Why DSA was Founded
The year was 1994 when we first saw the possibility of creating
a new and more powerful capability in the Global Marketplace
to substantially improve Engineering Operations. US Manufacturers
and Economists alike had internalized the tremendous opportunities
globalization offered and were fast moving to a global economy.
To take advantage of these opportunities, domestic manufacturers
would need to disperse sales, marketing, manufacturing, distribution
and product development/support capabilities throughout the world.
From a Product Development perspective, the drive to globalization
would require manufacturing and project organizations to take
a more holistic view of the Product Lifecycle. This requirement
would drive globalizing companies to increase the efficiency
and effectiveness of their Product Lifecycle assets. Unfortunately,
there was a significant gap between requirements and technologies
to fill them. While PDM systems were available, they were at
the time largely toolsets that required substantial time, money
and effort to implement. There was additionally a large gap in
experienced analysts to assist clients to implement the emerging
technologies and streamline Product Development practices. These
gaps in the marketplace drove our opportunity.
Founding Principles
An eighteen month long strategic planning initiative enabled
us to understand how to exploit the market and resulted in our
creation of the following operating principles omnipotent to
our continued growth and long-term well being.
Our
effective execution would require the integration of proven
process analysis and design methods
to proven software delivery
lifecycle method. We would otherwise look like every other
consulting firm out there. To this end, DSA has developed a
Model-based,
Fully Threaded Project Execution
Method that integrates process
reengineering and software delivery methods at the work product
level. See Methodologies.
Note: Still today, most
of our competitors are executing PLM initiatives with two
silo’d
disciplines and have not brought to market the efficiencies
available in
a Fully Threaded Method.
Our staffs would require substantial expertise and experience
to be competitive. As a startup, we clearly understood we would
never be in a position to provide junior level staffs to our
engagements and ask our clients to pay for their learning curves.
This holds true today as the average number of years experience
across our staff exceeds 17 years.
We would need to be able to provide the highest-level staff
capability and methodology at rates comparable to those our competitors
were then charging for junior and mid-level skillsets.
To enable our pricing model we would need to establish infrastructures
and new ways of working that would enable our staffs to work
from anywhere in the world. This would eliminate the requirement
for bricks and mortar and would dramatically reduce our cost
of services sold to enable our pricing strategy
All of our staffs and infrastructures would require capability
to be self-managing and self-controlling. This would enable us
to increase span of control and eliminate much of the middle
management layer typical in a consulting model. The result would
be additional reduction in cost of services sold and would better
enable our pricing strategy.
We
would need to establish close working relationships with all
of the relevant PDM, CPC, PLM, KBE and SRM application providers.
Who We Have Become
DSA has experienced significant growth since
our creation and continues to advance our staff skillsets and
methodologies. We are today, a highly sophisticated consulting
organization capable of providing comprehensive project services to PDM, CPC, PLM, KBE and SRM initiatives. Our continued advancements
in execution method enable us to deliver higher value add by
reducing Time to Value and Cost to Value while increasing the
Quality of Deliverable Process Functionality that is attainable.
The cornerstone of our capability is our continual focus on process.
Our methodology assures that our engagements never become technology
initiatives and instead force our staffs and client partners
to capture and hold a tight focus on driving to measurable increases
in Product Lifecycle and Sourcing Performances.
We very much appreciate this opportunity to tell you how we
came to market, who we have become and where we are going. We
look forward to talking with you further. So please, do contact
us to see how DSA can assist you to Increase the Utilization
of your PLM Assets
On behalf of our entire staff, let me thank you for the constant
opportunity to learn, grow and advance in our sophistication
for without you, our valued customers, we are nothing.
Yours in great appreciation,
Kenn Hartman
President, DSA
