In an interview with TechGraph, Shirin Hameed, CMO of Detroit Engineered Products (DEP) said, “The CAE industry has come a long way from the traditional way of operating, and to the new integrations that we see.”
Read the complete interview:
TechGraph: Can you tell us about the current market landscape for Detroit Engineered Products (DEP)? How has it evolved over the past few years, and what are the key trends shaping the market today?
Shirin Hameed: DEP operates across offerings across two major verticals. We provide for various industries ranging from automotive, aerospace and defense, consumer goods electronics, BioMed, and oil and gas. Firstly, we provide engineering services where we work with customers to execute their turnkey projects.
We provide services to transform the entire product development process, starting from benchmarking studies for design iterations, doing full-blown CAE evaluation, value engineering, lightweight, and prototyping across industries. Secondly, we have our unique proprietary software, MeshWorks which is an integrated CAE platform that transforms the product development process at the design stage.
The CAE industry has come a long way from the traditional way of operating, and to the new integrations that we see. There have been many technological innovations and new communication possibilities that have significantly affected businesses. Digital twin technologies, AI, cloud computing, and AR/VR have all made it possible to find quicker, more effective, and more productive solutions. These tools are dramatically changing the engineering sector and helping businesses achieve enhanced productivity and cost savings.
TechGraph: How does Detroit Engineered Products (DEP) differentiate itself from its competitors in the market? What unique value proposition does it offer customers?
Shirin Hameed: In addition to our very talented and experienced engineers, we offer a high level of flexibility and customization to the customer because we can offer solutions using our proprietary software. Using DEP MeshWorks as a single-user integrated CAE platform, customers can create CAE models far faster than most other technologies on the market.
They can develop and optimize new concepts as well as carry out several processes, such as optimization, concept generation, and design, using a single platform. Multi-disciplinary tools provide substantial ROI, which can be calculated from the man-hours saved. Since we can provide solutions using our custom software, we offer high levels of flexibility and customization to the customer.
TechGraph: Can you discuss Detroit Engineered Products (DEP)’s target audience and customer segments? How does the company tailor its marketing and messaging to reach these specific audiences?
Shirin Hameed: As a company with vast expertise in service and technology, we support customers in the product development segment by saving cost, time & effort. With more than 500 customers, we are proud to say that we work with almost all OEMs, automotive, and major tier-one companies, and they form the bulk of our business. We also work across industries such as aerospace, consumer goods electronics, BioMed, and oil and gas.
Customers can find a one-stop shop for all their developmental assistance needs at DEP, including benchmarking, design concepts, detailed design, simulation, testing, prototyping, and other services.
Regardless of industry, our marketing approach is always tailored to address customer challenges. We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all marketing. We distribute our audience into target groups depending on the pain points they face and custom-tailor our marketing messaging for these target groups.
TechGraph: In terms of marketing strategy, what channels and tactics does Detroit Engineered Products (DEP) use to promote its products and services? How does the company measure its marketing success?
Shirin Hameed: Being a business-to-business, we use multi-channel marketing to get the word out, and keep our customers and prospects engaged with us. We invest in events and direct business opportunities while maintaining a strong social media and online presence. Customers today are flooded with so much content wherever they turn, that marketers have to work extra hard to create more content and more importantly, relevant and engaging content to maintain a top-of-mind recall with customers.
We use various metrics to measure our marketing success, depending on the objective of the campaign we set out with. A campaign to attract new prospects in a new geography or target audience would have different metrics than a campaign to keep existing prospects and clients engaged. A mix of different metrics like Overall impressions, Lead generation response rates, Cost-per-lead, ROI, ROE, and lifetime value of a customer are looked at.
TechGraph: How does Detroit Engineered Products (DEP) stay on top of emerging trends and technologies in marketing? Can you share any recent examples of innovative marketing campaigns or initiatives the company has launched?
Shirin Hameed: We have a talented marketing team that stays on top of market trends and technologies and integrates our marketing campaigns with the latest. One campaign that paid off for us this year was around the Auto Expo early this year. We unveiled our electrification capabilities for the market, including a specialized electrification module integrated with our flagship CAE platform, MeshWorks. We were able to successfully sync up our marketing campaigns across online and physical channels in order to get a favorable outcome.
TechGraph: Finally, looking ahead, what do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges facing Detroit Engineered Products (DEP) in the coming years? How is the company preparing to navigate and capitalize on these trends?
Shirin Hameed: To maintain our competitiveness, we must innovate our services and technologies. By carefully observing market trends and making research and development investments, we can offer cutting-edge solutions that satisfy our clients’ changing needs. New product development using our enhanced capabilities is an offering we are focusing on. On the software side, we are investing in AI/ML and cloud computing technologies for MeshWorks.
In our latest version release, we have integrated MeshWorks with several AI/ML functionalities in the backend to provide an enhanced user experience. We are also focusing on electrification, which entails implementing a meticulously planned product development strategy that has led to a remarkable 35% improvement in growth. Additionally, we are also actively engaged in manufacturing automation and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).