5 Design of Goods and Services

Lego: Building on Product Quality, Brick by Brick

Posted on by spr1313krodriguez

When you were younger, did you ever try and build an entire house? Not to brag, but I certainly did at age five. When I was especially bored, I would try to construct a towering skyscraper. I would even go so far as to assemble a car for a building resident, whose smile seemed to imply complete satisfaction.

How did I accomplish such daunting tasks at a young age? With a little creativity…

…and a bunch of Lego bricks.lego-6

The Lego brand is known worldwide for its ingenious building sets and for fostering children’s imaginations, and it all starts with standardized blocks connected together by miniature knobs. Yet as simple as this may sound, a lot of work goes into ensuring that these small bricks are produced to the highest degree of quality.

According to the company’s profile, Lego bricks are manufactured through a molding process, where ABS plastic is heated and injected into standard molds and left to cool for about seven seconds. The molds are extremely accurate in that they only allow for a natural variation of 0.001 millimeters in each brick, to ensure connectivity. Nevertheless, the entire molding process itself is so precise that there are about 18 defective bricks in every million produced. And if you thought that was crazy, the company ensures that “all Lego elements are fully compatible, irrespective when they were made during the period from 1958 to the present or by which factory.” Talk about extreme quality control!

Forbes recently interviewed Lego’s Senior Vice President for Engineering and Quality, John Hansen. The interview provided insight into the company’s unequaled level of quality, which allowed them to increase brick production from 25 billion in 2008 to 45.7 billion in 2012.  “We have the same quality standards all over the globe,” he says, which explains their uniform and consistent products. Hansen also states that their production facilities put each element of a Lego set (from the bricks to the instruction manual) through rigorous tests to make sure that they follow company, consumer, and international standards. As if this weren’t enough, Lego also looks for new ways to improve their production process from both a business and environmental perspective. They are currently working on searching for new ecological raw materials and refining their product packaging to reduce waste.

I think that other toy companies need to take Lego’s quality standards into consideration in their operations. With product recalls or safety hazards being found in numerous toy products annually, it would not hurt for them to learn a thing or two from their design and production processes. It might even help to solve their product variation or defect problems given Lego’s track record; you don’t see many consistently produced superhero action figures as you do Lego bricks. Besides, why question a successful company whose motto is “The best is never too good”?

Do you think that other toy companies can follow Lego’s standards of uniform quality when it comes to manufacturing their products? Can they also be applied to other industries as well?

Links:

Lego Company Profile: http://cache.lego.com/upload/contentTemplating/AboutUsFactsAndFiguresContent/otherfiles/download98E142631E71927FDD52304C1C0F1685.pdf

Michael Venables, “How Lego Makes Safe, Quality, Diverse and Irresistible Toys Everyone Wants: Part Two” (Forbes): http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelvenables/2013/04/20/how-lego-makes-the-safe-quality-diverse-and-irresistible-toys-we-all-want-part-two/

Mass Customization: Tailoring To The Individual

Posted on by spr1323nnadeem

NIke, Dell, and Swatch

The system of mass customization benefited manufacturers by offering services and achieving greater customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. In addition, customization brought greater advance information on market trends and reduces inventory. Usually, many companies cannot handle the mass customization system because of the way how their supply chains are designed and optimized for producing predetermined amounts of stock.  Because of this, some manufacturers believe that the profit margins are too low for those who adopt the mass customization system, and thus the system is not economically feasible since it depends on the type of the product.

To increase sales, most manufacturers integrate the most common appealing features into their products to move units.  Conversely, the ideology of mass customization is that every aspect of a product will be tailored to a customer specifically.  For example, Swatch, the world’s largest watchmaker company, produces standardized internal mechanism components en masse, but also offers a wide variety options such as colors, straps, faces, and so on. The idea of a personally tailored product has been adopted by prominent vehicle manufacturers, computer manufacturers, and many more.

Dell, as another example, has demonstrated the idea of mass customization and utilizes it to allow their customers a very personal PC experience. Dell allows customers to assemble their own desktops and laptops online by customizing components such as, hard disk, graphics cards, processor, memory (RAM), and other options before assembly and delivery.  Amazingly, Dell manages to offer a fair amount of variety with their components, but achieves the lowest cost of production in the entire industry, leveraging the benefits of e-commerce and mass customization in selling directly to customers.

