Puromarketing The role of steel in the product policies of the future

Its main ingredient, the iron, with which it should not be confused, gave rise to the so -called Iron Age, -formidable technological advance -, twelfth centuries to.C., although much has been raining since then.If we did the proof of asking a mortal, common and current, to quote some "future" material, almost invariably, we would find some plastic, graphene and/or carbon fiber, and metals such as aluminum or titanium.On the other hand, if we go to a technician or engineer, it is likely to mention the carbon nanotubes and even materials that we have never heard of.For example, the microlattice.A metal developed by Boeing, incredibly light and resistant.The Holmio, used in magnets of great power or the Ytrio, used in the symmeters, those devices capable of detecting earthquakes.

Perhaps few would quote steel, by old.However, we should not lose sight of the fact that the Sacapuntas of your table;your cellphone;computer;clock;jeweler's;lamps;furniture;desktop material;Not to mention transport by land, sea and air;households;heating and cooling systems;etc, surround us daily.In all or part, steel is integrated into our lives in endless everyday objects.

Why await steel, a primary role in product policy?

It's time to think strategically.We need a reference framework.

En la actualidad, podemos vertebrar un marco de referencia, en torno a 6 ejes fundamentales: 1) ecología-medio ambiente; 2) escucha activa al consumidor; 3) Responsabilidad SocialCorporativa RSC; 4) internet e información y su papel determinante en la política de precio; 5) producción y nuevas tecnologías -y, por último- 6) diseño como factor diferenciador y facilitador.

The impact and, therefore, the importance of each of these axes, will be determined by the activity sector of our company.It will not be the same if we dedicate ourselves to the construction of paper clips, to give an example, that if we manufacture watches.

The ecology-medium axis

The social, present and future pressure, around the need to produce and consume products with the least possible environmental impact, has no turning back.Among all, we must support and consolidate responsible marketing policies that guarantee our children a planet to live.

In this sense, steel is a material that can be recycled again and again, without loss of properties.

Some sources suggest that 70% of the steel consumed today, comes from discarded material.

Active consumer listening

What until a few years ago was an anecdote, today is a reality.I refer to those consumers that we can observe in any trade, carefully reading the label of this or that product before buying it.They are informed consumers.Con criterio.

Alvin Toffler defined them in 1980 as prosumers neologism resulting from mixing+consumer.That is, prosumers not only buy.They also produce: opinions, likes, contained in RR.H.H.They seek quality, reliability, sustainability, price, security, hygiene and health, among many other things.

Brands are increasingly in mind, since their audiences now have voice.

In this aspect, steel is a material with noble behavior: it is safe, durable, reliable and predictable.To invoke the costs when manufacturing an alloy clock, which will last months or a few years and will also cause allergies to its users, when for a little more, we can manufacture it in stainless steel that will last forever and will be hypoallergenic, it does not make sense today today.

La Responsabilidad SocialCorporativa RSC

A company that does not actively work in a RSC policy, has no future.In my previous article RGPD and RSC: pillars of the current company, published in Puromarketing, I stop in some important considerations.

Por concretar, el Balance Social, herramienta fundamental en todo plan de RSC, se valdrá delCódigo deConducta de la empresa para exponer y desarrollar una filosofía que nos permita evaluar derechos y bienestar de trabajadores, derechos humanos, ecología y medioambiente, relaciones con la sociedad, relaciones con proveedores y distribuidores, así como a sus stakeholders.

Only from a correct and continuous evaluation we can inform the stakeholders, plan business management or improve negotiation with the parties, with guarantees of success.

Again the physical-chemical characteristics of steel, make it highlight as an ally when forming all kinds of products.In a sustainable economy model, it is a unreasonable -in addition to a moral attack -the programmed obsolescence.Manufacturers know what pieces have a shorter life cycle.Providing them with greater quality and/or resistance, would extend the useful life of so many things, reducing the ecological impact, improving the personal economy, lengthening, -in definitive-, the consumption cycles, in pursuit of a planet less contaminated bythe waste of industrial planning, in which economic benefit is everything.Do you have a cost?Undoubtedly.But it is an infinitely lower cost than destroying nature for the sake of profit.If we want to be on the market, we must develop an exquisite RSC.

Internet and information and its determining role in price policy

Returning to the prosumers, a characterizing feature of these is their ability to search and find the best price of a product.Something impossible without internet.However, some companies prefer to ignore it, repeating that its structure has greater costs than the one in its competition.

Who cares, in a competitiveness environment?

It is true that there may be hidden strategies to leave a competitor out of the market, but a priori, a consumer will choose the cheapest option of the same product sold by two different companies.In addition, as the differences are sometimes stratospheric, it will probably perceive the company that sells the same product for 150% more expensive, such as a rage or exploited company, which will end up becoming a reputation crisis if its comments turn on the wick in RR.H.H.

Production and new technologies

Keeping bay costs is basic to compete in price.In the case of products made of steel, this means a permanent update in the production processes.New technologies are more efficient and cheap than old.

We live immersed in a technological revolution that has done nothing but start.Like the first printers of the 1980s cost half a million pesetas (about three thousand euros now) and today we can buy a faster, more precise with higher quality and resolution for thirty euros, we are about to repeat the phenomenon.This time with direct impact on the industry. Hablo de impresoras 3D, y ¿por qué no?, de maquinariaCNC doméstica.

In a few years, they will be in most households just like the TV.If we add to this the fact that there are already 3D models that print in metal, for example, steel, the possibilities that open are endless.Con una impresora 3D doméstica capaz de generar piezas en metal con suficiente calidad y resistencia, las reparaciones de electrodomésticos, utensilios, vehículos, se pondrán a tiro de cualquier manitas, lo que devendrá en nuevos mercados de productos (repositorios de modelos 3D, creadores de recambios, etc), reparaciones a la carta, personalización de productos, y su favorable impacto medioambiental al reutilizar materiales y reducir el desecho de productos.

Who knows?Maybe the Cuban model of vehicle maintenance or appliances is not so distant, within a new paradigm in which the access or creation of spare parts is easy and cheap.

Un dato probablemente desconocido para muchos: el principal productor de acero esChina.This, together with the fact of being the factory in the world, should make us all reflect.Everything points to a rewriting of the rules of the game.

Design as a differentiating and facilitating factor

If there is something that defines a large majority of current products is convergence.Convergencia en diseño, prestaciones y funcionalidad.We see it in vehicles, fashion garments, computers, phones, etc..Everyone resembles.

At the same time, if we join the points of the above, a key question could be, what will make a product triumph in the market that is coming?I will dare to make a forecast: it will not be enough for its design to be beautiful and functional.The company that produces it must be compromised, really -not only on its website -, with the environment.Its human resources policy will be exemplary, as well as its Win-Win relationships with all social interlocutors.It will facilitate its customers to maintain their products to have a long life, the result of a firm commitment to the planet to leave the slightest possible carbon footprint.Cambiará la política de consumo rápido - venta rápida, por la de consumo responsable - venta sosegada, como respuesta a una necesidad real, no a un capricho o una moda.Also its R&D will result in truly novel products, not simple me-too.

In short, we talk about a return to sanity.In this return, are you still thinking that a cheap and disposable plastic will shape your product or do you prefer to think of a recyclable and durable material such as steel, capable of satisfying the demand of the prosumers?