是否是時間外購？ 搬弄是非的標誌
由Hayden ・洪
做它的大家的。 行業領袖像通用電器和微軟-以及發動盼望質詢他們-的公司外購近海處。 終究每家公司的目標是傾斜，給市場迅速地和有益地帶來創新產品的敏捷研究與開發部門。 作為經營計劃，外購在領導能力使公司支持更低的人工成本，包括薪水和醫療保健和焦點。
然而， 「他們做着它，因此我意志」，太外購的決定不是一個足够真正原因。 採購可以是一個強有力，有益的戰略。 然而，其中一個採購的挑戰辨認何時外購的嵌入產品研究與開發項目在您的投資將提供最巨大的回歸。 長的圈子推薦您注意告訴您的這些搬弄是非的標誌： 是時間投入採購工作為您的公司。
太多射出陷進在生產中？
您的R&D是否是組織在压力下，因為您的銷售隊許諾您的顧客在您的發展管道被困住的產品？ 主導的公司繼續創新產品流動到市場。 如果您有許多項目衰弱，并且您面對其中一些障礙，它`s時間由採購擴展您的管道和您的有利。
• 高值，全方位開發工作滯後由於缺乏資源
• 不引起未加工的想法為新產品; 創新痛苦
• 太繁忙的管理工作;
losing focus on your core business
• When you have got to be the first into the market to gain the edge
• A mission-critical project needs your team’s time and energy
• When only 10 out of 20 projects slated for the year get the head count
• A backlog of development work is never touched
Put in the dream team
“There are never enough good people” is especially true in the research and development arm of an organization. Do you have a project that calls for specialized skills which aren’t available internally? Perhaps budget constraints prevent you from taking on more employees. Or, maybe your R&D production goes in cycles; sometimes you need more people, sometimes less, and you want to avoid downsizing. Outsourcing lets you keep your development team stable and focused.
If you need a dream team but think it’s out of your reach, outsourcing can make it a reality.
Prioritize and delegate
Where are your priorities? Some people would rather play golf on the weekends and let a lawn service or the teenager down the street cut the grass. In product research and development, there are times when it’s more productive and profitable to let the right outsourcing firm handle some of these projects.
• Maintenance-level work that you want to offload
• Too many legacy products out in the field to be maintained
• A one-time project
• Projects of low value
• Non-core work
Dollars and sense
Experts estimate savings realized in wages by outsourcing can be anywhere from 50 to 80 percent. Outsourcing enables your company to reduce costs when any of these scenarios occur:
• Competitor’s price is lower than yours and you can’t drive down your cost
• A new M & A requires additional resources to handle the integration
• Profit margin is diminishing and shows no signs of improving
• Uncertainty regarding capacity expansion
• Potential for downsizing exists
Start ups stalling
Is your business experiencing growing pains? If your company is a startup, you may have the latest and greatest product, but do you have enough time, money, and people resources to deliver your product to the market before your competitors?
When your new business is growing or just leaving the gate, you can’t afford to lag behind the competition. Consequently, some venture capitalists maximize their investment dollars by requiring a startup business to have an outsourcing strategy.
Outsourcing is a cost-effective way to make your product research and development scalable and more competitive.
China strategy
With over 1.3 billion people, China is the most populous country on earth and evolving rapidly. China is now a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the host of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Nowadays, “Made in China” means much more than consumer electronics. China is the emerging market of the 21 century and companies that realize how important this market is for their long term business success are scrambling for ways to gain a foothold.
Because of lower wages and a superior talent pool of engineering graduates, research and development outsourcing is a key technology enterprise that is expanding in China. For Fortune 100 companies on down the value chain, offshoring research and development in China is not only a way to increase profit margins, but a way to enter the promising China market and ensure it becomes part of their global strategy.
Conclusion
From pipeline to patents, companies must find ways to speed up their development cycle and get products to market quicker than the competition – or face losing market share.
If your company is facing a time, money, and human resource crunch that’s impacting your embedded product research and development organization, it’s time to take a look at outsourcing.
Hayden Hong is the founder of Long Circle. Long Circle provides outsourced engineering services to companies whose products and services rely on embedded software and hardware technology. Long Circle and the Long Circle China Center of Excellence enables U.S. companies to reduce costs, increase engineering bandwidth, and broaden market reach by providing low-risk, strategic access to China’s engineering talent, manufacturing industry, and emerging markets. To learn more about Long Circle, visit http://www.longcircle.com.
