A spirit level must be leveled… right?

SIT worked with Kapro, an Israeli manufacturer of spirit levels, to come up with a more intelligent and simple new level. Using SIT’s multiplication tool, Kapro multiplied and then altered components of their original design. One iteration of the exercise led the team to consider adding an extra vial, but changing the vial from 0° (flat), to 1°. The participants were skeptical–a spirit level must inherently be leveled, so what’s the point of un-leveling one of the vials?

But, with the facilitator’s stubbornness and the participants’ creativity, an idea that would become the Topgrade level started to form. The Kapro team realized that they could use the new slanted vial to measure consistent slopes such as the ones found in bathrooms & gardens. Because no solution for such slopes existed, contractors at the time were using various methods to deform their standard levels to measure slopes (e.g. wrapping masking tape on one side of the level). Using SIT’s method, Kapro discovered this new market for slanted levels and began developing a series of levels with vials set at 0°, 1° and 2°. Kapro patented the idea and turned their Topgrade level into a global success!