Heidelberg, Honeywell, and Eaton: Using Information Technology to build smart products and services.

This case is about the importance of smart products and smart services in order to make and increase the market share of manufacturing organizations. This case justifies the importance of information technology in providing smart services to customers and making of smart products.

1)      Why should manufacturing companies build smart products and provide smart services? What business benefits can they gain? Provide several examples beyond those discussed in this case.

Today’s Business environment is very complex and competitive. There is a huge competition among organizations and people have lots of options to go for. So in order to become the choice of its costumer products need to be smart than the rest and it should provide best services so that consumer can make the optimum utilization of product. Developing a new product is no longer a concern, developing a smart product which does something that rest of others of similar nature doesn’t is one of the most challenging task of organizations. Manufacturing companies should develop smart products and provide smart services in........click below to read all.

order to become identical and effective. To develop smart products and smart services organizations needs to make the optimum use of information technologies and collect as much information as possible to know people’s expectations and to develop effective product to meet those expectation. Lots of consumer oriented organizations use information technology for new innovations to provide smart products to its customers. Big companies spend millions of dollars in information technology and come up with new technologies. As a result people consider them as reliable and good brands and go for it.

There is several business benefits that an organization can enjoy by providing smart services, some of them are pointed out below:

*Consumer trust. This is one of the most important components of successful business firms. When consumers are provided smart products they become loyal to the product and brand helping the business to survive and grow.

*Increased Revenue. When good products come to the market people eagerly buy those products resulting the increase in sales revenue of organization.

*Brand value. Brand value helps in generating higher profit margins in long run.

Company like Samsung spends very higher amount of revenues in information technology for innovations and always becomes the first to come up with new idea. As a result Samsung has high sales revenue and consumer trust as one of the market leader in consumer electronics.

Sony and HP have very well after sales service in terms of maintenance and buy back so they enjoy the recognition of best brands of electronics equipments among its users.

KFC, Pizzahut and MacDonald’s provide smart services and products to its costumers through out the world in same manner. Information technology is very much responsible to manage their operation throughout the world in a uniform manner.

2)      What information technologies are used by the companies in this case to build smart products and provide smart services? What other IT components might be used? Give examples of the capabilities they would provide.

Heidelberger, the number one maker of high-end printing press for printers and print media producers, used built-in sensors and networking microprocessors to monitor its equipment remotely in order to provide repair services to its customers throughout the world. Through the use of internet they connect their users with their technical support experts and solved the problems making it more cost effective and convenient for both themselves and their customers. This not only decreased the cost of maintenance personnel’s but also enhanced the reliability of its products among the users. Besides all these,

They could also have implemented 24 hour online support system using servers and information receptors so that costumer would have benefited more.

They could have make their product more smart by providing descriptive alerts and indicators which would have helped users to find out what’s going wrong easily.

Honeywell International ,Global conglomerate involved in controlling automation systems for petroleum refineries used smart services called Experian Process knowledge system which helped in monitoring and controlling all the functions performed by their user. This ensured the productivity as well as reduced the cost of maintenance because of quick response to every small mistake. Costumers benefited fewer false alarms that a process is falling, less unanticipated downtime and lower maintenance costs. Costumers found it more effective and Honeywell could also charge premium for the use of this service as a result business became more profitable and also increased the scope of other services provided to its costumers. Besides using existing information technologies in their business:

They could have used sensors that would facilitate the quick location of fault and made the product smarter.

They could have provided descriptive website about maintenance and controlling of errors with online support so that costumers would have had quick solution of their problem.

Eaton Corporation, Working in manufacturing engineering components came up with the smart product concept and used wireless alert systems in its products to make its users more secure regarding their home and workplace. They used monitoring system through power sensors which alert homeowners about the amiss via information technology like mobile and computers (emails).This product made the security system much better and convenient to its users. This smart product became so popular and effective that rising from a tough competition now Eaton Incorporation stands for total home awareness, as one of the most reputed brands. Together with this,

 They could have used visual alerts in order to enhance the reliability of their product and to make it smarter.

Since the wireless sensors have some range so they could have increased the range and make the product more effective.

Controlling whole the security system from the sensor itself as well would have been the other option to go for.

3)      What are some limitations of a smart products and smart service strategies? Give several examples of challenges that a business might encounter, and explain how it might overcome them.

While manufacturing a product and services perfection is almost impossible to attain. Every product has both positive and negative points. Smart products and services are not the exception. Smart products and products without flaws are different things. Smart products and services have so many limitations which as any other product. Some of the limitations are explained below:

In case of Heidelberg’s repair service through internet, it is only possible to find out what’s wrong but finding out the problem only may not be the solution. Solving the problem and bringing the equipment to operate again may need parts and personnel who could fix it.So; it’s not effective when the problem can’t be solved just through instructions and information’s. So it is also important to have standby workforce ready to solve the problem by appearing in location of the problem as soon as possible.

In case of Honeywell International, controlling whole the system through networking form Honeywell headquarters may not be appropriate always. Because real time scenario can be different from the one seen from far. It may not consider the practicality of the workplace.

Unlike Honeywell maintenance personnel solving the problem by observing it, controlling from far aside and solving a problem may not be effective. Controlling should be facilitated by other factors of the organization which would make it easier to decide which would be the best option to go for.

In case of Eaton Incorporation, Wireless alerts are limited to a particular range, so what if the unpleasant happens when one is out of the range of frequency. It doesn’t become effective then. Automatic sensors may not always give the accurate information about the condition because technology doesn’t have artificial intelligence and cannot distinguish between natural changes and accidents. Moreover smart products and smart services come with smart price so everyone couldn’t afford it. So these products and services should consider about price as well along with all above discussed factors in order to minimize the limitations and maximize the utility of the product.

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