From customer need to dedicated solution
From the beginning, Cajo´s business model has been based on providing the most suitable marking and traceability solutions that meet the customer needs. In the early days of company history, this was done by providing a mobile marking service from a moving van. From marking services, we switched through fully customized systems and project deliveries to the current situation, where our product portfolio consists of standard stand-alone systems, marking units integrated into a production line or device, and of dedicated solutions, as the latest product addition. The own software has been included already since the very first customer deliveries.
Stand-alone systems, such as Cajo Vega™, can be used in a wide range of applications. Dedicated systems, on the other hand, have been developed for one and only application. We made the decision to develop and launch the first dedicated systems when we discovered that many of our customers face similar challenges that we could solve with one single solution. Typically, it is required that the new solution reduces manual work phases and manual input, or it eases the implementation and overall usability. In addition, the customers naturally gain the other benefits of Cajo lasers compared to other marking methods.
Understanding customers’ current production processes is the key for developing dedicated products. The best way to do this is to visit the customers´ production sites. When the current production processes of different customers are known, it can be assessed whether it is possible to develop one solution that can be easily deployed by different customers. However, if it is doable, the system development won´t be completed at once, but the features will be discussed with the customers during the development process. This ensures that the solution being developed meets the expectations of customers. In terms of usability, it is particularly important that future system users are involved in providing feedback on issues related to use and interfaces.
The development of a dedicated solution sometimes requires very close cooperation. Luckily, our customers have been ready for this because without it, the development of dedicated solutions would not be possible. Couple good case examples are the dedicated wire harness marking system, that we developed together with PKC Group, and marking solution for extrusion processes, that was created based on the solution that Aker Solutions requested for marking their umbilicals.
Writer Tomi Karsikas is founder & CTO who works closely with gigantic customers like Tata Steel and Prysmian Group, among others.
