Concrete as a Service
In the first part of the nineteenth century, textile mills were the industrial success stories. These mills sprang up in the growing towns and cities along rivers in England and New England to harness hydropower. Water, running over water wheels, drove spinning, knitting, and weaving machines. For a century, the symbol of the industrial revolution was water driving textile machines.
The business world has changed. Old mill towns are now quaint historical curiosities. Long mill buildings alongside rivers are warehouses, shopping malls, artist studios and computer companies. Even manufacturing companies often provide more value in services than in goods. We were struck by an ad campaign by a leading international cement manufacturer, Cemex, that presented concrete as a service. Instead of focusing on the quality of cement, its price, or availability, the ad pictured a bridge over a river and sold the idea that “cement” is a service that connects people by building bridges between them. Concrete as a service? A very [postmodern] idea.
Access to electrical or mechanical power is no longer the criterion for success. [.. D]ata about customer interactions is the new waterpower; knowledge drives the turbines of the service economy and, since the line between service and manufacturing is getting blurry, much of the manufacturing economy as well.