Make a Product or Create an Expereince?

"Manufacturing" is the process of creating finished goods from raw materials.

This was a definition well known to us. But in today's world is that enough? Traditionally manufacturers looked at creating the products in the most optimal, cost-effective way (quality drove the prices). But today that is not enough. Customers are actually willing to pay extra for the "expereince" than just the product. So along with quality, providing an experience also matters and this is not true only for the luxury products.

Personalized Experience

From a toothbrush to a car, every product is driven by experience. Automatized toothbrushes, brushes for you providing a complete "dental expereince" .... Self driven cars, drive for you to provide a "driving expereince". How does a designer handle this scenario? How does one design a toothbrush keeping in mind the expereince it is supposed to provide above and beyond its utility value?

This is where modern simulation solutions powered by AI helps. They help simulate real world experiences which can be simulated and tested before a product is actually built and rolled out.

Fun Fact: Research shows that customers are willing to pay 30-40% more for personalized experiences! (Ref: McKinsey & Company report)

Connected Products

When was the last time you used a product just as itself? Think about it.... Your watch now tracks your physical health, your car knows where you are going, your vacuum cleaner know the measurements of your house and can clean on its own, your fav retail site knows your preferences of sizes across brands etc..,

The USP of a successful product is not only its own features, but also how well it connects with other products. Universal remotes are popular for the very same reason.

Product designers hence need technical solutions which can help create a "connected" product rather than an isolated solution. High-End design solutions help with built in library of product designs which can be plugged to create a connected ecosystem of products.

Systems Engineering as a concept is also gaining more and more relevance for the same reason. We need to design full and functional connected "systems" not just products.

Diverse Leadership in Action

The new way of designing personalized, connected products require change in mindset. Diversity in thought and action makes a lot of difference in achieving this. Its heartening to see many women entrepreneurs and CXOs leading this change from the front. As Sally writes in her article - there is an evident shift in the last 30 years in leadership with inclusion of women.

So what is my conclusion?

Today is the day of AI and Generative AI - If you keep aside the "artificial" part of it, its all about "Intelligence". Manufacturing as an industry is undergoing huge transformation to create more and more intelligent products which provide the right expereince for the consumer based on his/her needs as well as being able to communicate with other products in the ecosystem to be able to provide a more holistic expereince. IT solutions are surely a major enabler for this transformation!