PREVISION ARTICLES

Raw Studios is Running Faster With The CNC Routers From AM.CO.ZA

‘Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.’ – Roger Bannister

I was thinking about this quote when visiting the Inspire Trade Expo last week. Do you still remember him – Sir Roger Bannister? He’s the first chap to run a mile in less than four minutes, since humanity. Way back in 1954. He says every business must run faster than ever, if it has to survive. He says you must out-run your competitors to the customer, for your business to open doors tomorrow. He says your business doesn’t have to be big, but you must strive to be the best. He says your business is on its way to death if you’re still doing business like you did yesterday. Mr Bannister says growth in business is hard, rare and almost impossible to reach. He says you have to push the boundaries in grand style. He says you can’t hope to achieve it by staying in your comfort zone. I’m not sure if you’re with me. He is talking about success – the kind I saw last week when examining some design work by Raw Studios,

one amazing partner of AM.CO.ZA. This company has evolved into more than just another internal decor entity. It’s no wonder that their game has changed so much, since acquiring three CNC routers from AM.CO.ZA. I am of the view that you can simply use a router to cut wood (like many businesses do), or you can use this machine to carve out an experience. To sculpt true design. To mould a WOW. And I thought I should share these few lessons I have learnt from the success of Raw Studios.

No wonder that their game has changed so much, since acquiring three CNC routers from AM.CO.ZA. I am of the view that you can simply use a router to cut wood (like many businesses do), or you can use this machine to carve out an experience. To sculpt true design. To mould a WOW. And I thought I should share these few lessons I have learnt from the success of Raw Studios.

Lesson 1:
‘If you want to survive, make WOW things.
WOW products… WOW service… WOW values’

WOW us, please. Because we’ve seen far too many businesses in South Africa that sound and look the same, year-in, year-out. Your customers are craving for a bit of WOW. So please, don’t disappoint them. Because your rivals – maverick companies like Raw Studios – are already running, and will run over you with their WOW designs. You see, business life is all about design. You design the kind of customer you want. You design the story of your business. You must keep designing. We design the best routers, so you can design the best business. Design, design, design.

But to design a success story, you need to think about innovation – a very important word. Please write it down.

Lesson 2:
‘If you’re going to make connections which are innovative… you have to not have the same bag of experiences as everyone else does.’ – Steve Jobs

You see, companies that have no clue what innovation is, I am talking about blind establishments that get up to peddle goods and services for profit without really improving the customer’s life in a tangible way – those companies don’t rock. Not anymore. They die slowly. They can’t run faster. So what kind of an experience are you giving to your customer? Do you hit at your customers so hard that they can’t help it but come back again for more tomorrow? Is your offering so good that they can’t help it but go around yelling how about your goodness? Remember businesses grow by word of mouth. Do you get up to get your team to rally behind products in such a way that these products can each be considered for an innovation award, more like Raw Studios do? If not, then what’s the point of running a business? Why bother? Why care? Really. We might as well have found a company that’s not so far in its quest to discover the future of design, yes?

Lesson 3

Courtesy of the CNC routers from AM.CO.ZA, Raw Studios are already servicing huge corporations like Nandos, MTN and SABS. Scoring clients of this magnitude is not easy. The vast majority of wood-carving businesses in South Africa still can’t figure it out.

Times are tough, and the customer wants the best value for his rand. At AM.CO.ZA we seem to understand that fully – we engineer these blocks of machines with the customer in mind. The customer’s success is our success.

And for me the biggest lesson of them all is that South Africa is a small market, and word gets around quickly. So if you’re busy peddling sub-standard planks only joined together by a contact adhesive, you’re quietly brewing a scandal. Everybody loves a scandal. Why go for a sub-standard machine that gives you sub-standard results? It’s a crime – you just don’t do that, especially if you are of the same thinking pattern as Raw Studios. You’d want to go for the kill, the ultimate. Because not all routers can push your business to run at the speed of the fastest gazelle or lion.

Lesson 4

‘Our goal is to make the best devices in the world, not to be the biggest.’ – Steve Jobs

It’s just like that. Businesses which run faster will make the best products. How do you feel? At AM.CO.ZA that’s the difference: when we give birth to a CNC Router, we try to make it look like the whole thing came together effortlessly. Clean. Simple. Fresh. Each table structure or spindle option has to surpass the criteria set by hundreds of others which came before it. Because, I promise you, once this baby is out in the market, there’s no way back. Our basic guidelines must cater for different drive systems, vacuum systems and router bits, to mention a few. Minimalism like ours demands great attention to detail, speed, torque or precision requirements . Much the time though, we have to wrestle first. We have to wrestle with the heads and tables and gantry sizes (you know the stuff that draw a parallel between our CNC Routers and the rest of the population around), bending these elements withthe force of our will to create the desired effect. We can’t settle for less. Yet we have to make sure that companies like Raw Studios, who keep trusting us for the best products, can always get routers from us at less than what the industry offers. Check our affordable prices below. And the deal? The best router is for the fastest, agile business, meaning the best customers. Is that your business?