Both Swatch and Dell offer personalized experiences, but these two manufactures do not offer an unlimited number of choices.  Instead, companies learn what sort of spectrum that customers would be comfortable purchasing in and adjust the limits accordingly so that customers will end up happy with both their product and service.

Nike, as the most popular sports equipment manufacturer in the world, pioneered many ideas in the industry of mass customization. In spite of this large number of products tailored to golf, basketball, tennis, and soccer enthusiasts, operations managers at Nike have improved product quality while reducing overall costs. Nike allows customers to customize many of their products. For instance, customers can print their own names and numbers on shoes as well as customize their shoe strings to different color. Consequently, these practices boosted sales of Nike products to phenomenal levels, smartly marrying the links between sales, production, design, supply chain, and logistics.

The greatest downfall of mass customization is wait time.  Considering that each product must be tailored to a specific customer, often being done by hand, it will take longer to be in a purchaser’s possession.  That is where uniformly mass produced products are advantageous, as they do not have to meet a specific criteria.  In addition, most custom products cannot be returned to a manufacturer, since the item was created specifically for an individual and the likelihood that that product would meet another person’s needs exactly is slim.

 

Should more businesses adopt the idea of tailoring a product to an individual’s needs?

 

 

 

 Sources:

“Combining Elements of Mass Production with Those of Bespoke Tailoring.” The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 22 Oct. 2009. Web. 23 May 2013.
http://www.economist.com/node/14299807

Mello, Adrian. “Mass Customization Won’t Come Easy.” ZDNet. N.p., 19 Dec. 2001. Web. 23 May 2013.
http://www.zdnet.com/news/mass-customization-wont-come-easy/296569

“NIKE ID – The First Example of Mass Customization Driving Profit? | Crossroad Innovation.” Crossroad Innovation NIKE ID The First Example of Mass Customization Driving Revenue Comments. N.p., 10 Sept. 2010. Web. 23 May 2013.
http://www.crossroadinnovation.com/nike-id

“NIKEiD.” Mass Customization. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2013.
http://www.mass-customization.com/custom-shoes/nikeid/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Retail to E-tail

Posted on by spr1333rmortha

There are a lot of pros and cons to doing online shopping as opposed to in-store shopping. Online shopping seems like it only affects consumers by giving them a different medium to make their purchases but we fail to realize that it affects the sellers as well. Through online purchases, businesses gather a lot of data about consumers. Sellers can track which sections of items are the most popular, which products are the most viewed and for how long, and which products are most browsed at but not bought. This gives online sellers a competitive advantage over in-store sellers as they know more about their customers. And everyone knows that the understanding your customer is one of the most important factors in having a successful business. This is empowering in-store sellers to seek e-commerce level data.

The article talks about one company that brings customer tracking data to in-store businesses. This is in hopes of slowly bridging the competitive gap between in-store purchases and online purchases. How can they possibly get consumer data without changing the in-store purchase process? By simply observing the customers! Prism Skylabs specializes in in-store surveillance equipment that tracks customer movement. Prism installs special cameras that captures everything in the store and then is sent to the store’s computers where it is processed by Prism’s special software. The images of the actual shoppers are cut out to respect their privacy.

What is so different about Prism’s techniques than regular surveillance cameras? Prism’s software allows them to “look at which products are hot, which are being moved around and touched, and all kinds of data that allow merchandise teams to understand what is going on across a wide range of stores”. This allows the sellers to get information that the type of information that online sellers use to enhance their systems to get more purchases.

Who is using Prism? Right now, Prism has partnered up with 30 retailers. Retailers that Prism is working with include T-Mobile and Famous Footwear. Does it actually work?  A candy store in Oklahoma City was using Prism in their stores and after close observation they changed their premium display to low-selling seasonal candy rather than their famous candies that buyers usually take the time to look through the store to buy. This allowed the store to quantify the customer’s thoughts and make an effective decision in their operations.

Moreover, Prism is not the only data providing company that is emerging. Other companies are picking up on the importance and building unique strategies and techniques to sell to businesses. For example, Shopkick is an app which personalizes deals for a customer in real time as they walk through the store.

Is it worth it to sellers to invest in these data gathering companies?

How do you feel as a consumer towards this type of innovation? Do you feel that you will be making more beneficial purchases or do you feel manipulated by the sellers to buy their preferred products?

Link:http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-25/to-catch-up-with-e-tail-tools-to-track-shoppers-in-the-store

Boeing, flying high once again?

