Industrial Design and Brand Premium

"Industrial design can be said to have become a very important and even the most important starting point for the 'transformation and upgrading' of enterprises." Zhao Yubo, executive director of Shenzhen Institute of Innovation and Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, talked about the impact of industrial design on enterprises. said in action.

Industrial Design: Unprecedented Attention

Indeed, industrial design has become an inevitable topic for companies to talk about transformation and upgrading. Many companies that used to only be OEMs have established their own R&D At the same time, many companies have mentioned industrial design to the same important position as other traditional core values. According to the research report of "CEConline" on 100 people above the vice-general level of the manufacturing industry, in terms of "R&D capability", "industrial design capability", "production efficiency", "product quality", "sales and marketing capability" Among the five core values of enterprises, 42% of the respondents have ranked "industrial design capabilities" as the first and second most important positions, which shows that the current decision-making level of enterprises attaches great importance to industrial design.

Interactive topic: How important is industrial design to you?

During the survey, we found that the importance enterprises attach to industrial design is not an unrealistic fantasy, but a real investment and innovation. We have seen that in recent years, in popular industries such as consumer electronics, an endless stream of "makers" have well explained how products full of industrial design innovation attract the attention of the market and win consumers. For example, Shenzhen Jia Technology, which we interviewed, is engaged in the research and development of USB data cables. They make such seemingly ordinary consumer electronic accessories such as data cables so amazing in appearance and diverse functions. 's patents have redefined the industry.

In some B2B industries, customers no longer only require "usability", but require suppliers to closely combine industrial design and functional design to meet higher requirements in both aspects. This does not scare away Chinese companies, but encourages them to cultivate more capable R&D and design teams, connect R&D, design and sales more closely, and make industrial design an important ability to impress customers and win their respect and trust. This effort has been fully explained by Henan Hanwei Electronics. Their international ODM business has successfully won the favor of many international brands due to their strong industrial design support capabilities. International brand owners are confident to hand over the front-end concept, R&D, and design to Hanwei Electronics, and they are only the final OEM. According to Fan Hongjun, general manager of Hanwei Electronics International Trade Department, "This is completely created by Hanwei."

The cultivation of these industrial design capabilities is inseparable from the relevant organizational management of enterprises. hard work on. For example, Shenzhen Yaxunda Liquid Crystal Display Equipment Co., Ltd. will hold a product "question meeting" every quarter. It gathers teams from R&D, design, sales and other parties to reflect on its own R&D and design issues mercilessly in response to customer feedback on products. thereby continuously improving. Hanwei Electronics will invite customers to participate in the product R&D planning meeting during the product R&D and design stage, observe and participate in the product R&D and design process within Hanwei, so that potential problems can be solved quickly and customers can be won. Confidence and trust.

During the survey, we found that nearly 90% of the interviewed companies have their own industrial designers or teams. In other words, 90% of the interviewed companies have got rid of the simple OEM situation. And more than 44% of the interviewed companies have the highest leader of industrial design as the person in charge, which shows that they attach great importance to industrial design. As the division of labor in the industrial design industry becomes clearer and entrepreneurs are more and more accepting of resource sharing and cooperation, about half of the companies surveyed indicated that they would use outsourcing or a combination of internal personnel and outsourcing in the industrial design process. Way.

These interviewed companies also have a clear understanding of the benefits that industrial design can bring to their companies. More than 70% of the respondents said that good industrial design can provide product appearance more in line with market demand and increase product sales, while 64% of the respondents said that industrial design can enhance the competitiveness of enterprises and meet the diverse needs of customers.

During the survey, we found that the interviewed companies have also done in-depth thinking and careful construction in the organizational structure and innovation value establishment of corporate industrial design. Nearly 30% of the surveyed companies have used sales incentives to motivate industrial designers, which is undoubtedly a more advanced management method.

The whole industry chain innovation of industrial design

In the industrial design industry, professional design institutions play an irreplaceable role. They are not only more professional, but also have the ability to integrate basic materials, supply chains, and marketing channels that many companies do not have. This integration capability has been summed up as "design innovation service for the whole industry chain" by the well-known domestic design company Langjian Design.

This "whole industry chain" service model has been adopted by many industrial design institutions in China. The reasons are both active and passive. The active is that China has a complete supply chain system in many industries, which provides convenience for industrial design enterprises to integrate resources. The passive is that if you stick to the one-third of an acre of industrial design, the volume is too small and can only be integrated by others, which cannot be achieved. Unique value of industrial design.

By providing whole industry chain services, industrial design companies can not only help start-ups with product incubation and help them solve problems from product concept design, material research and development selection, manufacturing, marketing, etc.; Mature enterprises quickly entered new fields, supplemented and established new supply chain systems. From this point of view, it can be said that industrial design has been separated from the role of passive application, but has played a consultative role to actively serve the competitiveness of enterprises.

Confronting the advantages and disadvantages of industrial design

Because of the sustained and rapid economic development since the reform and opening up, the industrial design standards of manufacturing enterprises and industrial design institutions have made great progress. According to the observation of Michael Eagleton, an expert of the American International Innovation Professional Association who has worked in China for a long time, "China's progress is phenomenal. Not only in industrial design, but also in engineering, R&D and many other fields, Chinese companies have made great progress. If you If you are not in China, you will not feel the avant-garde and creativity of Chinese enterprises in design.”

But we also see that the "copycat" problem remains Troubled by "Made in China". Yang Mingjie, a well-known designer who has studied both China and the West, believes that it is precisely because China has been absent from the Industrial Revolution for a long time that there has been a fault in industrial design, which has led to some enterprises and the public not having a correct understanding of the harm of "copycat" and plagiarism. Therefore, for Chinese design to truly rise, it will take a long and long-term effort from many parties.

Michael Eagleton also thinks "copycats" are a problem, but he's more optimistic that it's also an innovation in some way. "We see that economies such as Japan and Taiwan have all gone through similar stages of development. As time goes by, more and more products will be designed with independent innovation, and there will be more and more industries with independent innovation, which will take off quickly."

It can be said that the experts, scholars, entrepreneurs and industrial designers interviewed are full of confidence in the future of China's industrial design, but if they see a boom, they will rush up. , often loses self and loses direction. Zhao Yubo calmly pointed out that what many companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, lack is not the ability to design, but "design thinking" in a broad sense. In his view, the strategy of an enterprise needs to be "designed", "the enterprise needs to find the right thing. This requires the enterprise to be designed as a product."

"Design-based thinking mode and strategy Ability is more important than having a design team. Enterprises need to sort out the value chain, business model and product strategy. In other words, design the enterprise first, not the product." Zhao Yubo pointed out, "For example, like a small If an enterprise pays attention to products, it is easy to put the cart before the horse, invest too much in design, and end up being dragged to death.”

In general, Chinese enterprises need industrial design more than ever, because from the It is an inevitable trend for OEMs to turn to brands. In this process, industrial design can play an irreplaceable role. When used properly, it can achieve the effect of four or two thousand pounds, quickly establish new competitiveness, and create a recognizable independent brand. However, after all, industrial design is only a part of the enterprise value chain, and the emphasis on it needs to be coordinated with R&D, supply chain, marketing and other capabilities in order to play a synergistic role.