- Problem / Opportunity Explorer
- Function and Attribute Analysis
- S-Curve Analysis
- Ideality / Ideal Final Result
Our Clients Experiences:
The client challenge
A manufacturer of compressors for household refrigeration appliances, with 3 production plants strategically located in Europe and China. Up until 2002, prior to the use of blackswan’s Systematic Innovation framework and methodology, the company had struggled to continually innovate and improve on its Refrigerant Compressor product line with only 15 patents generated in the previous 20 years. With increasing competitive pressures and the need to take out cost, improve engineering design and overall product performance, the client embarked on using blackswan’s Systematic Innovation capabilities to help them to achieve these objectives.
The blackswan solution
Leveraging blackswan’s proprietary innovation exploration framework PERFECT, we generated and explored ideas in a number of chosen innovation opportunity areas.
PERFECT treats an innovation need as a scientific challenge not an adventure, and accordingly includes an efficient set of methodologies that helped the client to extract constraints, resources, conflicts and opportunities efficiently and in turn generate tangible outcomes and real results.
Our framework is backed up by market and user research and by our unique capabilities in patent analytics and subversion. This ensured that only relevant and implementable conceptual solutions were generated. Top level consideration of technical and commercial feasibility is built into the PERFECT framework as it is built upon an empirical body of knowledge based on the analysis of a large database of over 3 million successful inventions and innovations that helped the client to arrive at practical and implementable solution, quickly and efficiently.
The client outcome
Using a structured and Systematic Innovation methodology, the client was able to benefit from a marked increase in the key measures of success for this product line. Most notably within a short period of time, patent generation had increased by over 400% compared to the preceding period.
Engineering design was much more efficient both in terms of use of component parts with a 300% improvement in the reduction of components reducing the overall weight significantly. For the company’s clients, the refrigeration unit manufacturers themselves, the reduced weight and part count helps significantly to reduce transportation costs and physical space requirements resulting in more available fridge space.
Finally and certainly from an environmental standpoint, most importantly, the improved Co-efficient of Performance is a significant advancement in performance in response to the need to reduce energy consumption and in turn, our carbon footprint. About 15% of all human energy consumption goes on cooling requirements, so a 10% rise in COP for the compressor equates to around a 1.5% reduction in global energy consumption if everyone were to buy one.
