One to Watch - eServ, a Perot Systems Company

Discovering new and innovative companies is one of the interesting parts of this job. Many are cast from the same mould, but every now and again something pops up that is a little different to the norm, isn't a "me too" copycat and can be said quite legitimately to be offering something different to the market.

As we all know and have discussed here before service operations come in a wide variety of forms in this industry. It's only when you look a little closer that you start to see the differences between those who have an old SLA250 in the back room and deliver poorly finished resin models and those who rail at being described as a bureau and who can act as a effective product development partner and add tangible value.

eServ, a Perot Systems Company are one I'd place in the latter category. Never heard of them? No, neither had I but with over 500 employees, $43 million in revenue, and customers worldwide it's only a matter of time before you do.

Quite simply they can do everything you might expect an engineering company to be able to do and a bit more. The corporate strap-line says True Product Engineering Partner but that is only the half of it, speaking to the guys you find out they work with everyone from Terex and CASE to Harley Davidson, and have done everything from complete new product introductions (example here) to cost reduction exercises, many of the projects are quarterbacked from the rather cool mission control eOps Center shown in the picture which enables global collaboration in real time - looks like something you'd find at Kennedy Space Centre...

eServ use a model they call ValueSourcingTM. It essentially means clients allow them to become a major part of their design and engineering process, performing all tasks related to a particular project. The means that clients only pay for specific expertise when they need it and have no labour and overheads, in this era of cost savings it certainly resonates.

Good news for us in Europe is that eServ have landed over here and are now taking their very switched on project management and holistic approach to market. They suggest that their process results in "faster time to market, fewer mistakes, less waste, and increased profit". That is pretty much the holy grail of us all, maybe it's worth testing out the theory....?