The key to successful co-development
The key to successful co-development
The Key to Successful Co-development
Looking back at Hayco’s 37-year history, it is remarkable to see what leaps and bounds the disciplines of engineering, product design, and production have made since their humble beginnings. While we seek to invest in the most advanced machinery and tools available, we never lose sight of what makes for successful co-development: the power of human communication.
We sat down with Simeon Jupp to ask him his thoughts on why communication is so integral to what we do, and why valuing people is such an essential part of our operation.
What is the most essential element of co-development?
Successful co-development hinges on communication. We have deliberately built an international design team in China to ensure that we have strong language skills and a deep cultural understanding of our customers and the environments our products will be used in.
Many design conversations relate to the intangible qualities of a product; capturing and conveying these remotely can be difficult and frustrating. Our objective is to ensure that, by the end of every call or video conference, we’ve completely synchronized our thoughts. But there’s no substitute for face-to-face design meetings to bounce ideas around. Many of our most successful co-development projects can be traced back to the initial design workshops, either in China or at customers’ facilities, when the creative and technical teams lay the foundations for the project.
Equally important is to consistently generate creative and novel solutions to customer needs. We put a lot of effort into listening and understanding, and even more into using this knowledge to come up with great ideas.
What do you see as the most important technology to acquire for the future of Hayco?
The dreams of yesterday are the basic requirements of today. 3D-printing, laser scanning, advanced simulations and assembly automation are all commonplace in most development and manufacturing environments. All of them help to refine, improve and speed up the development process. However, from the start of my career with a pencil and a drawing board until now, one common thread has remained as a constant. The most important assets to acquire and nurture are talented, curious, creative, inventive Engineers with a passion for designing durable, meaningful products that positively impact people’s lives.