Strategic companies get serious about industrial design
The ZIMMER™ Electric LPG Vaporizer from Algas-SDI
Do we need industrial design for our new product line?
How do we work with an external industrial design team?
Why outsource our industrial design? Can’t our engineers just do that?
Are you are asking questions about industrial design for your new product development strategy? Read how gas processing company, Algas-SDI, leveraged outsourced industrial design to increase the value of their products.
Even if your products are not sports cars or smartphones; there are many reasons to wrap your technical innovations in a well-considered design. While successful consumer products are often the most recognizable pinnacles of design, it is important to remember that every product has a target customer that must choose from among competitive solutions. Companies of all stripes must differentiate their offerings and good industrial design can drive preference and brand loyalty. This holds true in industries not traditionally associated with high design experiences. At Product Creation Studio (PCS) we have witnessed our customers leverage design strategically to grow their companies.
As a case study let’s examine the ZIMMER™ Electric LPG Vaporizer from Algas-SDI. The Zimmer is an industrial device that utilizes an electric heat exchanger to warm liquid LP-Gas (propane, butane, LPG) to an optimum vaporization temperature for efficient use by industrial stoves, radiant heaters, boilers, and process burners. This is not an industry segment typically associated with cutting edge industrial design.
In the industrial vaporizer market, competitors come in a wide range of louvered sheet metal boxes or cylinders. Components and line attachments, along with explosion-proof boxes are attached on the exterior of tanks with little thought to the final visual impact. Brand identity in the industry is essentially color-based. Product designers can choose to push boundaries or emphasize classic features, but an awareness of the market landscape is foundational, informing them where design effort will add the most value.
Decades ago, Algas SDI identified the lack of design investment in their market segment as an opportunity. They chose to collaborate with PCS to take advantage of the design gap by expressing core brand values in each of their new products. Design is used as a key brand differentiator and also to tie back to Algas-SDI’s wide family LP-Products. The design protects the brand from would-be copycat manufacturers with its unique construction and aesthetics tied directly to function and usability features.
“Our company has benefited directly from a commitment to great industrial design throughout our product lines. PCS has been very collaborative and offered us the right balance of design aesthetic and manufacturing feasibility.”
On the Zimmer, the design team’s objective was to craft an enduring, reliable, simple, and sophisticated aesthetic that is fit for an urban setting. Zimmer’s visual identity is driven by a desire to emphasize the great technology inside and to align with its specific application environment. The aesthetic takes advantage of the novel extrusion architecture to create long, clean, faceted surfaces. Care was taken to maintain these surfaces to create a simple yet solid look. The mounting brackets intersect the main form with no visible mounting hardware. The end caps, which serve as natural access points for installation and service are attached with magnets with no visible latching or hardware features. The faceted extruded profile intentionally minimizes the mass presented by manipulating shadow and highlights. When taken in full, Zimmer reads as enduring, simple, reliable, and sophisticated, which is fitting for an industrial product that is expected to last decades.
Design differentiation supports higher price-points with minimal effect on recurring cost of goods; a great long-term return on an incremental investment during the product development process. The easy-to-assemble, install and operate construction combined with its compact size, maintenance-free performance, and energy-efficient design makes the ZIMMER™ Electric LPG Vaporizer a class leader, setting the bar for competitors. Due to the commitment to industrial design, the sense of reliable quality is evident at a glance and also throughout the installation and use of the system. A commitment to intentional industrial design by Algas-SDI has unlocked superior aesthetics as well as elegant technical solutions that drive sales throughout the product life cycle.