Business Case Study 2 Product Innovation Leads to Entry Into Underserved Market

“Innovation Opens New Market & Revenue Opportunity”

SUMMARY: In response to a product offering gap in the residential synthetic ice market, I embarked on a product development project to create a residential-appropriate synthetic ice solution at a competitive landed cost. Through new, exclusive material innovation and inventive post-process fixturing solutions, I worked collaboratively with a materials provider and the injection molding supplier to successfully overcome obstacles such as limited investment resources and skepticism from stakeholders. The resulting product not only met the target price point but also maintained quality and functionality, positioning the business for being disruptive in this market segment.

Situation: The synthetic ice market presented a revenue opportunity of over $500K annually or approximately 15-20% of sales for this entrepreneurial company. Existing commercial-grade solutions were technically viable but were overpriced and unsuitable for the residential market. The challenge was to develop a cost-effective residential solution with a margin of over 50%, utilizing current company-owned injection molding tooling and retail packaging within a tight timeline of less than 8 months.

Challenges: As a small, entrepreneurial company the challenges were seemingly typical yet numerous involving costs, material formulations, material processing, and product stability.  These included:

1.      Limited financial resources for investment

2.      Ability to identify and reformulate material conducive to injection molding processes and do so at the optimal price point.

3.      Skepticism from stakeholders

4.      Overcome processing challenges impacting product quality and flatness (assembly integrity of multiple 1-foot square tiles into a cohesive skating surface typically 15’ x 15’ square or similar.

Actions:

1. Established and managed parallel projects on injection molded and extruded processes (back-up alternative).

2. Partnered with a Minnesota-based polymer provider and converter specializing in "slippery" materials and our injection molding supplier in co-development experiments on materials selection and process parameter optimization.

3. Tweaked the material formulation & process parameters for improved flatness in molded prototypes.

4. Utilized in-place, pick-n-place robotic technology in unloading the press to provide pressure application upon cooling to contribute to flatness.  Additionally, I invented, designed, and validated a weighted heat sink (fixtures) to assure post-processing visual flatness and assembly integrity.

5. Due to limited budget funding and confidence in the solution set, I self-funded fixtures for post-production quality control to ensure product dimensional requirements and aesthetics were achieved.

Results:

1. Identified suitable material for the product which was exclusive to the company.

2. Achieved the target price point or total landed cost to the company warehouse.

3. Utilized existing molds, saving significant potential tooling investment costs.

4. Completed a trial run of 100 units to validate the product and process and gather feedback from a focus group and internal stakeholders.

5. Achieved these results within 4 months providing time for a larger beta run of product and larger focus group feedback.

Through effective planning, innovative technology and process solutions, and efficient execution with the collaboration of two supplier companies, we successfully developed a residential-appropriate synthetic ice solution meeting market demands and quality expectations.