3D Printing Helps Ford Cut Production Time on Some Parts by 25%

3D Printing Helps Ford Cut Production Time on Some Parts by 25%

• US major manufacturers, Ford, GE and Mattel are using 3D printing to cut costs and production times.
• Ford uses 3D printing to print car component prototypes
• Cut production costs of up to 30%

The so called experts are clueless

So we have been involved in our start-up for sometime and naturally consulted many so called experts on various issues. After awhile, we sort of figured out that the many of the so called entrepreneurial experts don’t know shit about what we do, yet they can go ranting non stop about their big rules and what to do and what nots. It was then we realized that hey, we know something about our industry that all our consultants don’t know better. It’s like asking a world champion tennis player to teach you basketball. Generic advices just didn’t make sense any more than teaching a basketball player how to swing a tennis racket.

Here are the 2 most common typical advices that just translates to nothing. Maybe you can gain some enlightenment out of them? Sure as hell didn’t make any sense for me.

 

1. “Always validate your concept before running it as a startup”

Yes sure. Just how do you validate something when you haven’t even build something for people to use/see? You mean by talking about it? If simply describing a new business/service can be fully understood, then that business/service is already in place. Which by definition, doesn’t need validation in the first place, because people have proved it can be a business!

2. “Do your market survey and the results will prove a demand”

A startup, by definition, always aims to break the current status quo and innovates itself to create something new that people have not dealt with before. How do you expect people grasp something in which they havent even seen it? Not amount of survey is going to be indicative of success of something new. If you ask people about something, they always want a faster, better product than the current status quo. That is optimization, not innovation. Innovation is about jumping curves.

 

A dragonboat company

So Bryan Lee(from Intraix) and i were talking about the makings of a successful company earlier and we drew reference to a dragonboat team, which i think is a pretty apt description of companies which have moved off the startup phase and in the growth stage.

A typical dragonboat team consists of 22-26 members (20 paddlers, 1 drummer, 1 steersperson and up to 4 spares) and a team manager. Who is the most important person? Everyone! Well.. aside from the politically correct answer, we sort of shortlisted the MVPs and eventually went down to 2 champions: drummer and steerperson. These 2 person, which Bryan and i agreed on, are essentially taking up the the managment and the visionary role of a growth company.

The steerperson, is like a visionary of the boat. He determines which direction the boat moves ahead to. 

The drummer, is like the manager of the crew members. He shapes the culture of the team and motivates the team to successfully execute assigned tasks. 

So what’s the link with growth companies? As we see it, the drummer is the project manager of the company, whom makes sure the team is well motivated and functional. The steerperson is the great visionary of the company, he has to chart the big direction for the company and think BIG. To carry this company boat to the next level, these 2 key personnels are extremely important. So if your company is really taking off, (Congrats!) be sure to figure out who is the steerperson and who is the drummer.