2016 Global Factory Control Solutions Customer Value ... · Frost & Sullivan research states that the global manufacturing execution systems MES market generated $4,588 million in

2016 Global Factory Control SolutionsCustomer Value Leadership Award

2016

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2016 2 “We Accelerate Growth”

Contents

Background and Company Performance ........................................................................ 3

Industry Challenges .............................................................................................. 3

Customer Impact and Business Impact of Cogiscan .................................................. 4

Conclusion........................................................................................................... 6

Significance of Customer Value Leadership .................................................................... 7

Understanding Customer Value Leadership .................................................................... 7

Key Benchmarking Criteria .................................................................................... 8

The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards ....................... 8

Research Methodology .......................................................................................... 8

Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices ................................................................................................................... 9

About Frost & Sullivan .............................................................................................. 10



Background and Company Performance

Industry Challenges

The manufacturing world is on the brink of transformation, with smart factories and an

emphasis on automation coming to the forefront; these trends aim towards efficient

quality-control processes.1 The quality-control process is extremely crucial in a

manufacturing plant, as it enables high-quality products for end users while ensuring the

highest customer satisfaction rates balanced with the reduction in production cost. Thus,

an appropriate quality-control process benefits a company in both reputation and revenue.

The growing need to improve the quality-control process in manufacturing plants and

facilities across the globe, and the demand to minimize costs associated with the

downtime of production operations have led end users to adopt cost-effective, off-the-

shelf manufacturing execution systems (MES). This solution helps tackle complex

environments and increase overall production efficiency, productivity, and visibility.

MES is a control system for managing and monitoring work-in-progress on a factory floor.

It provides standardized workflows to operators to provide the highest possible production

quality as well as regulatory compliance. It ensures standard application library suites for

common functions in different industries. MES analyzes and reports resource availability,

schedules and updates orders, collects detailed execution data such as material and labor

usage, process parameters, order and equipment status, and other crucial information.2

Today, the demand for real-time data acquisition and improved visibility on the shop floor

strengthens MES adoption. The evolution of this discrete industry requires an MES solution

that handles huge volumes of generated data. The complex production environment in a

process and discrete industries increases the need for better visibility of the entire

production arena.

Frost & Sullivan research states that the global manufacturing execution systems MES

market generated $4,588 million in revenue for 2013; it is expected to grow at a

compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.5% from 2013 to 2020 with an estimated

$8,648.0 million in revenue for 2020.3

Another challenge in the factory control solutions market is the enormous pressure with

the concept of Industry 4.0 and its supplemental technologies, which has a positive

influence on the MES market. The Internet of things concept, and technologies such as

industry mobility and cloud computing being included in the MES solution, encourage end

users to connect all assets and improve operational productivity through a single

framework. However, it causes some level of uncertainty when the equipment and

1 See, Frost & Sullivan, Keep Pace with the Smart Factories of Tomorrow 2 See, Frost & Sullivan, ND75-01 3 See, Frost & Sullivan, ND75-01



software vendors in factory control solutions are trying to position themselves under

Industry 4.0 and the Factory of the Future vision.

Frost & Sullivan believes introducing industrial mobility, cloud computing, and Big Data

processing will result in visible development in MES solutions, further transforming the

overall industrial manufacturing value chain.

Customer Impact and Business Impact of Cogiscan

Leading the Way in the Factory Control Solutions Market

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Bromont, Quebec, Cogiscan is the leading global

track, trace, and control solutions provider for the electronics manufacturing industry. The

company offers a complete range of specialized hardware and software modules that

enable effective factory control solutions.

The basis of Cogiscan’s global performance is the concept of using the information

technology to integrate all the various stages of the manufacturing process, such as

machines, materials, people, and enterprise systems. The company’s goal is to optimize

the electronic assembly process with the intent to eliminate potential product failures.

Cogiscan concentrates on material control for practical and cost-effective solutions that

ensure reliability.

While maintaining a strong market position, Cogiscan distillates on positioning itself to

stand between the machines and enterprise software vendors and to provide Track, Trace

and Control (TTC) solutions—most critical applications for electronics assembly.

