Continued...
Some companies are successfully turning to technology to further their engineering services needs, effectively using Web 2.0 technologies to an outsourcing advantage. These companies take the help of means such as ‘open innovation’ and crowd sourcing - i.e. outsourcing of tasks which are traditionally performed by an employee or contractor to a large (undefined) group, community (a crowd), through an ‘open and usually interactive platform’. The tasks outsourced could be as simple as generating competitive or cost cutting ideas or as complex as the designing of an entire product range or a completely new product. In a multi polar global space the knowledge process outsourcing industry has grown beyond conventional outsourcing. Apart from using third party services for regular engineering services, increasingly, engineering service providers are turning to outsourced innovation to contribute to the ‘product design’ itself.
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Some companies are successfully turning to technology to further their engineering services needs, effectively using Web 2.0 technologies to an outsourcing advantage. These companies take the help of means such as ‘open innovation’ and crowd sourcing - i.e. outsourcing of tasks which are traditionally performed by an employee or contractor to a large (undefined) group, community (a crowd), through an ‘open and usually interactive platform’. The tasks outsourced could be as simple as generating competitive or cost cutting ideas or as complex as the designing of an entire product range or a completely new product. In a multi polar global space the knowledge process outsourcing industry has grown beyond conventional outsourcing. Apart from using third party services for regular engineering services, increasingly, engineering service providers are turning to outsourced innovation to contribute to the ‘product design’ itself.
| Related Articles : India Emerging as a Major Outsourcing Hub for Engineering Services Engineering Design from India is Set to Soar |
Let us take a look at some examples that showcase just this – Toyota: Outsourced innovation The Japanese auto maker’s ‘value innovation’ strategy involves its suppliers beyond cost cuts and lower prices for supplies – engaging them in the design process for its high selling Prius model. Toyota’s is a case where open innovation and crowd sourcing merge- adopting a best practice method that invites all the best minds (albeit at large!) to participate in its collective effort to cut back costs and come up with a better design for its product. |
Boeing: Testing the model
Boeing also made optimal use of open innovation technologies to stress test the hydraulics of the 787 Dreamliner, combining the inputs of companies in the US, UK, Japan, China. Boeing allowed over a 1,00,000 entries in its World Design Team, an Internet based global forum encouraging participation and feedback from various stakeholder groups during final states of development. Their ideas and inputs were then collected through online surveys, in turn providing updates as the design of the plane’s exterior and interior evolved. This novel innovation method allowed Boeing to build a prototype using inputs from several thousand engineers and run tests as the design emerged.
Though the use of open source technologies is a debatable issue, its use in generating ideas for products is more of a win-win situation for engineering firms. Even if the design comes out eventually flawed, the firm then has a prototype which is a test of ‘what can go wrong’. On broader level, it is clear that outsourcing engineering services is here to stay and go even further in the coming years.
*This article is being republished; it was originally published online by Global Services on January 18, 2011.
*This article is being republished; it was originally published online by Global Services on January 18, 2011.
| GS100: 2011 Global Services Compendium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Download PDF |
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