Belden (NYSE: BDC) has opened the company’s first of five planned Customer Innovation Centers (CIC) in Stuttgart, Germany. According to the company, the new facility "provides an ecosystem for Belden customers to co-innovate with sales and product engineers to develop, test, document, and deploy proven solutions that drive efficiency, security and innovation."
As described by a company statement:
The Belden CIC model was developed to address key business goals and outcomes that encompass various areas of customers’ operations. These include safety, automation, quality, and productivity, all tested to simulate challenges and stressors a network may face.
In the CIC program, a team of Belden technologists and application experts work together with customers to accelerate the design and implementation of future-ready networks. Per Belden, the teams consist of:
- Digital Automation Consultants who study customers’ existing networks to recommend opportunities for enhanced digitization and data flow management.
- Solutions Consultants who work with customers as architects of the network
- Service Engineers who provide implementation and post-sales support.
The CIC program is led by Vinod Rana, an 11-year Belden veteran, who will oversee the initiative from Belden’s Silicon Valley office. Four additional CICs are planned for the next 12-15 months, and will be located in Silicon Valley (Santa Clara), USA; Pune, India; Chicago, USA; and Shanghai, China.
“Belden CICs shift away from a focus on product, and instead, dedicate the work towards developing solutions for customers in a product-agnostic manner,” explains Dr. Ashish Chand, Executive Vice President, Industrial Automation.
He continues “Working collaboratively within the CIC, we can quickly identify a solution, test it against stressors a network may face, and document how it performs and how it will positively impact the business. These solutions not only support our customers to reach their goals, but also inform next-generation product design.”
According to Chand, the CIC model "is completely unique to Belden and is a reflection of the company’s commitment to operate among the leaders in the world’s transformation to Industry 4.0."
To date, the company said its Belden Stuttgart CIC team has worked with key companies in the industrial environment, providing consulting services "to transform ideas into solutions and technical support, empowering them to feel secure and maintain focus on their business objectives," as stated by Belden.
The company's statement concluded:
The Belden CIC, by joining hands with third-party software and application partners, is taking a step further in providing a complete solution to its customers and enabling their digital transformation journey.
“Within the CIC, it’s not just about Belden and what we can provide,” added Chand. “We know that we are a piece of a customer’s network, so we co-innovate with partners who build the solutions that sit on top of our network. It’s a seamless process, which provides Belden customers with a robust solution that will drive business results. We currently have enlisted a number of partners to work alongside us in the CICs, and welcome an opportunity to grow this existing roster in the areas of security, edge computing, data management and analytics."
Watch the Belden Customer Innovation Center Virtual Grand Opening as captured on May 12 to take a guided virtual tour of the state-of-the-art facility in Germany.
