“Open Innovation” Brings Companies Together to Solve Problems
Manufacturing Business Technology’s fascinating story about a start-up (NineSigma) that links manufacturers with product development problems to third parties with solutions reveals how collaborative innovation can work. A Procter & Gamble problem with oil stained detergent packaging is an excellent example:
“The detergent was packaged in pouches made of a water soluble film, and the pouches were placed in cardboard boxes. A small number of these pouches—roughly one of every 1,000—developed small leaks that caused oil spots to form on the cardboard boxes. Customers selecting this brand of detergent naturally opted for the non-oily boxes….
At P&G’s request, NineSigma launched a search for a company that could solve this problem. It sent a request-for-proposal (RFP) to several likely candidates, and the solution came from a small company in the U.K. that made agricultural concentrates—insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, and the like. It turned out that this company was using the same water-soluble film to package some its products, and had learned that the leaking problem could be alleviated in the packaging process.”
The key to success in linking companies together is in the “open innovation” process used by NineSigma. More on that in my next post.
Have you collaborated with another company to solve a sticky product development problem? Tell us about it!
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