By Anthony Romero - Sales and Applications Engineering Mgr. PROSPECT MACHINE PRODUCTS December 17th, 2019.
2020 Looking Further with Ford Trends Report by Ford Motor Company provides the very interesting results of a global study of customer behavior and tendencies. One critical statistic is that 71% of global consumers think that, “A company’s employees have a significant impact on customer experience.”
Prospect Machine Products has always understood this idea, and we consider customer needs as our “true north,” from the initial contact with our sales or engineering team through planning and execution and to the delivery of the actual deep draw components. All employees participate in producing a positive customer experience in one way or another. For example:
- Toolmakers and engineers participate in manufacturability meetings with the customer to optimize geometries, tolerances, materials, and critical features.
- Machine operators are interviewed during OSA (On-Site Audit) events by customers from different market segments (industrial, automotive, commercial, and aerospace).
- Quality personnel engages with their customer peers to determine the best gages and inspection frequencies and to prepare documentation for PPAPs (Production Part Approval Process) for new projects.
- PMP customer service team members have daily interactions with customers’ production planning departments to satisfy their delivery schedules and sometimes to address critical volatility in demand.
More from the Ford Report
Another interesting result from the consumer study is that only 44% “believe that employees understand their needs well.” This is where PMP’s sales and application engineering staff play a key role: understanding customer pain points, production needs, technical specifications, and quality requirements, and communicating these points back to the proper PMP personnel.
As the last point, the report states that “Even as internet commerce grows, 75% of consumers say they want more human interaction in the future not less.” This is where video conferencing and customer site visits are increasingly important. It is typical for PMP to have reoccurring biweekly video conference meetings with customers regarding multi-tooling contracts, and also quarterly physical site visits.
As the report mentions, “Seamless transactions are simply not enough; consumers are hungry for personalized service, meaningful interactions, and a little surprise and delight.” An example of the latter is sponsored PMP lunch-and-learn sessions conducted at customer sites. These organizations have actually expressed their “delight,” not only in the content of the presentation but the enjoyable time spent together during lunch.
Have a deep draw metal stamping project that would be best handled by a provider that truly understands the customer experience and is committed to your success? Contact us! Email info@pmpdeepdraw.com or call 203-758-4448, X25 for our Sales Manager, Nicole Spaeth.
