NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Highly-engineered products
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Highly-engineered products
Matthew da Silva (mdasilva_at_ibd.yamatake.co.jp)
Wed, 25 Nov 1998 22:10:51 -0600 (CST)
MICHAEL J. PATRICK <MJPATRICK_at_FILAMENT.COM> WROTE:
>Our experience has been EXACTLY the opposite. People
>involved with HE will crawl through hot coals and surmount
>incredible language and cultural hurdles to get a component
>from a supplier that will make their product excellent. Math,
>engineering and manufacturing have far more common
>ground and vocabulary than other fields. Customer
>relationships will not be vague, the people who purchase
>your product may die if a 30,000 RPM spindle fails on the
>shop floor.
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael, thanks for your interest. I did not say that
customer relations were vague. You are right about the
universality of disciplines but nevertheless marketing is an
essential part of any successful product launch. You
illustrate very convincingly that 'features' can form the
basis for competitive advantage. But often HE products made
by company A are not so different one from those from
company Z. I would even hazard to say that most HE products
fall in this category and the reason for this is exactly
because of the eagerness of end-users and contractors to
avoid your 'spindle-of-death' or a burst valve, or whatever
accident causes physical injury and even fatalities.
Regardless of these threats, a recent study shows that
people and equipment initiate 80 percent of chemical plant
abnormal situations (Control Engineering, Sept. 1998).
Because your experience is with companies that supply
'discrete' manufacturing tools and components, I understand
your belief in the value of features over brands. Your
end-user is usually unaware of the details surrounding the
choice of components. This is significant, because to
include the end-user in the purchasing activity creates an
extra level of choice and adds complexity to marketing.
If features were the answer, there wouldn't be such battles
between suppliers to the 'process' industries, who may
resort to quite brutal tactics as each tries to grab
attention on the basis of reputation alone. 'Features' tend
to get trampled underfoot in the rush for the high ground.
The knowledgeable engineer is highly brand-loyal (perhaps
this is the problem -- brand-loyalty mask the benefits of
features and may even lead to industrial accidents).
Suppliers, increasingly, employ marketers having training in
identical disciplines as their end-users, and experience in
identical companies. Research analysts have emerged. They
often act as referees in the differentiation game.
In the process industries, a piece of equipment may have a
life-span of thirty, forty, fifty years. Maintainability
and reliability are likely to be more valued than are
performance features because of the wide range of people
involved in some purchases.
We have plantmakers, contracting engineers, process
operators, instrumentation engineers, maintenance
technicians, process engineers, senior management and,
recently, even supply-chain managers and their information
technology suppliers.
You are right to point out a general failing in the
marketing and communications departments. Where you are
wrong is assuming that marketing engineers focus on anything
else but features. They are obsessed by features! Our
marketing people are educated to the same levels as their
audience. They generate comparison tables and application
reports that focus on nothing *but* features. But it's not
features that close a big contract sale. That requires a
belief that our systems will make everything easier over the
long run. If anything hinders the marketing departments in
their gigantic task, it's a lack of knowledge about the
possibilities offered by such media as the Internet and
advertising.
Thanks for your time.
_at_-_at_-_at_-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-
Matthew da Silva, Online Solutions
International Business Development
Yamatake Corporation
2-12-19 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku
Tokyo 150-8316 Japan
Tel: 81-3-3486-2216
Fax: 81-3-3486-2503
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