Posted on by Dom

After 15 months and millions of dollars spent, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has resumed commercial flights. The groundbreaking jet, introduced in July 2003 was dubbed as the next generation airplane that would revolutionize the way air travel operated. Soon after preliminary flights, major aircraft corporations began to notice technical and mechanical issues that affected the reliability of the jet. These problems resulted in flights being delayed and cancelled. In January, two 787s owned by Japanese airlines experienced burning batteries that would later ground all 787s.

Prior to the grounding, delivered 787s logged a reliability rating of 97.7% (23 delays/cancellations out of 1000 flights). This result was comparable to the long tested and proven 777 that that 787 aims to replace. As technology expands, systems become more intricate and coincide with higher rates of failure. The 787 is an example of new age lithium-ion batteries, electrical systems, and computer systems that alter service requirements. This plane alone requires 10 times more power during startup than traditional Boeing planes, computer and electrical systems to be turned on three hours before each flight, and scheduled maintenance in between each flight.

During this downtime Boeing continuously has been mass producing these airplanes to fill the 800+ orders that have been filed from 50+ customers. By April 2013, 50 planes have been built and delivered to their respective companies. However, this plane does retain more positives than negatives, thus accounting for the 800+ orders. With this new technology, the planes will be able to be serviced in as little as 45 minutes. This will allow for companies to keep their planes in the air instead of on the ground. In addition, new light weight materials have been used and new fuel efficient engines fitted on the wings that allow for longer distance flights without using more fuel.

Aboard the new computer system, Boeing has also included a transmitter that will upload the airplane’s data to a world-wide network managed by Boeing’s facilities near Seattle. This system will track each jet’s information, making it easier for mechanics to fix any issues that may have occurred during a flight. This system will also allow for Boeing to monitor necessary maintenance updates as well as be able to ground any planes that it deems unsafe to fly.

Years behind schedule and plagued with problems, the Boeing 787 did not have a successful start. Boeing executives believe that in the future years to come, this plane will be more reliable than the 777 and project a reliability rating of 99+%. The 787 is a key example of problems during the operations strategy of a company and their ability to overcome difficult situations that result in millions of dollars of losses. At this point the 787 is operational, but if similar problems occur in the future, Boeing may lose potential orders.

With so many problems occurring with the 787, do you believe that its main competitor (Airbus) may be regarded as a safer investment?

What do you believe lies in the future for the 787? Will it continue to experience more problems or will it beat the projected 99+% reliability?

Works Cited
Ostrower, Jon, and Andy Pasztor. “Dreamliner’s Other Issues Draw Attention; Boeing and Airlines Try to Improve More Systems After Fixing Battery Flaws.” Wall Street Journal (Online): n/a. May 20 2013. ProQuest. Web. 22 May 2013.

Grubhub Grabs Profit by the Seams

Posted on by spr1332bhalan

GrubHub and Seamless have now merged into one company. Last year alone they collectively earned over $870 Million dollars in profit. GrubHub has Chicago origins while Seamless started in New York.  Mike Evans the co-founder of GrubHub and the newly combined companies COO said, “I’m excited about the expanded restaurant network that our diners will be able to use.”

The merge initially has many benefits, but over time there are very important executive decisions to make in order to optimize all dimensions of a quality service. One benefit is that combined they will operate in over 500 cities in the United States. They also decided to keep all 650 full-time employees. The former CEO of GrubHub Matt Maloney will remain CEO while the former CEO of Seamless Jonathan Zabusky will be president.  Both former companies have merged with much smaller organizations in the past. For example in 2011 GrubHub bought Dotmenu which gave them an extra 250,000 menu listings at different restaurants around the nation.

The company still has many decisions to make. One decision the company has yet to make is the name of the new brand. Perception is reality, and they should take very careful consideration of how to name the new brand. They have been heavy competitors in cities like Chicago for many years, and they have both built their own brands into what they are today. GrubHub did have more profit, and therefore it would be advantageous to keep that name over Seamless. Changing the name entirely is also an option. Since there whole process is derived from online use it is unlikely they will create a new name. For example if a family uses GrubHub or Seamless on a nightly basis, they will likely have the URL memorized or saved in their favorites. This means the new company needs to be very transparent and loud with their changes in order to retain the brand loyal consumers from both companies.  I have one recommendation if they decide to change the name of the company, and that is to buy a new website with the company name. Then link both former websites to the new website which on the surface seems like it would satisfice all the consumers. From there the new company needs to internally improve their servicing process.

