Innovation of the Week: Whirlpool’s New Ideas Through the Wringer
Posted by: meikah | 6 August 2009 | 6:49 pm
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.)
Filed under: Innovation, Innovation Update, Whirlpool
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Innovation of the Week: Embedding Innovation at Whirlpool
Posted by: meikah | 29 January 2009 | 9:18 pm
Whirlpool has been a trusted brand for household appliances for years now. And the reason for its stay in the business is innovation.
Nancy Snyder has been credited for most of the innovative efforts that Whirlpool have been taking. Under Ms. Snyder, the company took into a bold yet successful initiative.
In an interview with Terry Waghorn for Forbes.com, Ms. Synder reveals how she did it, and how Whirlpool embraced the “embedding innovation.” Some insights from the interview:
- First, Jeff Fettig, Whirlpool’s chairman, made a company-wide announcement that encouraged every employee to submit their innovative ideas.
- Second, created innovation teams, who had to prove their idea on three accounts: benefit the customer; have that competitive advantage and return value to the shareholders, and able to move into the innovation pipeline.
- Third, create software tools to help teams collaborate virtually and publish their work across the organization.
- Fourth, establish an “I-Mentors” team who helps facilitate the innovation cycle throughout the company.
- Fifth, despite the economic recession, Whirlpool is focused not only on reducing cost, but also on the long-term impact of innovation.
Ms. Snyder co-authored a book titled, Unleashing Innovation: How Whirlpool Transformed an Industry. There are more insights on innovation there.
Click here for an overview of the book.
