in constant rotation, meaning the procurement professional, supplier development person, or even the senior executives are changing (promotions, demotions, job changes, etc.). Maybe the new person filling the seat has little or no experience with your processes or products. That personnel change, whether it is one key person or a massive organizational overhaul, presents opportunity for you to inform and educate the new players about what your company can do to help the new players be successful.

• Set the tone in your industry. Maybe you are in a “sleepy” industry where not much has changed. Just do more of the same and everyone gets by OK. Or maybe you compete in an aggressive industry where change is the norm. In either case, effective communication can help you set the tone for the industry. If you have invested smartly in continuous improvement and have entrenched expectations that your people are always looking for better ways to get the job done, then let the marketplace know by communicating the value you bring to customers. Set the tone to position your company as a market leader.

The common thread here is that you create clarity about what your company can do to be a value-adding player. Whether defining the difference, educating the customer, or setting the tone, you control the message that is focused on clear, understandable value creation.

Two Examples

Let’s look at two examples to illustrate how effective communications can help your company. One example focuses on an existing supplier-customer relationship, and the other focuses on reaching out to the broader untapped marketplace.

Existing Relationship: Leveraging Each Other’s Capabilities and Needs. A stamping supplier to a Tier 1 auto parts company provides complicated stampings critical to the assembly system the OEM receives. The stamping company’s customer, the Tier 1 manufacturer, has little deep knowledge about stamping processes, draft angles, stresses, or clearances. Yet the Tier 1 manufacturer drives the stamping supplier crazy with unrealistic demands. How can the stamping company use effective communications to help all the players in the value chain?

For starters, the stamper should document problems caused by the Tier 1’s demands. That might include cost to modify existing dies or excessively tight tolerances that have little to do with the stamped part and the assembly’s performance. The stamper can also document new ideas and their potential benefits, such as loosening the tolerances for the part or nesting the parts for shipment to minimize transportation damage.

Since this is an existing relationship for existing parts, the stamping supplier should seek out collaborative opportunities with the Tier 1 manufacturer, especially if it solves problems that benefits both parties—a real win-win. Employees at both the stamper and Tier 1 could continually communicate, educate, and ultimately help make jobs easier.

This could include helping the procurement person understand the economics of the ideas; helping the engineers understand the fit-up considerations; or helping the materials people understand the parts presentation improvements. Move past acrimony and arrive at collaboration. The communications process is the vehicle (no pun intended) to keep the discussions and exploration civil and on track.

Seeking a Relationship: Reaching out to the Marketplace. You have certain skills and capabilities. Your company has been involved in continuous improvement long enough to have gotten past doing spot improvements. The organization demonstrates a serious ability to keep improving along entire value streams and end-to-end processes. Maybe you are firmly entrenched in your existing vertical market and recognize the need to reach a broader market for greater customer diversity. How can the communication process help you?

For starters, define what it is you want the marketplace to know about your company. What are your fundamental, rock-solid capabilities that are the “ante” to be in the business?

Next, determine the exceptional capabilities that set your company apart from the pack. What do you deliver that could make certain prospects take notice? Maybe this includes information (knowledge that a new customer might find valuable); or logistics (how can we pack and ship in creative ways that benefit both the supplier and customer); or a specialized manufacturing capability (new process to “connect” two materials to increase strength and reduce cost); or whatever is appropriate for your situation.

Identifying the Audience

How do you get this information to market? Using the communications process, you define whom you are attempting to reach. Understanding the target audience helps determine what method to reach out with.

Examples of outreach include sending your leaders out to conferences to make presentations and participate on panels (sounds like FABTECH^®), and using the power of social media to reach targeted people or companies with less effort than was ever possible just a decade ago. The results will be enhanced if your communications process is methodical and disciplined.

Impact on the Extended Value Chain

Think about the entire value chain that goes downstream to your customers and upstream to your suppliers. You all have vested interests in figuring out how to be most competitive and customer-focused. You are all links in that fragile chain. An effective, smart, and creative communications process will help your company stand out and be more influential in the extended value chain. Specific impacts include:

• Stronger alignment. Effective communication will help all the links in the value chain to be more closely aligned. The alignment means everyone understands what is important, what the expectations are for and from each other, and what significant problems need focused attention. By driving such alignment, your company may have greater influence on outcomes.

• Shorter timeline. Time is of the essence in manufacturing. It could be time to market for a new product, time to ramp up for a surge in new business, or time to implement changes in the supply chain. Effective communications create clarity and reduce rework due to confusion, misunderstanding, and dropped balls. The more your customers see your company lead efforts toward positive change—and shorter lead times—the more they are likely to value your contribution.

• New opportunities. Taking a broader look at the overall value chain may identify opportunities for new business and collaborations that leverage multiple players’ capabilities. It can also lead to formal or informal alliances. The more you promote what makes your company special in a convincing way—including what is in it for the customer—the greater the opportunity to grow your business. The communications process is central to making this happen.

The Wastes of Poor Communication

Failed communications between suppliers and customers lead to tension, nonproductive work, and lost or unprofitable business. These scenarios have no winners. By recognizing that communication is a process that requires focused work and attention, you minimize those occasions of failed or broken communications.

So what sets your company apart? Have you leveraged your investment in continuous improvement to show value to both current and potential customers? Do they recognize all the ways your company can help them be successful? Answer these questions, and you may find greater business opportunities.