Business Week reports:
Whirlpool is coming out with the product called Affresh, a hockey puck-shaped tablet that consumers can toss into front-loading washers for a cleaning cycle.
In less than two years, Affresh, which works with any brand of appliance, has grown into a line of four products that Whirlpool expects to be an $80 million to 100 million business by 2015. Taking Affresh as a guide, here’s a look at how the Benton Harbor (Mich.) appliance maker evaluates new ideas.
Affresh came out of regular consumer research a few years ago: Water and chemical residues caught in the seal of the door of front-load washing machines, customers told Whirlpool researchers, were causing odor problems. (Not all of Whirlpool’s concepts emerge from customer research; Gladiator GarageWorks—a line of storage containers and appliances for garages and workshops—was conceived in a sales and marketing brainstorm about how Whirlpool might develop products for rooms beyond the kitchen and laundry room.)