After the merged company has chosen a conforming brand they should also merge the processes to optimize reliability. They can assume they will have a large impact in the market for online food ordering because separately they held large portions of the market share. It is likely that both former organizations had their own unique processes, but one standardized process would be most financially beneficial.

Do you think the new company should change their name? Or should they use GrubHub or Seamless as the new company name? Do you think they should standardize their processing systems? Overall do you think this merge is beneficial to the owners?

 Sources:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-grubhub-seamless-20130520,0,4610644.story

Who said you can’t have it all?…. in the back seat of your car!

Posted on by spr1331acorvera

Mercedes Benz, also known as one of the long-held ranked luxury brands in the auto industry which lost its title of N0.1 in 2005, is focusing on its biggest market, China, to get their N0.1 spot back. The Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche of Daimler realized there was a problem while leaning back in the rear seat of a prototype S-Class sedan in 2010. Zetsche realized that the seat did not incline far enough to fit the needs of the wealthy consumers accustomed to spacious airline seats. There is a reason behind him comparing the back seats to an airline seat, S-Class owners generally experience their car from the “second row”, which in China is very common where luxury cars are mostly driven by chauffeurs and not the actual owner. I believe this quality problem of the back seat could have been avoided if engineers were not focusing on the driver seat position so  much but in the overall car.

benz

The S-Class has been the leader, without a doubt, in luxury sedans since it was first introduced to the market in 1972. Because of heavy import levies, Mercedes is allowed to charge more than rivals for its cars in China, which can costs as much as $486,000.  This is a way Mercedes Benz can keep a good reputation when it comes to its image on their cars. The S-Class, as said by August Joas the head of the global automotive practice consultant in Munich, stands for luxury, prestige, comfort, and safety. All of these characteristics of the car can be easily measured by the quality ranked by previous owners. Mercedes Benz must maintain a good ranking on all of these aspects to continue holding the leading position of the luxury brand.

After thinking deeply about what China consumers will enjoy in the back seat of their S-Class Mercedes Benz, it was time to get to work.  Zetsche had his designers create a one of a kind back seat that reclines to a 43.5 degree angle which was available as an option on extended-wheelbase versions of the S-Class. Zersche thought about the comfort of sleep in the back seat, so they made the front passenger seat in a way where the seat slides forward to add legroom while the backrest recedes in a recess illuminated by ambient lighting for a more relaxing feel. In addition,  a calf support swivels forward and a heel rest pulls out of the front seat. And because a bed like back seat with relaxing features such as dimmed lighting wasn’t enough, they added a hot-stone massage function in the back part of the rear seat which can be used for long drives.  At this point it’s tough to even think about how safe this would be if the car was involved in an accident, but because everyone must follow  safety regulations, including ISO certifications, there was a special air bag to prevent passengers from sliding  under the seat belt during an accident presented in the image below.

comp_mercedes21__01__630x420 (1)

Well-heeled Chinese, who account for more that half of all S-Class sales worldwide, are critical to reviving the Mercedes brand. This will remain Mercedes biggest focus, targeting wealthy consumerss in China. Mercedes will continue offering additional services to impress more consumers along with building trusted relationships with current customers to remain brand loyal. They offer perks such as a 13 seat movie theater, located in Shanghai, along with a cigar room, and an in-house tea artist. Management has taken different routes to attract and keep their wealthy consumers, especially in China. The bottom line is that wealthy Chinese buyers will continue to account for more than half of all sales of Mercedes S-Class cars.  That being said, why not focus on making this group of consumers happy? After all, they are who are keeping the brand so exclusive and popular in China.

 

 

 References:

www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-16/mercedes-revamps-the-s-class-to-lure-chinas-wealthy-buyers

www.mbusa.com

 

 

 

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

Posted on by spr1312tkulawiak

starbucks_vs_mcdonaldsCorporate America is full of big successful companies who reward their investors nicely and have a winning management strategy. There are two companies that are consistently making progress, growing, and paying dividends. They go by the name of McDonald’s and Starbucks. Both of these companies success could be attributed to their management strategy.

As of late one of their management focuses is to keep their push on international expansion. Both companies have a great global presence and China remains a strong point for them. Starbucks recently opened 500 new stores in China, bringing the total to 1500 in the country. McDonald’s is currently working on diversifying their menus in top countries such as China.

