Getting Social, is it for Businesses or just kids?

There is a lot of talk in marketing circles about the buzz around Social Media. There is also a lot of misunderstanding about what Social media is. Of course everyone knows that social media is Facebook and Twitter right? Well yes, they do come under that banner, but the fact that they grew up being used by people to chat to their friends, does not mean that that businesses cannot use them to communicate with their customers, suppliers, and even just fans. Social media is also a lot more than just Facebook and Twitter, which are really social networking sites. Social media is any digital space, where the content is created and shared by the users. There are many places that this happens, Wikipedia, YouTube, Picassa, Flikr, Vimeo, Google Plus, Linked In, Blogs, Forums, Trip Advisor, Redit, Revoo, to name just a few.

Many people do not believe that there is any benefit for business to business companies in social media, but there may be for Business to Consumer organisations. It may be true that the is more scope to reach consumers, but don’t be fooled that you cannot reach your target markets with Social media, in some cases, your customers are already active in these media, if you don’t get active your competitors could steal a march on you!

The main issue from a marketing perspective is that social media is not a place for traditional advertising. It is not a broadcast media, it is a place for people to engage with each other, and that includes businesses. Many companies, and even bands, or charitable organisations, do not allow fans to post to their wall on Facebook. Why not? You are preventing your fans from interacting with you and your other fans, blocking up the viral flood.

The trick is to find out where your target markets are active, and meet them there. We now have Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Vimeo, Picassa, Flickr, Wikipedia articles, Linked In, and a blog. We make a concerted effort to write, share and tweet information that will interest our fans, followers, and people in the industries that we serve. We always try and pick related areas, but don’t just bleat on about us. We try and stimulate conversations and discussions and you would be surprised about who joins in, so why don't you? Re-tweeting someone else’s content might go against the grain, but it costs nothing, and could encourage the re-tweeted to re-tweet you. You end up positioning yourselves as thought leaders and through that build your brand in ways you may only have previously dreamed of. Don’t be impatient, unless you have a very funny or shocking video; don’t expect to be a viral hit on day one. It takes time, keep at it and build your fan base slowly, it is like networking, but with people you may never meet in person.

Will Electric Steering ever make it to Heavy Commercial?

As the trend for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles is toward electric power assisted steering (EPAS) and ever heavier vehicles are converting to EPAS such as the Ford F150 Pick up truck, how much longer will it be before Heavy Commercial Vehicles get EPAS?

EPAS was always discounted for heavier vehicles due to the electrical current requirement to assist the steering effort for vehicles with such a front axle weight, even though they are all 24v as opposed to 12v for passenger cars and Light Commercial vehicles.  The Ford F150 above and the next generation of Range Rover are already finding 12v sufficient; the advances in motor technology are already making it possible to put EPAS on heavy 12v vehicles. For some time there has been talk that trucks will need to go to 48v due to the ever increasing load on the battery with all of the electrical systems, and recent articles in the commercial vehicle press suggest that 48v is only “just around the corner” (interesting steering connection) due to ever increasing number of electrical systems requiring heavier current draw. Add to that the increasing number of Hybrid vehicles, especially in the light of Government initiatives in the bus market, with the Green Bus Fund in the UK being mirrored in other EU countries to meet governmental commitments to the Kyoto agreement, more current will become available to enable EPAS on heavy vehicles.

However, EHPAS (Electric/Hydraulic Power Assisted Steering) is a halfway house, where an electric motor is driving the hydraulic pump, but all the rest of the system remains the same. Some small fuel savings are possible as the pump only draws current when there is a steering demand.

However I believe that the cost of development for EPAS for such vehicles and the number of production vehicles that can carry the development cost will delay its introduction until there is another driver.

One of the drivers for the passenger car industry to take up EPAS has been fuel efficiency and emissions. In passenger cars, significant fuel savings can be realised due to the power for the assistance only being required when the steering wheel is actually moved, and the amount of power required is directly proportional to the effort, whereas traditional hydraulic power assist requires an engine driven pump to be pushing fluid around the system even when the vehicle is stationary. This fuel saving of course immediately translates to reductions in emissions.

The savings that could be achieved in heavy commercial vehicles is similar, but as a percentage of the current fuel consumption of such vehicles is small beans. A further driver however could be the introduction of steer by wire (SBW). The latest revision of ECE R79, the European regulation of steering in motor vehicles, makes provision for steering systems that have no mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the road wheel. New electronic architecture is required to provide for sufficient redundancy in the event of failure, but agricultural equipment has been using auto steer on tractors and harvesting machinery for about the last 10 years, and a report by the Steer By Wire working group www.ttagroup.org suggests that steer by wire will have reached 25% of the agricultural vehicles by 2015 and 100% by 2018. Currently the off highway market has more drivers for SBW as it is easier to integrate auto steer, but that would become even easier with EPAS.

