Посты с тэгом: toilet paper

When Joseph Gayetty invented commercially available toilet paper in 1857, he called it “The greatest necessity of the age!”  Of course, he wasn’t exaggerating.  The use of paper for toileting dates back to the 6th century AD.  Gayetty’s Medicated Paper was sold in packages of flat sheets, watermarked with the inventor’s name. Since then, many companies have tried to innovate this product.  Many innovations are simple gag gifts while others are quite useful.

For this month’s LAB, let’s apply the corporate innovation method, S.I.T., to create new concepts for toilet paper.  S.I.T. is a collection of thinking tools, principles, facilitation methods, and organizational structures to help companies innovate products, processes, and services.  We will use the Attribute Dependency Technique, one of five in S.I.T..

Attribute Dependency differs from the templates in that it uses attributes (variables) of the situation rather than components.  Start with an attribute list, then construct a matrix of these, pairing each against the others.  Each cell represents a potential dependency (or potential break in an existing dependency) that forms a Virtual Product.  Using Function Follows Form, we work backwards and envision a potential benefit or problem that this hypothetical solution solves.

We start with a list of attributes: internal (those related to the product) and external (those related to the environment immediately around the product – not within the manufacturer’s control).

Internal:

1. number of plys
2. coarseness of ply
3. shape of ply
4. size of ply
5. number sheets per roll
6. color
7. temperature
8. moisture content

External:

1. age of user
2. medical condition of user
3. mood of user
4. frequency of user

Here are some concepts that might emerge from these attributes.