[Business solutions] Identifying a potential need – Okabe Mica Co., Ltd.

Close communication with customers
Proposals from the customer point of view

What are the values that customers have come to expect and require?
This is the first step toward success in product development.

Background	Everyone knows that communicating with customers is important, but it is not always very easy… To eliminate such concerns, a regular information exchange meeting was established to allow a customer's engineering department and our engineering department to have a means to engage in regular exchanges. The purpose of these meetings is to solve the challenges of both sides with mutual cooperation. The following are some reasons why the two companies decided to work together on the issue. (1) Customers might not know what Okabe Mica can do or possibilities of mica as a material. (2) Okabe Mica might not design products or provide services by hearing customers’ needs and issues enough. Therefore, we decided to start regular meetings first, no matter how small the topic was.
Challenges	The customer manufactured products having frames with sizes requested by users, on which a unit using mica was inserted. However, the customer had a challenge because one of their clients requested to insert a mica unit to a small frame.
Solutions	We can solve that challenge simply if we produce a smaller mica unit. However, in these cases, the product life may be reduced. This did not fit our customer’s design concept and could not be taken on simply. We could solve this issue by combining development of a new high-performance mica unit with a new installation method.
Conclusion	The first step for successful product development and customer satisfaction is to share customer’s potential needs and true purposes together.