Building a Better Ice Scraper A Product Platform Case Study

Current Ice Scrapers

Innovation Factory Scrapers

Ice Dozer Getting Started  Identified Problems with Existing Ice Scrapers  Created Initial Sketches  Performed a National Survey  Initial Proposal

Ice Dozer The Players  Created Partnerships Emerson, Johnson, Mackay Industrial Design (EJM)Emerson, Johnson, Mackay Industrial Design (EJM) Delaware Valley Industrial Research Center (DVI)Delaware Valley Industrial Research Center (DVI)  Received Additional Funding  Created Concept Sketches

Ice Dozer Details, Details, Details.  June 2001 Final sketch is chosenFinal sketch is chosen  Three Part Design BladeBlade HandleHandle Plow handlePlow handle  Focused on the Blade separately  Focused on design for manufacture

Ice Dozer Prototypes  By July 17, 2001 had a finalized design  Tested prototypes on August 14 & 15, 2001  Post Testing

Ice Dozer Mold Problems  Received first shots of the mold ProblemsProblems  Received second shots of the mold ProblemsProblems  Re-tooled and fixed problems

Ice Dozer  Went from design to production in little over a year  Effective hot point

Mini Dozer Concept Development  Assumed a three unit family from the beginning Ice DozerIce Dozer Mini DozerMini Dozer Extreme DozerExtreme Dozer  Tried to reuse parts from the Original Ice Dozer

Mini Dozer Platform Development  Designed to have several models  Yellow handle is a platform for future features

Mini Dozer From Concept to Product  Conceptual Development began around the same time as the Original Ice Dozer  Final design was selected  Identified the blade’s connections could be used differently  Launched  Tucker estimates saving up to 6 months in development time during the Mini Dozer project.

Extreme Ice Dozer  An Ice Dozer for larger vehicles owners  Uses the same blade as the Ice Dozer and Mini Ice Dozer

Extreme Ice Dozer  Produced several concept sketches  Created a wooden mock-up

Ice Dozer Family Line  Pictured a three unit family from the beginning  Platforming covers a $20 range easily

Snow Mover The Beginning  Started as product that would re-use the flexi-blade  Performed market surveys  Wanted to launch the Ice Dozer and Snow Mover together.

Snow Mover From Concept to Product  Isn’t part of the Flexi-blade family Looks can be deceivingLooks can be deceiving  First Functional Unit  Ready to sell Mid-February

Ice Scraper Evolution