Summary:

Understand the difference between standard Manufacturing and Advanced Manufacturing and the requirements/skills-sets desired from California Community College graduates and how to optimize future Community College Curriculum to better meet AM Industry needs.

Challenge:

College students are graduating with skill sets that do not match up with the current skills in demand in the industry.  To make matters more challenging, there is no single common definition of Advanced Manufacturing.

Solutions & Tools:

The project was executed in two phases.  The first phase consisted of in-depth interviews with industry professionals and Advanced Manufacturing professors to understand the industry, the challenges employers are facing, and to develop a questionnaire that would address those needs.

 

The findings in the first phase were used to create a web survey to broadly reach out to identify the needs of the industry.  A phone to web methodology was used to conduct 300 interviews nationwide.

Summary:

One of the most popular desktop computer manufacturers conducts on-going research with their customer base worldwide.

Challenge:

In addition to being able to handle complex survey logic, the look and feel of the survey experience needed to be consistent with the company’s brand across languages and browsers.

Solutions & Tools:

We were initially hired because we were the only firm that could design a survey template that met their corporate style guide standards. We now conduct research on an on-going basis in 10 languages worldwide.

Summary:

Challenge:

Solutions & Tools:

Summary:

One of the largest homebuilders in the US wanted to institute a corporate customer satisfaction program.

Challenge:

Employee bonuses were directly tied to the results of the on-going survey. They client wanted to achieve a 75% response rate and offer their customers the choice of a phone, web or mail survey.

The company was divided into 25 divisions, and each division operated as a separate business unit. Each division kept their home buyer information in different data formats stored at each office. Early on we realized that no single comprehensive record of their home sales existed. Each division had the information, all in different formats.

Solutions & Tools:

Our first step was to create an online database that each division would enter their sales records into. This database could be updated at any time in the survey process and contact information could be changed. This database not only became our sample source, but it was the only comprehensive record of company sales that existed. The database allowed our clients to see the survey status for each customer, including who completed the survey and the methodology used. In a typical month we would complete 1,300 surveys by telephone and 900 surveys by web.

Summary:

Develop a set of employer-generated, clearly defined competencies expected of the future ICT Workforce in order to create better consistency across community college programs and the employer needs.

Challenge:

Help California Community College Centers of Excellence validate U.S. Department of Labor's Information & Communications Technology Competency model (http://www.careeronestop.org/competencymodel/).

Solutions & Tools:

A custom developed 45 Minute online survey was conducted with companies that had direct knowledge of ICT workforce needs.   Online surveys were conducted with over 750 thought leaders and business owners involved in Information and Communications technology.  Participants were contacted both through an email database as well as telephone recruit to web survey.

Summary:

Consumer product manufacturer needed to determine the optimal mix of 5 out of 12 products to bring to market.  Recognizing that people will often purchase one of several versions available they needed help determining the products that would maximize their market share.

 

Challenge:

The analysis of optimal product mix needed to be run 2 ways - maximizing the market share reached and incorporating frequency of purchase to maximize the number of units sold.

 

Solutions & Tools:

Davis Research custom built a simulation model that incorporated frequency of purchase into a traditional TURF approach.  The deliverable for the project was the estimated market share for the top 200 product combinations and a product market share simulator that allows for easy reporting on specific market share scenarios. As a result, manufacturer was able to capture 85% of the market through a simple 4 product solution, including a small but distinctly loyal population that would not have been identified through any other approach.