Speaker 1 (00:00):
We’re not a sales-driven organization. We’re an engineering-driven organization. And that engineering-first approach naturally leads us to solve problems the right way rather than make a sale the quick way. So making sure that we’re delivering the right solution and honoring the relationship and the commitment that we’ve made. So the hope is that there’s learning lessons from this that you can apply to be able to make informed decisions about how you leverage additive. And whether you’re working with DI Labs, you’re doing it yourself or you’re working with others, it has the ability to make a real impact.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
What is making promises versus delivering on promises? Some of the experiences we have, it feels like promises are made out of thin air and the output meets that sort of what it feels like how promises are made. Oh, I’m going to make a promise and we’ll see what happens. And I think an interesting thing about our culture at DI Labs, which we’ve had from the very beginning, is that we’re thinking about strategy all the time. How can we optimize, automate, improve, and enhance the world around us? That’s just how we live. And as we think about these promises as we get out there and we’re setting the stage, those promises are activities that we’ve been thinking about for years or months. We’re waiting for the right time to execute so that when we do get out there and we say we’re going to do something, we know that we’re going to execute. We understand the requirements, and then we can deliver. That’s one perspective into how we do it at DI Labs, why our culture is baked into all of our activities.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I think a big component of that is that we’re not a sales-driven organization. We’re an engineering-driven organization in some cases to our disadvantage because we’re not sales, we’re not in it… we’re not in the business to sell something so that we could sell more of something. We’re in the business to solve problems. And that engineering-first approach naturally leads us to solve problems the right way rather than make a sale the quick way, which is by making promises out of thin air. And we take those to heart. In fact, for us making promises, because we’re not a sales-driven organization, we’re driven first and foremost to serving our clients and for the long-term. So making sure that we’re delivering the right solution and honoring the relationship and the commitment that we’ve made for the long-term. In some cases, that means we lose, right? And we’re working on a project right now that we’ve invested a significant amount.
(02:54):
And after that, we’ve come to find out that the part that came out of the printer isn’t going to work for that project. And there’s two ways we could manage this. We could slap it together and throw some bubble gum in there, figuratively, of course, throw some bubble gum in there and ship it off and call it good. Or we could go back to the drawing boards, do a little bit more R&D and get that part to come out. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.
(03:23):
And at no point along that journey are we questioning… at least first are we questioning, “What’s it going to cost us”. We’re saying, “This is the commitment we made, and by golly, we’re going to follow through on it because that’s what we said we were going to do and they’re depending on us.” And it’s something that we take very seriously. And what I’ve experienced from the service end of things is that oftentimes the commitment stops when the profitability meets a certain level. So in other words, if I’m the customer and someone else is serving me when they’ve done the cost analysis and the business case no longer makes sense, then it’s, “I’m sorry, but we can’t help you anymore,” the promise becomes void. And it becomes void because it’s no longer profitable to serve the promise. And for us, that doesn’t rank into the equation.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
We see our commitments through.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
No matter how painful.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
No matter how painful.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
No matter how painful and how much we want. And sometimes we want to step aside, but we simply don’t.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Part of delivering that promise as well is being comfortable enough to challenge our clients on projects that they’re bringing to us and navigating those projects with them. So it’s not just about accepting and taking what they’re saying for a one-to-one, but we often challenge our clients to think a little bit differently about, “Let’s look at a way that we can produce or create your solution with additive or not in the most effective way possible to meet your needs.” So our promise is really about getting to the right solution and not just providing a solution.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
In general, we’ve really struggled with relying on outside suppliers, partners to deliver on promises. And the experience is typically when the sale is closed, those that were promising or off promising someone else something so they can close another sale. And I could think of a handful of examples. We don’t outsource 3D printing to other companies because we haven’t… the promises haven’t been met. And we’ve also experienced that with equipment where promises were made with a purchase of new equipment, of its capabilities, of its reliability and only to find out that those promises were made in vain. They weren’t founded on anything. In fact, they were probably made knowing full well that… which is crazy to me, that the equipment wasn’t going to work or had issues. And that to me is just, it’s unbelievable that there are organizations that operate in that way. And once that bridge is burned, that’s essentially it.
(06:24):
You get one chance to make it right. And we have experienced that, unfortunately on the receiving side, which is just another… it’s more fuel to our fire to ensure that we don’t do that. And sure, there’s going to be times where we slip up and maybe we’re on the fringe of a promise that we have to make a tough decision. But in those cases, we’re doing it with complete transparency and doing it in lockstep with our customer. And we’re still probably honoring that promise just in a different way. So it can be challenging to honor. It is challenging to honor commitments. That’s something that we take very, very seriously.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
If you have a deep understanding of the subject matter, delivering on a promise is relatively easy because you know what you’re fighting. And in times that we’ve experienced as you’re sharing with vendors or outside support, those promises feel as though they’re made without a deep understanding of the situation. Wishful thinking is probably a bigger driving factor than deep understanding. And it is our priority and our approach to have a deep understanding on anything that we work on. We will not communicate on something that we’re unfamiliar with. We share, we’re not familiar with that. We’ll become familiar with that and we can support you on it. But right this minute, we’re not familiar with it. So we can’t speak into it. And I think that’s just part of our philosophy. We are not going to make it up on the fly. We’re going to ensure that we go into things in a way that’s effective.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And some of that is grounded in our… there’s always a solution culture where part of it is, “Gosh darn it, there is a solution. We are going to figure this out,” and we have this grit that pushes us to do that. I don’t care if you’re developing a product, if you’re refining a manufacturing process, optimizing in an industrial facility, it is absolutely critical to have a team that you can depend on to bring each component of that system together for success in the end. And like us, if we didn’t have a trustworthy relationships with our suppliers, we couldn’t operate our business from supplying equipment to materials that we could rely on them for, it’s critical. And the same thing goes for the additive manufacturing service end of things. So when our customers are relying on us to bring something home for them that they then can put into service, I don’t know how you can operate without having a trusting business relationship, that you can expect the commitment to be honored.
(09:28):
And all too often we’ve seen that a lot of those relationships have transferred from honoring the commitments to being transactional because the goal is to increase the volume so that you can get more sales, everything becomes transactional, and you’ll lose that ability to rely on this network of team, extended team members to bring it home. And I don’t think you can successfully do big things. I don’t think you can successfully have a big impact without having that type of network. It’s been foundational for our business, and I believe that it’s critical to maximize success over any program. So customers should matter because they need to have someone… clients need to have a provider that’s got their back.
