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Written by Jacques Coderre
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Wednesday, 16 December 2009 11:05 |
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Apply Lean / JIT principles to Marketing, Sales and Engineering
The Just-In-Time approach is well established in manufacturing and in inventory control but the same principles are increasingly applied to indirect functions such as project engineering, business development and marketing. The use of temporary employees has been popular for quite some time but we are now seeing an even leaner approach taking root; the use of freelancers and/or consultants to deliver results on a long-term basis.
In a JIT environment, parts are purchased whent they are needed and product is built to order. Product flows continously using Kanban. As we embark on an economoic recovery, more and more companies are looking at alternatives to hiring full-time indirect employees; they turn instead towards self-employed professionals that can get on-board quickly, execute against specific goals and then move-on. Examples include:
- Marketing - managing new product launch campaigns froma A-to-Z. Implementing Measurements; Reporting against those measurements.
- Business Development - blitzing on the sales front; hunting for new customers; account management; establishing new sales channels.
- Engineering - taking responsibility for the new engineering project and delivering to the operations team.
Such an approach is economically advantegous when considering the overall costs of training and managing full-time employees.
Walk the Walk...
TechMark Global is not your normal Consultant shop. Our engineering background ensures our quick engagement in the development of revenue-generating strategies. One of the major criticism of "consultants" is that they are too theoretical. You won't find this happening with TechMark Global! We'll go out and deliver new customers to you, and manage the business as your account manager. We'll manage the project and follow-up on all customer-related activity.
When it's time, call us and we'll hop on board! |
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Synapse electronic launches in the US |
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Written by Jacques Coderre
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Thursday, 23 April 2009 11:02 |
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As previously mentioned, I have recently engaged with a company that designs and manufactures electronic controllers found in and around the home. the company is called Synapse electronic and applications include programmable thermostats for radiant heating systems or HVAC, humidity controllers, central vacuum boards, thermopump controllers and various other custom integrated electronics. They also offer engineering and manufacturing contract services. Please click on the following to download a copy of the Synapse overview presentation that I put together: Synapse_Overview |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 23 April 2009 11:37 |
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Written by Jacques Coderre
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Saturday, 28 February 2009 15:47 |
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I recently started working with a company that designs and builds "residential" electronics. Those that help us conserve energy, improve our health and safety, or just plain helps us indulge in some high-end home comfort. In these tough economic times, cocooning is back in style and it seems that those that can afford it are investing in their own caves. Anyway, off I went this weekend to the New England Home Show in Boston to educate myself on digital home paraphernalia. I was impressed to see the wide range of electronically-driven goodies that can now occupy our lives. Here is a llist of "stuff" that comes with a RF remote or that uses a digital embedded controller (my new, customer-driven interest), as seen at the show: Inside the house: - Of course the good old programmable HVAC controllers
- Fireplaces (gas and electric). No wood required
- Massage chairs that replace that guy that jumps on your back
- Split bed with "his and hers personal adjustments"
- Hot tubs where you can do your laps (cross-bathing swim spa) or recapture your crew days with the rowing option
- Window and door screens remotely operated. Open and shut all those screen windows in one shot
- Do the same with the shades
- Of course, open the house doors through a small touchpad
- Control the mood lighting and the music.
And outside - Keep your driveway nice and snow-free with an embedded snow melting system
- Control the pathway lights
- Program the irrigation
- Get the perfect mood with the external fireplace going
- Listen to your favorite tunes on those external wireless speakers
With all these remotes, I'm starting to like the HomeLogic integration scheme where all these devices are controlled from my IPod!
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Last Updated on Saturday, 28 February 2009 22:11 |
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Novel Sales Channels for Engineering Services |
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Saturday, 14 February 2009 16:00 |
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When it comes to selling knowledge-based products and services, traditional sales channels always seem to fall short. Established sales reps do not have the technical foundation to adequately find and engage with the right customers. If by chance they stumble on a prospect, they struggle when presenting the complex value proposition and get turned off by the lengthy sales cycle. After a handful of attempts, they lose interest and focus on easier products to sell. You can forget any possible involvement at the applications level or the development of the quote or the statement of work. When it comes to marketing, it isn't all that better! Marketing tasks are executed in a vacuum, with no link back to a core strategy, to engineering and manufacturing capabilities and to business development goals. More time is spent explaining the nature of the business than if one would do it on his or her own. At the end, the ad is off target, the press release is not grasping the core of the event and the web site is full of fluff. Here at TechMark Global, we take an alternative approach. Our technology background enables us to handle the complete front-end process of customer engagement. We merge marketing and sales activities and handle the customer all through the sales cycle. The approach enables a novel pricing structure to be implemented. We can move away from a pure "billing-hours" scheme used by conventional marketing consultants and pure commission structures used with sales agents. A mix of base services are coupled with sales incentives and are adapted to each partner account. In these trying times, we need to move forward with novel and effective ways of connecting with the RIGHT customers. |
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Last Updated on Saturday, 28 February 2009 08:36 |
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