To be able to work with these unknowns and turn them into freedom, structure is needed. We acknowledged that 30 years ago and have never stopped finetuning our LUCID innovation process since. We use LUCID every day, and it proves itself to be a structured innovation process that perfectly fits every product development project we do. From single-stage to full-blown projects, LUCID allows for full flexibility of tailoring the process to the specific needs of our clients. LUCID tells our customers and ourselves where we are and where to go.
The basis of LUCID is Integrated Product Development. Together with the customer, product developers from all Fields of Expertise work together as one team throughout the entire process. Having everyone involved and in agreement with the bigger picture, ensures that a product design can be good-looking, fully functional, user-friendly and producible at the right cost price; all at the same time. The qualities of both our process and our people enable us to promise our customers excellent products that will be successful in their markets for many years.
LUCID is a structured innovation Stage-Gate model.
The initial step in LUCID is helping the customer identify a vision for the product they want to create. This usually comes from an ambiguous idea or an unspecified target group that makes it difficult for them to define one themselves. For this reason, research is performed in the technology, user, and business areas to explore trends, restraints, and opportunities. The phase is concluded with an intelligible definition of the future product.
Many projects are in the definition phase when MMID gets involved. Often clients already have a defined vision of the concept they want to develop further into a functional product. The definition phase helps them to dive deeper into open questions and uncertainties around particular requirements to eventually make a choice of concept. This conceptual phase is all about defining potential risks in the future process. To assess the risks models are built and tests are run. The phase concludes with a proof of concept, which is a model that aims to confirm all the important topics and verifies whether the chosen concept is feasible. As an example, Orcon envisioned a ventilation heat recovery unit with the best heat recovery and lowest sound level on the market. There were many aspects to arrange components and realize all functions, so an integrated solution was needed. That’s when MMID came to help.
The third phase is the specification stage, where all the parts and components are going to be defined together with their production technologies and finish. This is mostly done through sketches and not so much in CAD. There is a lot of sketching and deciding, but no complete details just yet. At the end of this stage, the list of requirements will be fixed, so everyone knows what needs to happen and what needs to be solved. A better estimation of the cost price will also be possible at this stage. It is a challenge to fully understand all requirements and make them very clear for all involved. Taking for example our client Orcon again; we knew we had to split up bigger parts of EPP. In this stage, we designed how to split it and how to attach them back together while keeping the product producible.
In the product verification phase, the engineers will be involved more intensively. From scratch, a neat and stable CAD model is built with all parts that were specified during the integral verification. In this phase, the appearance of the product and how it will be engineered will be defined, though final detailing will not be included yet. The created CAD model is tested on the requirements, which sometimes also entails user testing. After all requirements have been met, the development process can continue. For the product developed for Orcon, a complete model was 3D printed and plenty of tests were conducted to confirm the airflow and efficiency were as envisioned.
Now all the general aspects of the product have been frozen, the final details can be designed in CAD. All parts of the product must be production ready in 3D, and 2D drawings are created with production specifications. At this point suppliers have been contacted to verify whether certain parts can be produced, and tolerances are agreed on. At the end of this stage, one final model is created to verify whether the final detailing provides any issues regarding the requirements. If everything is agreed upon, tools are built with the supplier. This process can sometimes take several weeks.
During realization, delivery of the first out of tool parts takes place. Usually, there are minor errors that need to be mended during this process. Production samples are checked and assembled. Changes will be made until all stakeholders are equally happy with the outcome of the process, including the client, MMID, and manufacturers. After this phase, the product is ready for production in series, which can range from a few to more than ten thousand units. Therefore, the entire process must be smooth. For Orcon, a model was built on final optimized parts to check with the client if all requirements were met. Norm testing was necessary to receive a CE certification.
The final stage is the implementation stage. In this phase MMID is not often involved anymore. The client usually takes over again and starts producing vast quantities of the developed product. Sometimes issues arise, but these are often resolved by the client itself. When the final errors are resolved for series production, and everything has been optimized. The process has been concluded.
With our integrated approach, we help our clients realize excellent products.
Making the function of a product the center of attention, we can guarantee that our products are very easy to use, durable and therefore extremely sustainable. By working closely together with our clients and combining strengths of specialists we create products that delivers value to all.
Contact Nils Müller and let’s talk about ambitions