I believe that the heavy commercial vehicle industry will not go to EPAS until such time as SBW is proven in off highway vehicles, 48v becomes necessary and the increase in hybrid vehicles and the development of them reaches a level that makes good economic sense. Increases in fuel prices and the drive for more efficient vehicles will speed up the process, but I remember 15 years ago when everyone was talking about electric steering being the future. It has taken this long for the car industry to build confidence in electric steering, and the drivers for it to become financially viable to change, so therefore, although I would expect to see both steer by wire and EPAS to become reality, I would not expect to see it prevalent before 2020. What are your thoughts?

What Happened to all the Independant Vehicle Manufacturers?

During recent discussions it became clear that independent vehicle manufacturers were almost a thing of the past, most being swallowed up by big organisations, even in the military sector with, as mentioned in a previous post, Force protection being taken over by BAE Systems. However, as we are keen on Social Media, I decided to search around to see if I could find any manufacturers that we did not know that were also using Social Media (Social Media Marketing is an inexpensive way for SME’s to get messages to wide audience).

I was very surprised to find just how many are out there, designing and developing new vehicles using all kinds of new technologies, some even being nominated for awards.

Electric vehicles and specialist vehicles seem to be the main drive of this sector, as they need something that the “big boys” don’t have in order to compete.  They are spread a bit across the world and the range of vehicles astounding. Right from the tiny electric “ambulances” made in Italy by Alke to the monster mining trucks made by ETF.

Some of the others are more aimed at passenger vehicles such as Switch-Vehicles slightly reminiscent of the Aerial Atom (another independent but quite well known) or CODA Automotive an electric family saloon with 150 mile range. There is also Tesla motors and Fisker Auto both making full electric sports cars and ZAP Alias. The off road vehicle sector is well served by  Ibex Vehicles a rather Landrover-esque vehicle built in UK, and a very interesting vehicle that really ought to have military applications from Shadowhawk  with 44 inches of ground clearance!

It just goes to show that there are more, small independent vehicle manufacturers out there than you think there are over and above the likes of Morgan, or Dennis Eagle (refuse collection vehicles). The fact that I have been in the automotive industry for nearly 30 years, and have not heard of half of these companies, gives me hope for the independent vehicle manufacturers’ future.

Please pass this post on to all your friends to help support these independent manufacturers and grow their brands.

European Bus System of the Future

I was very surprised to find out that few of the British Bus Manufacturers even knew about this major European Government initiative, let alone were actually taking part, have you heard of it before now? My first encounter was in 2009 when MAN asked my then employer to come up with an impressive ceiling system with colour changing LED lighting. When I investigated further, I found that Evobus/Mercedes Iveco Irisbus MAN  Scania Volvo were the main vehicle manufacturers, and suppliers such as Hübner Init - Innovation in Traffic Systems FZE Digigroup - Digigroup SRL Ineo - Ineo Systrans and Invertec to name but a few, were actively participating in building prototype vehicles as part of the project.

The idea is simple; targets were set by the EU commission and a working group International Association of Public Transport (UITP) was set up. The targets were all about improving bus design, in such a way that it became more attractive to people to use Buses as a public transport system, instead of driving their cars. It was all about improving the travelling experience. I bought a book published by the commission from their web site to discover the quite enormous scope of the task, some of the planned outcomes were,

• Maximize the number of passengers in the vehicle
• Specify the bus to handle large amounts of passengers and increase the commercial speed of the bus system; special focus will be given to passengers with reduced mobility (disabled, elderly, pregnant women…), pushchairs and persons with sensory impairment
• Optimize the driver ergonomics and develop a new driver work space
• Standardize the Controlled Location and Information System to reduce costs
• Create a new system assisting the driver in better handling the vehicle within the city

Some of the simple realisations of the goals were as simple as locking fold down chairs, which can be locked in the up position by the driver when the bus is full, creating more standing space, with a coloured indicator light showing green when it was unlocked for use and red when it was locked, larger and more passenger doors with an outward swing to allow for better boarding and egress. Others included full colour TV style monitors for passenger information, passenger counters so that the driver knew how many passengers were aboard, Coloured lighting to warn of the doors closing or opening, low energy lighting with higher light levels in passenger entry and exit areas, and the development of Driver workplaces.

The improvement of the ergonomics and the Driver Work place is where Pailton can really make a difference, as it is here that our development team can work together with the bus manufacturers to provide the optimum driver comfort in the steering ergonomics. Volvo have built a very special prototype running in Göteborg with a central drivers position, which if approved to Whole Vehicle Type Approval will open up the RHD market and reduce the cost of their offerings to it by combining the RHD and LHD into one vehicle. The MAN bus is running in Budapest with the special ceiling that I helped design.

I wonder just how much of the EBSF project objectives and targets have been catered for on the new Borismaster or New Bus for London? I wonder if all this activity will actually work, and encourage more of us to take the bus instead of our cars.

Military vehicle industry on the up?

We try an keep a close eye on the inductries that we are active in, one of these being the military vehicle industry. There has been quite a lot of activity in this arena of late, with General Dynamics completing thier purchase of Force Protection, creating quite a giant in the industry, and Navistar announcing that they too might be entering the JLTV bidding on thier own as well as joining force with BAE Systems.

Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program was an attempt to replace the existing fleet of Humvees with a more survivable and capable family of tactical vehicles. Teams led by Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics/AM General and BAE Systems/Navistar were selected to compete in the program’s technology demonstration phase. When it came time to award contracts for the next or engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase, the two services changed the rules. The decision was taken to reduce significantly the requirements for the JLTV in order to bring down the price. DoD altered the potential value of an award by both reducing the number of vehicles it was planning to buy in the initial phase of production and proposing to significantly reduce the award period of future contracts. Given the reduced requirements, it seemed quite possible for new entrants who had not spent the time and money in the demonstration phase to now enter the JLTV competition with an extremely low bid. Finally, the draft request for proposal for the EMD phase proposed a very low dollar award to the winning teams. In addition, there is a Humvee recapitalisation programme, which appears to have been awarded to General Dynamics http://www.shephardmedia.com/news/landwarfareintl/general-dynamics-wins-vehicle-upgrade-contract/#.TtzZ78YVgzU.facebook
Add to that the announcement that the Australian government has announced an order for 1300 Hawkei Vehicles from Thales and it looks like everyone is going to be quite busy next year. It is just a shame that it takes armed conflict and IED's to boost economies.

Australian government commit to 1300 Armoured Hawkei vehicles from Thales. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8388555/aussie-armoured-vehicle-gets-go-ahead

 

What is London 2012 doing for your business?

I recently attended a small seminar run the British Business Club and UKTI. The guest speaker was Steve Backley, and the premise was export and the connection was London 2012. At first I was not entirely sure why I went, as Pailton Steering Systems do not make product you would at first associate with London 2012, or for that matter any Olympic event. While waiting for the event to start I was talking to Robert Boswell, a director from Weatherite Holdings, a manufacturer of large air conditioning equipment. He posed the question above, to which I had no immediate answer, but after some consideration realised that actually, London 2012 would definitely have an effect on our business. I remember reading before joining Pailton that TFL would require 150 extra buses and 75 extra coaches to be made available for transporting the athletes and the visitors to the games, and that was just London. Other events are being held all over the country, such as 12 football matches are being held locally at Coventry City football ground, where we have access to a box. Weymouth and Portland are hosting the Sailing events; all of these locations are likely to need extra transport. The increase in the bus sales alone at customers of ours such as Alexander Dennis and Optare can be at least partially attributed to London 2012. Robert complained that his company were not able to quote on any of the major contracts for the building projects, but the fact that some of his competitors were now very busy supplying these, meant that he would have had opportunities elsewhere.

The opening speaker was from UKTI, and once again, when you think about it, even foreign major sports events can offer opportunities. He talked about upcoming Olympic games, and one that particularly caught my eye was the Sochi Winter games, which are apparently going to be the most expensive winter games ever, with a whole city being constructed on the coast, and the actual Ski resort up in the mountains, a total of £45bn will be invested in the project, a massive construction that makes the east London site look small beans. That kind of construction and supporting infrastructure, will require vehicles of all sorts, from construction equipment to buses to transport the workers and then to transport the athletes and visitors to and from the ski resort.  When that kind of money is being spent on the event, companies competing for the supply of product take the opportunity to develop something new, a perfect opportunity for companies like ours with all of those vehicles needing steering Products.

The next speaker was from Lloyds bank, which did not interest us very much at first as it was aimed at the inexperienced exporter, and we already export 72% of what we make, until they used a video as a case study, featuring Severn-Lamb, a recognised leader in leisure transport, and a customer of ours. As they say, it’s a small world!

Steve Backley was up next, and although his speech was not necessarily business orientated, he was pretty inspirational, telling us how he took his eye off the way ahead when he became world number one, and started looking over his shoulder, loosing focus. Great speech, inspirational event, and to cap it all free! It was well worth giving up a morning for. For more information go to http://www.ukti.gov.uk/britishbusinessclub/home.html

UK Engineering

One of the things that we are proud to be a part of, is the fantastic expertise in Engineering based in the UK. Many of the Formula 1 teams are based in the UK for that very reason. Many Global brands have development centres in UK, such as Ford, Jaguar, JCB, BAE systems to name but  a few. This engineering expertise turns up all over the world, Pailton even exports 72% of everything that we make. One of our customers, Force Protection, Manufacture an armoured vehicle, to which we supply the steering, and this vehicle is currently in Australia for trials with the Australian Army as part of thier REDFIN programme.

This vehicle was designed and engineered in UK, supporting the growth of UK engineering talent, and is out there competing with the best in the world. Pailton are strong supporters of developing the next generation of engineers and as such have our own Apprentice scheme, this year taking on 3 new apprentices. With the government supporting Apprenticeship schemes, there has been scrutiny of some firms offering "apprenticeships" which are basically only semi skilled jobs, in order to win funding, (news article about apprenticeship scheme abuse). It would be very sad if this funding was withdrawn and places became unavailable due this type of abuse.