Noritake Itron UK I Interview
“We struggled to keep up with the pace of customer ideas as the language evolved over the 4 years, but now we believe we have covered most application requirements and we are now releasing new versions.
“They like it because they are seeing
products getting to market so much faster than was previously the case. Rather than referring changes back to the original
HTML with English command text and multi-language object naming which makes it easy to define equipment and enables anyone to follow the flow and apply the necessary changes. Built in objects support the typical text, draw and image objects plus graphs, pie charts, drop boxes, sliders, data logging, floating point maths and complete application navigation.
Noritake operates a decentralised business philosophy and has empowered country managers to make important business decisions. The company’s management style means that it is able to build relationships with customers locally at all organisational levels which has been enhanced with the development of this new operating system. “Customers traditionally need time to experiment and evaluate a product, but budgets are very tight and companies are becoming increasingly risk averse,“ suggests Stubbings. “The focus that we’ve taken has meant that
software engineers, customers can use our operating system to make their own changes in response to the needs of their end customers. There’s no ‘flapping around’ and people can make the changes they need with little cost.” This approach has been applied to TFT
products where the demands for complex functionality requires a quick start capability for customers who are looking to develop new applications where previously they used monochrome character or graphic displays. Itron’s customer base includes companies that manufacture products for audio-visual, industrial control, point of sale, IT-communication, vending, cooking, amusement gaming, security, transportation, automotive and medical markets, all of whom have benefited from this new approach.
Attention to quality and to providing
impressive levels of service have always been considered key drivers at Itron and by developing its own operating system it has played to those traditional strengths. “At Itron our commitment is to satisfy the demands of our customers with innovative, high quality and cost effective products,” explains Stubbings. “Our business looks to adapt to meet the needs of a market that has and is constantly changing. Over two thirds of our products are specifically designed to meet customer requirements whose average quantities range from 500-5000 units per year.
“Our focus on software is helping to
address their needs more effectively and gives us the flexibility to adapt and change product in days rather than weeks.” Stubbings gives an example of a customer that used the software to develop a new range of medical equipment. They were able to present an initial idea to their US customer within 48 hours and then make the necessary changes required almost immediately. The software is easy to manipulate - it’s based on a combination of C, Javascript,
www.cieonline.co.uk
we’ve had to change direction in terms of how we sell to our customers. “The traditional method of selling
doesn’t always work and we need to reach the guy further up the decision- making chain and they may not necessarily be the type of technical expert that we were used to meeting and selling to in the past. “Today we need to be able to bring a solution to the table so we study a prospective client’s website and operating manuals, look at the type of products they need, develop and then present them with a working TFT product and using our own operating system that takes just a few days. We then work with them to finalise the end product so that they can then take that to their own customers. The system allows either party to make further changes to the product based on the customer feedback they receive.” There has always tended to be more
time pressure on software engineers than the rest of the development team. “The Greek monks in the gang” as Stubbings describes them, but this new operating system means that anyone working on the project from hardware engineer to marketing manager can play with the device under development - they can experiment and make changes to the application using the language developed by Itron. “We have targeted medium sized businesses in the European market. We have the right skill-sets in place, the right people with the necessary skills and know- how to provide the levels of expertise and service that customers require and we’ve developed a range of standardised TFT modules that can utilise our software or other operating systems. “We’re opening up new markets by taking this approach, we’re selling an opportunity for a solution, rather than just a product.”
Having shipped 25,000 units so far it would appear to be an approach that is paying dividends. ■
Components in Electronics February 2014 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48