Customer 5.0

Recently Rotometal were invited to talk at Conferência Intercontinental de Flexografia 2021. The theme of the conference was Industry 5.0. We wanted to take the opportunity to share our perspective on how we try to put the customer at the heart of our business. We're going to share some of the things that have helped us in the hope that they can help you.

Three easy steps to become Customer 5.0 ready:

1. Start with short-term, easy fixes. Acquire the technology, that would make your manufacturing process more efficient and therefore free your employees time to really work their creative and problem-solving skills.
2. Become obsessed with your customer. Look at the data you have available. Analyse how do your customers shop? What do they buy?
3. Collaborate with customers and suppliers. Contact your key suppliers and customers. Ask them how you can work closer with them.

What is Customer 5.0?

Our definition is based upon the industry 5.0 definition that truly focuses on mass customisation of the customer experience.

It's rooted in the changing of customer habits, desires, and expectations. It's been an ongoing process that has been further accelerated by the pandemic. The lockdowns in many nations led to a change in customer behaviour around internet shopping, expectations around speed, and the ability to order what they want when they want it.

This change applies equally to our partners, be they, buyers or suppliers, as it does to the end customer. Ultimately, we’re all experiencing these changes in real-time.

Why think about Customer 5.0?

This is so important because it helps you to truly understand your end customer. If you are able to truly know your customer, you will be able to design for them. This applies irrespective of your product or service.

It's important then to try and take steps to proactively be ready for the new reality of customer relationships.

How can we start on the Customer 5.0 journey?

Let's revisit those three steps mentioned above. Easy wins, customer obsession, and collaboration.

The easy wins

Those short-term easy fixes. They're a great way to open the door to the rest of the process of change. Sometimes it's freeing your teams from the day-to-day that will allow for the greatest leaps in innovation for your customer. Often these fixes require looking at the current technologies or processes you are using.

If you're in manufacturing think tools that will allow quick changeovers and setups, think tools with reduced risk of damaging and being damaged, and think tools that take no time to clean. Identifying opportunities like this can really help you free time up for further improvements.

Really understanding your customer

Building into your business a really deep obsession with your customer will help the transition. There are a few ways you can approach this. Really though it comes down to three steps, inquire, listen and personalise.

You need to inquire, design, and understand how products are used, needed, and purchased. You need to think about customer experience mapping & audience insights. A huge amount of this will be about asking questions, not just to your customers but also to the end-users.

Then, you need to listen. One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is that they ask the right questions, they just fail to listen to the answers. Find out and understand what they want and need and how you can help them. A key watch out here is not falling into the trap of finding feedback that supports an idea, rather than letting the feedback create the ideas.

And lastly, you personalise. Isn’t it funny that we’ve been able to build and purchase a customized car online, but we’ve not been able to do the same when purchasing for our manufacturing facilities to fit our precise needs and know that it can be made to order at no additional cost or delay?

Collaborate

Finally from our three suggestions is around collaboration. This is all about creating great relationships with suppliers and with customers. Going beyond a good personal relationship to one that helps each other to grow through developing new ideas. To be able to achieve this, real openness and honesty are required.

Fostering this environment, talking to suppliers and customers about key challenges can open doors to innovations that will allow both businesses to thrive. Just as importantly, it can allow you to see the opportunities for greater efficiencies, cost savings, and even new products and services. This is where you can really create new products, new business models, and new value propositions for your customers.

Customer 5.0

Once you’ve got the technology to make your processes more efficient, there’s no point in reverting to the old ways of doing things. It’s why we use computers with word processing software instead of typewriters. It's the same with Industry 5.0, given the efficiencies that can be gained, we’re well past the point of going back.

What it all means for the customer is, they get the flexibility and human touch they expect. They receive the perfect product fast, but they know people are still at the heart of the process. They are given the peace of mind of being listened to and being in control via us, manufacturers, allowing the collaboration on the line human/ human and human/ machine.

This is Customer 5.0, the perfect cocktail; human design meets human needs and seamless, fast, efficient, flexible manufacturing in between.