3 ways to embed a design-led approach into your business

Competitive advantage. Business growth. Return on Investment. Achieving any one of these goals, let alone all 3, can be tough without having the right organisational strategy in place.

The truth is, customers are demanding greater complexity and customisation of products. So where do you start? Design. Design may be considered the backbone of innovation. Yet, that doesn’t mean your organisation’s designers should work in isolation. Innovation in design should be a collaborative effort within the organisation and across the supply chain.

Here’s 3 ways to embed a design-led approach into your business and start improving your manufacturing success. 

Strategically embed design

Research by the Design Council found that organisations who embedded design at the heart of their strategy, earned a higher ROI compared to organisations that didn’t.

Integrating a design-led approach into your organisation often starts with change in the organisation’s culture. For example, a senior figure in the company i.e. a chief designer, can act as an ambassador for design as an integral asset within the company. They could be responsible for communicating the design-led approach within the organisation and help the different business functions get on board, eliminating the silo structure.

Ultimately, the impact of design on business success should be felt by all individuals in a company. Working as a unit from a design-led foundation can boost the performance of all departments in an organisation. 

Collaboration outside the company 

The same principles of collaboration within the organisation should really be applied to business partners outside the company i.e. supply chain partners. 

For example, Airbus boasts over 2,000 supply chain partners across 20 countries. As complex as they are, supply chains are critical to an organisation’s success and should be used as a source of design and innovation.

Designers exists at all levels of the supply chain. It’s about sourcing them out and listening to them. For example, as highlighted by the Design Council, an LED headlights supplier worked on developing compact high-beam LEDs. Their work enabled their customers’ designers to advance beyond designing traditional round headlamps. It’s these ‘lightbulb moments’ that drive innovation in design and production. 

Now this is all easier said than done, especially when you have over 2,000 supply chain partners. This is where communication is vital. Consistent communication is the needle that threads together the design ideas of the supply chain. That’s why it’s important to ensure you have a common design platform that enables supply chain partners to collaborate effectively.

Designers’ skills

At the core of a design-led approach are the designers themselves. Designers may be seen as the drivers of this organisational shift, but that means these designers will also need to develop new skills, such as collaborative skills in bringing together design opinions from across the organisation. 

This is where organisations should consider implementing training courses or apprenticeship programs. These programs can help designers to develop the necessary skills to succeed in implementing a design-led approach within an organisation.

Ultimately, a design-led approach is the gateway to success for your organisation’s manufacturing. In a competitive market, strategic change is often necessary in order to thrive.

You can also optimise your design capabilities with the CATIA 3D Master approach. Download the whitepaper now and see how you can improve you manufacturing success.