4 Prototyping_2013_v2 - Update Items Modified Schedule John Kivi from Dow on 2\/14 Ill be presenting on 1\/29 Teams strive for team with 5 members Few 4

Update Items  Modified Schedule – John Kivi from Dow - on 2/14, I’ll be presenting on 1/29  Teams – strive for team with 5 members  Few 4 member teams in need of a person  Trade contact information with each other – e-mail, cell phone, apt or house phone  Once you have a team, establish a meeting time, complete your first team minutes – tasks should be around the innovation tournament.

Prototyping ME 497 MKT 420

Finding a NEED  Recognize and understand unmet needs of a potential market  Market needs can be new (How can I avoid losing my new USB memory device?)  Market needs can be old (How can I clean my kitchen floor quickly? How can I improve my telephone?)  The new product must provide benefits that respond to unmet market needs.

Conventional Methods  People pets – “dust bunnies” on the floor daily  Hair on bathroom floor  Age old problem: Pull out broom & dustpan, mop and bucket, vacuum

Swiffer  Simple  Light, easy to use  Handle size adjustment  Inexpensive

Class Swiffer  Students were talking with their mothers about “household needs”  One mother suggested a portable mop – no need for a bucket and water  Students developed a “wet swiffer” – created large handled tube with cleaning solution in the tube and plunger device to squirt cleaning solution out of “mop”

Swiffer II  Want to remove grime, and needs to be wet  Simple  Light, easy to use  Handle size adjustment  Inexpensive  Mount bottle – disposable – continued purchase

Swiffer SweeperVac  Hardwood floors  Tile  Pet hair  Crumbs  Cordless, Quick and Easy

How to find a need?  Interviews, Focus Groups, Observing (Ethnography)  Ask family members, ask friends  “Does anything annoy you – could it be done better?”  Observe - users may not be able to convey the need, or translate it to a product

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Start with Market Research  After find a NEED  New product innovation starts with and is based on market research ( engineers & marketing )  Generate design ideas  Google idea, see what’s out there , you should NOT be able to find your idea  Look in magazines, ask experts  Who will buy it and why  Do your HW increases chances of success

Biomechanical Function  Must function mechanically with people or other animals  Mechanical: link, lever, cam, spring, pulley  Function must be substantial  Product must benefit the users to enable and assist them to do something mechanically that they could not do or do well without the product.