Advantech has consistently devoted resources and energy toward industrial computing over the past 25 years, prospering from these endeavors and establishing itself as a leading brand in the IPC community. Brand equity has as much value as a person’s moral integrity in that the strength of well-leveraged brands better ensure a company’s corporate positioning. Consumers judge a company’s brand influence as a way to measure its trustworthiness and its product dependability. Superb brand architecture is commensurate to a seal of approval.
To me, brand leveraging is about “quality” and “label”; it’s about creating something that's easy to recognize and that generates trust. And the key here is “quality”. Smart marketing strategies can facilitate consumer recognition of a brand; yet a consistently positive perception of a brand and the strengthening of customer loyalty rely on quality affirmation and a steady delivery of corporate promises.
Advantech has carved out a niche from manufacturing industrial computers that were limited in quantity but wide-ranging in diversity, meeting customer demands of various scales. It was a daunting challenge. Industrial computers are extensively applied in mission-critical areas including: telecommunications, traffic and commuting, railway monitoring, and control or military purposes. In these areas, product quality makes or breaks operational efficiency. We aim to deliver a product offering that meets or surpasses expectation so that clients are both pleased with Advantech’s technological resourcefulness and develop a greater level of trust and identity in the brand.
During the company kick-off meeting in mid-July, all the operating teams reached an agreement that an effective internal administration mechanism was sorely needed to increase employee awareness of quality concerns and improve production workflow. The Quality Re-engineering Committee was thereby established to hash out amore stringent management system in the hopes of improving Advantech’s product lines.
Two executive task forces have been set up under the committee. The first, the Quality Process & Technology Re-engineering Subcommittee, is headed by Jeff Chen, Chief Technology Officer, and QA Director, IC Lin. They have been charged with the responsibility to integrate various elements inthe technology front, modularizing and regimenting manufacturing technologies while rectifying shortfalls in workflow through opinion and experience exchanges among the groups. The second, the Education & Discipline Review Subcommittee, is co-chaired by me, with assistance from Deryu, HR Vice President. Our area of responsibility is two-fold: First, the regular organization of quality workshops, allowing design and project engineers to enhance skills and acquire the necessary resources to improve work quality and workflow, while heeding lessons learned. Second, a training program, where quality gate-keeping is executed through a Quality Defect Report (QDR). The person in charge writes and uploads a report to the intranet when quality-related issues occur. During monthly meetings, ten quality-related concerns, based on impact, are chosen among the assembled QDRs. The persons in charge or directors are askedtodeliver a report, covering the cause of the problem and the types of rectifying measures taken. Conclusions of the meeting are collated into a quality technology announcement and distributed within the company. In addition, these cases and their contents will be included in a Design Reference Pool, allowing manufacturing staff, R & D, and quality control personnel, plus application engineers on the front line access to the knowledge base when similar problems occur.
A decision-making body has been set up over the Quality Re-engineering Committee, Quality Process & Technology Re-engineering Subcommittee, and Education & Discipline Review Subcommittee. The team includes the CEO and senior management, and will address policies and advice put forward by the committee and subcommittees if the issues have wide-ranging impact.
Quality enhancements come incrementally over time. Although the committee has not yet reached the point of delivering quick results with immediate impact to quantifiable areas such as products or technology, it has successfully encouraged engineers and technicians to make improvements in less quantifiable areas, improving quality awareness during production workflow. This can be attributed to incremental countermeasures for each QDR case and the continuous tracking system. Shortfalls that cripple the company’s workflow can be dealt with bit by bit by accruing corrective measures, further increasing quality consistency and customers’ trust level.
Advantech strives to persistently offer value in corporate branding of its Trusted ePlatform Services. In being a “Trusted” company, we endeavor to provide the most reliable quality and products. “ePlatform” refers to the core of industrial computing, and “Services” are grounded in pursuing a customer-oriented model which offers a Total Solution. With the addition of the Quality Re-engineering Committee, the company will not be merely a hardware service provider, but rather a trusted, steady ally for customers. Advantech will keep improving its products and services,building consensus in quality assurance, solidifying its driving force to grow and creating a well-leveraged, high-value brand.