Hiring great leadership and accountability are also two strategies that are strong in both companies. Starbucks company founder Howard Schultz continues to come up with innovative products to expands the company’s product portfolio. An example of trying to retain top talent and hold managers accountable was in late 2012 when McDonald’s let go of former head of US operations Jan Fields, as the companies earning were disappointing.

download

Another strategy that is seen in both companies is the constant flow of product diversification. McDonald’s continues to broaden its product portfolio by offering high quality coffee and healthy drinks. They offer these products in their traditional restaurants and their cafes. Also, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz continues to introduce different products.

Year in and year out, McDonald’s and Starbucks are the most social companies in the world in the restaurant business. Recently it was said that Starbucks lost its position to McDonald’s as the most social company. The main reason was that in late 2012, McDonald’s put up a campaign of what goes down in behind the scenes and it also opened up to any questions from the public. Because of this McDonald’s social reputation and audience has been on the rise ever since.

As we can see, management strategy plays a big role in both of these companies as both them continue to grow and show profit. New product innovation is huge for both of these companies. McDonald’s rolled out the McCafe in order to compete with store like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. In my opinion, this was a great success. I have many friends that actually prefer McDonald’s coffee to Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. The day I found that out, I was in utter shock, as I did not think people would be going to McDonald’s for their morning coffee over companies such as Starbucks and Dunkin, where coffee is their specialty.starbucks

The question that comes into play is do McDonald’s and Starbucks have what it takes to keep up in their industries, continue to introduce a wide range of products, and produce at such a high level? In my opinion, there is no doubt that both of these companies will continue to succeed on the same as they are both industry leaders. What are your thoughts on this subject?

 

Refrences

http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2013/04/25/starbucks-and-mcdonalds-winning-strategy/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/02/21/how-mcdonalds-toppled-starbucks-from-the-social-top-spot/

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/4-strategies-for-mcdonalds-management-2012-11-21

 

Old Vs New Vehicle Models

Posted on by spr1322jmei

CX5_850x400_black_mica_01
Recently my family and I have been looking into purchasing an affordable compact SUV. According to my dad, since the 2014 models are out now the 2013 models are most likely to drop in price. However, after I did some research online it is forecasted that the best time to purchase a car is during the winter when people are least likely to purchase a car therefore, causing a drop in the prices of vehicles. Regardless, we still pursued on purchasing a new vehicle. So we browsed online to see which vehicles were considered to be the top affordable compact SUV. I landed on the website the U.S. News Rankings and Reviews that listed the top 10 affordable compact SUVs of 2013. As a consumer, I personally focus more on the exterior appearance of the car before looking into the mechanical side of it. After looking through numerous vehicles, I finally set my eyes on the 2013 Mazda CX-5 which was ranked number 2 on the list. When I looked into the pros and cons of the vehicle I noticed that the engine on the 2013 model was lacking because it had a 2.0L engine which made it slightly under-powered as compared to the other compact SUV vehicles. Many consumer reviews that I have read have mentioned about the under-powered engine which made it a disadvantage. In class we learned about the use of the quality function deployment and based on the consumers wants the company will make the product accordingly. So when I looked into the 2014 model of the Mazda CX-5, I noticed that they changed their engine from a 2.0L to a 2.5L which is the standard engine on a Compact SUV. Therefore, Mazda has identified the customer’s wants and has made the adjustments onto the 2014 model. However, now that the 2014 model has came out the complaint from consumers is that the 5.8 inch touch panel screen is too small compared to other cars that has a 6-8 inch screen. I believe that the 2015 model of the Mazda CX-5 will have a larger screen panel in response to the consumers demand. As we have learned in class, as time progresses the company makes slight advancements and additions into each of the models and not all at once. First it is due to the consumers demand and second to keep the consumers wanting the most recent and updated technology. Therefore, allowing the company to generate a profit and to continue adding on to the existing product line.

Do you think companies leave out some specs or features on the product just so they can put it into the next model they come out with in order to generate profit in an existing product line?

Sources:
http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Mazda_CX-5/

http://www.caranddriver.com/news/2014-mazda-cx-5-photos-and-info-news

Google Wallet… The Next PayPal?

Posted on by spr1332mhanson

gmail-google-wallet (1)

PayPal is known as “the world’s most loved way to pay and get paid”… but pretty soon it may not be the only way. PayPal pretty much has the market cornered when it comes to buying and selling online, but there are some problems with it. First off, PayPal requires you to have an account. Users of other applications, such as Venmo, must have an account and download a mobile application to be able to send money.

