From “all black” to customization: What the customer is asking for today
Henry Ford used to say, back in the 1920s, that a customer could have any color car he wanted, as long as he wanted it black. The phrase reflects the way of doing things at a time when demand was very high and supply was very limited. So the customer could buy a good product like the Model T, but without being able to specify how he wanted it.
Obviously, these were not the times of Industry 4.0. Because today the verb most often conjugated by customers (often unknowingly) is CUSTOMIZE. When we watch TV on demand, travel according to our own itinerary or design the decoration of our home, we are customizing the service. We need suppliers who work flexibly.
“Today, we demand that the service adapts to us and not the other way around.”
In other words, we demand that the service adapts to us and not the other way around. If I buy something, I want to receive it when and how it suits me, and if not, I will buy it somewhere else. In the industrial world things are very similar to our experience as a private customer. At KAPTURE.IO we know this well and it inspires the way we work.
The usual dilemma: pre-configured ERP/MES vs. “custom-made suit”.
Organizations are usually well-oiled machines, where the way of working responds to well-defined needs, adjusted to the sector. But what happens when I want to digitize my processes? Do I have to adapt to a pre-configured ERP or MES (Manufacturing Execution System) platform and redo my current way of working? Or do I have to assume a cost overrun in customized developments to develop a platform that respects my work methodology?
The practical way out: A flexible QMS that respects the way you work
It is clear that both solutions are bad and in many cases the result is that the company paralyzes its decision to digitize, because it does not know which way to go. My proposal is that you opt for a flexible Quality Management System (QMS) that allows a high level of customization, without the enormous cost of a “custom-made suit” as in this video.
Kapture.io QMS is a versatile, intuitive and as easy to use as a Powerpoint. Whatever the production process you are working on, Kapture.io offers you the possibility to manage process instructions and quality controls in an agile and flexible way. Working on the same platform that you manage your audits or equipment calibrations. You can have manual, visual, automatic quality checks, with heat maps, with photos, etc. that you can upload to the platform in the way you consider.
“Digitizing Quality should not be a risky endeavor.”
If you have a working method that works, why change it to adapt it to the new digitization tool? Let the QMS be the one that adapts to your way of working. Because digitizing in the era of Quality 4.0 should not be a risky task.
