Merge

What does a web development firm have in common with a car manufacturer?  Better yet, what can they learn from one? This is what I, a woman with no interest in cars whatsoever, wondered when Adam asked me to schedule a BMW factory tour for Merge's monthly Lunch and Learn session. Nevertheless I booked us a tour and passed on the request for the team to be on the lookout for efficiency and innovation.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the BMW US factory, it's located in Spartanburg, SC.  The plant is over 4 million sq feet and employs 5,000 people to produce the X5 and X6 (and soon the X3) sports cars.  The campus generates its own power on-site, offers fully equipped medical facilities including an on-site pharmacy and provides 24-hour security and firefighting personnel.

Upon entering the factory we were in immediate agreeance that the first thing Merge should take away from this experience were the robots.  The giant robots assembling the car bodies were so agile and quick- it didn't seem possible that they should be moving in that impressive fashion.  We could definitely use some of those guys to dish out the sodas, coffee, and Mast General candy around the office. Maybe they could take over the developing while we're playing a game of Mario Kart?  But in all seriousness and with robots aside, the BMW plant oozes with excellence, efficiency, and innovation.

Most of the cars produced at the plant are custom made. Those who purchase BMW cars know they are purchasing an excellent quality, high performing, beautifully designed vehicle that can be tailored to their needs.  Merge has the same philosophy- we provide high performance websites, quality support, and a goal oriented, user-friendly designs.  You won't find any premade website templates at Merge- we create websites based on our clients' individual digital strategies.

Once the body of a BMW car is assembled and painted, it is then disassembled and it's parts are sent away on separate assembly lines for their innards (can you tell I don't know a thing about cars?) to be installed. The amazing thing about this process is that those parts will end up together again at the end of the line, with the exact parts they were originally assembled with. How do these parts run through 2.5 million square feet of a factory and end up together at the end? Think of all the precise behind-the-scenes work those machines must be doing.  It all about details, details, and more details.  Similarly, Merge kicks off the website creation process by getting the whole production team together for brainstorming.  Each member of the team studies the project's requirements, creative brief, time line, and budget.  Once all of the details have been thoroughly fleshed out we separate to design or develop our individual pieces, and later come together to form a cohesive whole.  We do this by paying attention to the details, and sticking to those details.  Being able to work on our parts concurrently and later merge (no pun intended) them together allows us to be more efficient with our time.

As you walk throughout the BMW factory you will notice large display boards that feature the real time efficiency rate of the plant. As awesome as it would be to have these counters in our office (maybe with a siren and flashing red lights when a project falls behind?), let's be realistic. How can you track your company's efficiency more efficiently?  Team Merge asked ourselves this question and made a list of features we would love to include in our new project management software.  We also recently hired Michelle, a project manager with an excellent track record, to improve Merge's project efficiency.  She has developed a new project template for us that is sure to plan out our time and resources like never before.  She is Merge's built-in efficiency counter.

BMW is continually working to improve themselves- whether it's to improve the energy usage at the plant (reevaluating their in-plant lighting requirements), improving their products (always improving the standard features in their cars), or boosting employee morale (offering an on-site pharmacy), they have a constant commitment to innovation.  Merge also takes pride in our quest for innovation.  As Adam has said, there's always a better way. For example, we recently implemented the process of sketchboarding at Merge, Mike created an in-house web app that provides a better way to keep track of support items, and we are constantly coming up with new ways to keep a healthy balance of hard work and play (bonuses for finishing the Spinx Runfest, anyone?).

Bottom line: It takes many different angles to be a top notch company.  BMW is a shining example of one, and a company that any business can learn a lot from.  So book your company a factory tour, put on your safety glasses, and pay close attention. You're sure to walk away with a few new insights to better your company.