TTC Middleware Effective Performance

The TTC Middleware is the foundation for the

company’s overall applications. This robust

connectivity layer extracts high-quality real-time data

from customers’ shop floor as well as enables the

foundation for the Factory of the Future concept. Its

open architecture readies multiple options for future

development instead of limiting its customers’

roadmap to a single vendor solution.

Cogiscan provides value for customers through

different application modules that depend on specific

requirements and actual needs—a customer can

choose any of TTC applications modules:

Material Control—These modules include a

range of options, such as inventory, kitting, and

Cogiscan TTC Performance

Source: Cogiscan



set-up line control, enabling its customers to sustain a competitive edge.

Traceability—Includes product, process, component, and material traceability;

these modules are the powerful tool for effective troubleshooting and product

quality improvement.

TTC Analytics—Cogiscan’s Factory Intelligence establishes objective and

measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) while monitoring productivity per

machine/workstation and per line, in real-time.

Cogiscan is also the only company in the global market that provides a connectivity layer

of software as a stand-alone solution. Other companies, such as big MES vendors, also

provide their connectivity software, but it performs only with their MES application. As a

company with a great knowledge and experience, as well as the biggest library of

interfaces already available, Cogiscan decided to break that rule and set connectivity layer

as an actual product for sale.

Cogiscan’s Customer-oriented Approach

For achieving a leadership position in the factory control solutions market, a company

must be cognizant of the industry challenges, as well as the customers’ challenges.

Through exceptional customer service and product quality, Cogiscan meets these

challenges for optimal customer value.

An issue in the MES industry is the lack of reliability of companies claiming competence in

all solutions regarding software. It leads to the problem of unrealistic expectations and

project delivery failures. After spending millions of dollars and years of effort, the

customers are not satisfied with the unsuccessful implementation of MES systems.

Cogiscan believes that the ability to meet customers’ expectations is the first quality

measurement. Thus, Cogiscan focuses on providing excellent TTC solutions. As a result,

Cogiscan’s products show best-in-class quality and high reliability—strengthening the

company’s expertise and resulting in higher customer satisfaction rates.

”When you are trying to do too much, the effective operation becomes extremely difficult.

Cogiscan’s approach is not to tell our customers we can do everything. We are experts in

our area with the years of expertise; we know exactly what a customer needs and then

we deliver that. Customers are satisfied in the end as they receive the project they

exactly need.”

- Francois Monette, VP Sales and Marketing, Cogiscan

When launching a new solution, Cogiscan always pays attention to its clients’ feedback

with optimal integrity, aiming to improve the product development process, both from

technical and market-entry aspects. The company commits to maintaining highest quality



standards with its products and providing excellent service. This commitment to

innovation enables Cogiscan to satisfy customers’ demands and anticipate future

expectations.

Achieving De Facto Standard Maker Position in the Market

Today, Cogiscan creates the conditions for the mutually beneficial cooperation of all

market participants—from global companies to private partners. With attention on the

final product development, Cogiscan’s new strategy within the Industry 4.0 concept

focuses on equipment and software partners. The company continuously communicates

with its partners to better understand and meet industry needs.

A prominent example of Cogiscan’s effective cooperation with partners is the partnership

with Juki Automation Systems in 2015, which developed and released the latest version of

the Factory Intelligence Software. The software provides a real-time automated feedback

on the factory operations and drives continuous improvements in operational efficiency.

A new Cogiscan’s business model demonstrated proven value for the company and

perfectly responds to the challenge of Industry 4.0, and enabled continuous growth in the

challenging market.

Building strong brand recognition is a key goal for Cogiscan. The company builds its global

brand equity among the equipment and software manufacturers with the goal of being

recognized as the expert and de facto standard-maker for connectivity. Cogiscan’s

commitment to success and innovation focuses on providing excellent service to each

customer and partner: experienced staff, reliable technical advice, and quality products

and solutions—all of these elements let the company take an appropriate approach to

each partner.

Conclusion

With an increasing demand for improved quality control processes while maintaining cost-

efficiency, Cogiscan’s Trace and Control (TTC) solutions hold the potential to provide new

standards and quality for the electronics manufacturing industry. The company promptly

responds to the challenging development of Industry 4.0, through its continual innovative

development, providing best-in-class quality, and effective and successful customer

relations.

