That definition comes courtesy of Ken Preiss, a senior fellow with the Agility Forum at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. According to Preiss, we're seeing a reconceptualization of what a product is. No longer mere commodities, products are evolving into customized items containing information and backed by full service.
"In the near future, simply having a good product won't be good enough for a manufacturer," Preiss said, at a recent Agility Forum roundtable in Detroit. "It will be the process used to deliver that product to market that will matter to the consumer. People want solutions now, not just products."
What will this mean for manufacturers who expect to remain competitive into the next century? "Companies will begin to view their customers as subscribers, not just one-time buyers," Preiss believes. Establishing a lifelong relationship with their customers will become standard operating procedure for agile manufacturers.
Mass production will no longer be a worthwhile competitive philosophy for U.S. manufacturers, Preiss explained, because Third World countries have proven that they can produce even high technology commodities, such as computers, in high volume. The key for agile manufacturers will instead be succeeding in the arena of mass customization - giving the customers what they want, as quickly as possible.
While the evolution to becoming agile is fraught with many obstacles, Preiss pointed to the success of a company like Federal Express, which virtually invented the consumer demand for mail delivered overnight, even at a price wildly extravagant when compared to the cost of a postage stamp. "While perhaps no more than 10% of consumers will be willing to pay extra for the level of service and speed that agile manufacturers can provide, that still represents a very substantial marketplace." In fact, Preiss predicted that at least one automobile manufacturer will soon announce the three-day car - an automobile fully assembled to a customer's (limited) specifications within three days.
The Agility Forum is an outgrowth of the 21st Century Manufacturing Enterprise Strategy study funded by Congress through the Iacocca Institute at Lehigh, and includes nearly 200 companies and organizations. The forum is supported financially by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and private industry. IM