JCI - Translating Customer Needs Into Outstanding Products

Johnson Controls (JCI) are a global market leader in Automotive Experience, Building Efficiency and Power Solutions. For over a century, JCI has been working to find new ways to improve the places where people live, work and travel. Their primary success factor is their understanding of their customers' core needs and focus on innovation. Capitalizing on the strong global demand for energy efficiency and sustainability, JCI's goal is to make it easy for their customers to go green, and this is the position that informs their NPD decisions.

Essentially, JCI’s competitive advantage comes from being able to deliver eco-friendly solutions that also maximize their customer’s ability to achieve their key business goals. The types of products Johnson Controls manufactures and sells also have a high profile in their customers’ sustainability. For example, JCI offer car seats that are offering 100% recyclable car seats, requiring less foam than traditional seats that are also more comfortable. This enhances consumer preference, surpasses vehicle manufacturer requirements, ultimately, providing a better product to their customers. JCI’s building efficiency products can also be a component of a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

Their successful translation of customers’ needs into outstanding products and services is due to their intensive focus on innovation and extensive investment in research and development. They combine innovative, advanced customer research methods with investment in unique laboratories and highly-streamlined operational processes to allow them to develop and disseminate new products as effectively as possible. JCI’s culture is focused on continuous cost-reduction and quality, which has led to the development of robust and disciplined innovation and new product processes. They believe it is essential to get the product right first time and, through this, they have managed to shave 18 months off the design and development process

Their years of experience in the sectors that they operate have also helped them to develop an in-depth understanding of their customer’s primary business needs; this is augmented by extensive consumer research using advanced research methods to assess major trends in society, population, and technology and apply them to the various sectors that JCI operate in. JCI evaluate current consumer groups and future target groups. They assess the impact of brands on product perception. They test new product concepts for future market success. Then, collaborating with teams of designers and engineers, they translate market and consumer intelligence into new product developments. For example, they can identify key areas of interior improvement and better support automakers in the development process. Their Consumer Research Methods Include:
Trend Research, Target Group Research, Brand Research, Product Evaluation, Concept Research

A key component to JCI’s success is the effective manufacturing and delivery of their new products. They invest in business practices that are as innovative as the products they manufacture. In their car interior manufacturing business (which is the largest revenue source), they use various tools and systems to achieve and maintain levels of craftsmanship and consistency for their customers. These include standardized work, Six Sigma, quick changeover, one piece flow, Kaizen, and 5S. All of these operational requirements must be taken account of during the product development stage and, as such, they design many of their car interior products to be modular, standardizing parts wherever possible.