With its commitment to innovation and deep concentration on building long-lasting

relations with partners and customers, Cogiscan earns Frost & Sullivan’s 2016 Global

Customer Value Leadership Award in factory control solutions market.



Significance of Customer Value Leadership

Ultimately, growth in any organization depends upon customers purchasing from your

company, and then making the decision to return time and again. Delighting customers is

therefore the cornerstone of any successful growth strategy. To achieve these dual goals

(growth and customer delight), an organization must be best-in-class in three key areas:

understanding demand, nurturing the brand, and differentiating from the competition.

Understanding Customer Value Leadership

Customer Value Leadership is defined and measured by two macro-level categories:

customer impact and business impact. These two sides work together to make customers

feel valued, and confident in their products’ quality and long shelf life. This dual

satisfaction translates into repeat purchases and a high lifetime customer value.



Key Benchmarking Criteria

For the Customer Value Leadership Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently

evaluated two key factors—Customer Impact and Business Impact—according to the

criteria identified below.

Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value

Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience

Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience

Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience

Criterion 5: Brand Equity

Business Impact

Criterion 1: Financial Performance

Criterion 2: Customer Acquisition

Criterion 3: Operational Efficiency

Criterion 4: Growth Potential

Criterion 5: Human Capital

The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best

Practices Awards

Research Methodology

Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree research

methodology represents the analytical

rigor of our research process. It offers a

360-degree-view of industry challenges,

trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of

Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies.

Too often, companies make important

growth decisions based on a narrow

understanding of their environment,

leading to errors of both omission and

commission. Successful growth strategies

are founded on a thorough understanding

of market, technical, economic, financial,

customer, best practices, and demographic

analyses. The integration of these research

disciplines into the 360-degree research

methodology provides an evaluation

platform for benchmarking industry

players and for identifying those performing at best-in-class levels.

360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN

THE CHAOS



Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching,

Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices

Frost & Sullivan Awards follow a 10-step process to evaluate award candidates and assess

their fit with select best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity of the Awards are

based on close adherence to this process.

STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT

1 Monitor, target, and screen

Identify award recipient candidates from around the globe

Conduct in-depth industry research

Identify emerging sectors Scan multiple geographies

Pipeline of candidates who potentially meet all best-practice criteria

2 Perform 360-degree research

Perform comprehensive, 360-degree research on all candidates in the pipeline

Interview thought leaders and industry practitioners

Assess candidates’ fit with best-practice criteria

Rank all candidates

Matrix positioning all candidates’ performance relative to one another

3

Invite thought leadership in best practices

Perform in-depth examination of all candidates

Confirm best-practice criteria Examine eligibility of all

candidates Identify any information gaps

Detailed profiles of all ranked candidates

4

Initiate research director review

Conduct an unbiased evaluation of all candidate profiles

Brainstorm ranking options Invite multiple perspectives

on candidates’ performance Update candidate profiles

Final prioritization of all eligible candidates and companion best-practice positioning paper

5

Assemble panel of industry experts

Present findings to an expert panel of industry thought leaders

Share findings Strengthen cases for

candidate eligibility Prioritize candidates

Refined list of prioritized award candidates

6

Conduct global industry review

Build consensus on award candidates’ eligibility

Hold global team meeting to review all candidates

Pressure-test fit with criteria Confirm inclusion of all

eligible candidates

Final list of eligible award candidates, representing success stories worldwide

7 Perform quality check

Develop official award consideration materials

Perform final performance benchmarking activities

Write nominations Perform quality review

High-quality, accurate, and creative presentation of nominees’ successes

8

Reconnect with panel of industry experts

Finalize the selection of the best-practice award recipient

Review analysis with panel Build consensus Select winner

Decision on which company performs best against all best-practice criteria

9 Communicate recognition

Inform award recipient of award recognition

Present award to the CEO Inspire the organization for

continued success Celebrate the recipient’s

performance

Announcement of award and plan for how recipient can use the award to enhance the brand

10 Take strategic action

Upon licensing, company may share award news with stakeholders and customers

Coordinate media outreach Design a marketing plan Assess award’s role in future

strategic planning

Widespread awareness of recipient’s award status among investors, media personnel, and employees



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Documents

2016 Global Factory Control Solutions Customer Value ... · Frost & Sullivan research states that the global manufacturing execution systems MES market generated $4,588 million in