Peer Review Assignment - Design Thinking for Business    Challenge and Selection    Some time ago, I used to work for a leading house cleaning product manufacturer.   When I came to work there, a hot topic at the time was a request that a top warehouse  customer asked for us to work on: developing a new product for their stores. They had asked a  few weeks before, and were already expecting an answer.  The line of product they asked for was floor cleaners, a line usually sold in supermarkets, at $1  USD per PET bottle.  Consumers use the product because of 2 main benefits: cleaning capability and more  importantly, aroma. Our product was not market leader, but it was perceived as the offering with  the best aromas (5 alternatives in total)  The ​challenge​ was clear:

- It must be delivered by pallet, as their stores work in such a format

- Each product should be easy to grab and see by the consumer, no boxes.

- The revenue per pallet per week was also very clear, expecting us to offer a selling price  point to consumers close to $10 USD

- The product should not be available to consumers through any other distributor or be  similar to what competitors offered.

The product development team had been unable to offer a solution mainly because of the pallet  format requirement, since the bottom PET bottles could not stand the weight of 4 layers on top,  amount of product needed to reach the revenue level also required by the customer, without  cardboard boxes.    The ​selection​ of method I chose was visualization. I decided to create a multifunctional team to  solve the issue, and invited

- an industrial designer who worked for the cardboard boxes supplier

- The sales manager in charge of the customer/channel

- An engineer from the product development team at the company

- Me, as the marketing manager in charge of the product line

We sat for a couple of hours discussing the requirements and limitations. We drew a few ideas  and thought of how we could be able to deliver the pallet alternative.    The ​application​ ended up to be a 9 bottle pack, mixed aromas, arranged in a 3x3 fashion,  which carried a cardboard insert in the shape of a “tic-tac-toe” and was then bound with  shrinkwrap, using a machine already available at the facility.    The experiment was relatively simple to execute, the pallet held the weight and  appearance,  plus the price point reached the mark. We proceeded to send one pallet to each store for a  market test.

Sales reached up to 10% of total sales to that customer in the first year of sales.     The most valuable ​insight​ for the team was that, specially with products already selling  regularly, the idea of innovating fast and easy becomes impossible.  The team in the factory found that sometimes solutions are right there if you are open to seeing  them, and the involvement of an industrial engineer became a regular practice in other projects.     I still believe the ​approach​ of visualization and meeting at the facility were key in being able to  solve the situation. Having a multifunctional team, specially designated to find solutions proved  to be synergistic not only then, but with multiple projects to follow.