Enter: Google, who has decided to allow users to send money via Gmail. Whether you aim to send money to a friend or conduct a business transaction, this has thepotential to drastically change the way we send and receive money online. Similar to PayPal, users will be able to link their bank accounts to Google Wallet will be able to receive payments for free, while having to pay a 2.9% transaction fee when sending money from a debit or credit card. This is a bit different from PayPal, as the transaction fee has to do more with what type of payment it is (a gift or a payment for goods), rather than the method you are using to pay.

Either way, there are more people on Gmail than any other e-mail provider globally, and there seems to be a huge market for them. The thing about PayPal is that it seems a lot of people don’t know how to use it. With this new Gmail payment system, users will be able to attach their money in an e-mail the same way they would attach a photo, video, or any other document. As the article says, “this could help give mobile payments the push they’ve needed to go from being a novelty item to part of our everyday lives.”

Google Wallet announced, two years ago, that they were not able to implement Near Field Communication Technology. They could have given up, but the company is always looking for continuous improvement. This incremental improvement could lead to something bigger one day that could change the way we pay for goods. The change from NFC Technology to this PayPal “copycat” can be compared to the activity we did in class where we were being timed to pass around the ball. After going over the time limit, we glanced at more successful groups, took some of their ideas, and added them to ours until we beat the time. It’s kind of similar to what Google is doing here.

This new system hasn’t come without criticism, though. An Australian professor has called the payment system “dangerous”, citing the fact that hackers target Android systems, making the Gmail payment system vulnerable to their attack. He says that their password protection is not enough, and a two-factor authentication system would need to be implemented (theaustralian.com.au) People’s emails are hacked all the time, so I absolutely see his point.

 

 

Do you think Google can compete with PayPal? How susceptible do you think this system will be to hackers?

 

 

Sources: http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2013/05/16/google-to-allow-gmail-users-to-send-money-via-email/

 

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/internet-expert-brands-gmail-payments-as-dangerous/story-e6frgakx-1226645045676

iPad-“What the heck were they thinking?”

Posted on by spr1332khsieh

We live in a digital age where technology is evolving all around is.  Now a days everyone seems to have an iPad or a tablet of some kind.  Many companies see this as a trend with future possibilities to grow by introducing a variety of accessories to go along with these tablets.  This article introduces some new iPad and tablet accessories that seem absurd and gets one questioning “What the heck were they thinking?”

One of the wacky accessories that the article highlighted is an iPad Commodity Caddy,  which is exclusively apart of the Hammacher Schlemmer brand.  (Product is shown below.)

iPad commode caddy stand bathroom toilet paper roll holder

And not to mention this stand sells for $100!  It’s purpose is to be to save space and to make it easier for people to “do their business” while playing games or watching online shows/ movies.  I not only think it is gross and a way to spread germs on one’s iPad, but is someone really in the bathroom that long where you have to bring your iPad in with you while you are going to the bathroom?

 

 

 

 

 

Another accessory that was mentioned was the iMaxi (as shown below).

We all know when the iPad first came out, we all had that thought of a feminine healthcare product.  You can take this idea literally and purchase this maxi pad covering for $30 from Hip Handmaids.

 

 

 

 

 

The ideas in the article get even crazier such as a shirt with an iPad slot to feature interaction with other random people, a potty training toilet to help teach kids potty training while watching other kids going to the bathroom on the iPad stand, and many more products that seem too crazy to be true.  You can take a deeper look at them in the article listed below.

I still have a hard time believing that any of these products are real.  This got me thinking to the paper airplane activity done in class which main purpose was about customer requirements and what the customer’s want.  I have a really hard time believing that customers out there really want these products.  Then taking a deeper look into the dimensions of quality and how customers evaluate quality differently.  These dimensions include performance, features, conformance, reliability  durability, serviceability, response, aesthetics, and perception.  These products can definitely identify with the individual dimensions of quality.

Even though I think all these ideas are absurd, the product strategy was to be different and it worked.  The operations management may have believed that people out there may find quality within these products and buy them.

 

What do you think about these tablet accessories?

Would you ever buy one of these?

Why do you even think companies would make these kind of products?

 

Source:  http://shopping.yahoo.com/blogs/digital-crave/worst-ipad-accessories-ever-191158571.html

Picture Source: http://shopping.yahoo.com/blogs/digital-crave/worst-ipad-accessories-ever-191158571.html