Value Innovation projects 2013

• Post by: Tobias Larsson
• 24th October 2013
• No Comment

The students in the MT2536 Value Innovation course had on 23/10 the opportunity to present the outcome of the group projects they have been carrying out together with external partners.

Value Innovation is a course in the MSPI programme, also taken by Mechanical Engineers (Civilingenjörer) and Industrial Management and Engineering (Civilingenjörer), which targets the development of products with uncontested new value on the market. Students have been carrying out projects with guidance of The Value Model book (authored by Per Lindstedt) and other value driven methods and tools.

In a nutshell, the course objectives are to be able to carry out, in a real world scenario:

• Customer needs assessment
• Opportunity recognition
• Value innovation
• Value modelling
• Concept generation
• Concept selection and prototyping
• Team management

At the event, the presentations were organised as follows:

• 13:00 – 13:15   Introduction to project presentation and practicalities (Marco Bertoni)
• 13:15 – 13:55   ABB team: value analysis of high voltage cables design and production processes
• 13:55 – 14:35   Blekinge Health Arena team: development of a power measurement system for weight-lifting exercises.
• 14:35 – 15:15   Telenor team: next generation customer service.
• 15:15 – 15:30   Break
• 15:30 – 16:10   Hjälpmedelscentralen team: value analysis of a Swedish Health Care Center in region Blekinge.
• 16:10 – 16:50   Dynapac: development of a new concept for rotating warning lamps.
• 16:50 – 17:00   Closing (Marco Bertoni).

Summary of the outcomes

At the event all teams did an excellent job presenting their results, something that is also mirrored in their high standard project reports (contact the teams for access to reports, pending partner secrecy), making the value of the course very tangible. There is a great opportunity, in this sense, to use the project results directly in further exploration in collaboration with BTH Innovation to analyse commercialisation potential.

The teams showed a great ability to understand ill-defined (or wicked) problems and cascading them down to solvable elements, without losing perception of the overall project intent. Last but not least, they showed good ability to work in cross-functional teams.

Team ABB

The ABB team, composed of Bakke Henning, Henrik Kvist and Marcus Lind, analysed high voltage cables design and production processes. The team presented a solution to improve the way customers can get feedback and track the status of their orders while cables undergo development and manufacturing.

Team Blekinge Health Arena

The Blekinge Health Arena team, composed of Alvaro Aranda, Unni Hallberg, Diego Navarro, Gabriela Novak and My Westerdhal, investigated how to improve the BHA power measurement system for weight-lifting exercises in terms of functionality, ease of use, accessibility and independency. The work has brought to the definition of a Power-App that exploits triaxial accelerometer technology to conduct more accurate (and easier to setup) measurements. The app has been prototyped in Android OS.

Team Telenor

The Telenor team, composed of Calr-Philip Engblom, Simon Ha, Jonas Hantoft, Shrep Stavileci and Erik Wedelin, faced the problem of developing the “next generation customer service” for Telenor clients. The team presented ideas and proposals for migrating manual services to digital services, and for how making better use of existing Internet technologies and social media for customer support.

Team Hjälpmedelscentralen (Blekinge County Council)

The Hjälpmedelcentralen Karlskrona team, composed of Gustal Müller Lundgren, Martin Nilsson Lind, Daniel Petersson, Erik Petersson, Zhenquing Gao and Yi Chai, conducted a value analysis of the Swedish Healthcare Center in region Blekinge. The work has spotlighted opportunities for increased collaboration between organizations within the Blekinge region, and has pointed to critical inefficiency areas in relation to purchasing and reconditioning of medical equipment.

Team Dynapac

The Dynapac team, composed of Johan Nilsson, Johannes Olsson, Henrik Thorwaldsson and Isac Vidman worked with the development of a new concept for rotating warning lamps for Dynapac machines.  By using functional analysis methods, TRIZ (Theory of inventive problem solving) and concept selection matrixes the team developed a solution that is safer for the machine operator, solves problems related damage/vandalism, and complies with the existing governmental regulations.

For more information: Course responsible Marco Bertoni, marco.bertoni@bth.se, or examiner Professor Tobias C. Larsson, +46 (0)455-38 55 25, tobias.larsson@bth.se, both at the Product Development Research Lab.