topics: |  business | technology | case-study

A number of interesting studies of business competitiveness.  The third
chapter, the story of Black and Decker's dramatically successful redesign of
the entire household power-tools line, makes for a fascinating story. 

Lehnerd, Alvin P.: Black and Decker case-study p.49-64

Revitalizing the Manufacture and Design of Mature  Global Products

[From 1979-1982, Lehnerd was with Black & Decker, resigning in 1982
as VP for advanced Technology. ]

A fascinating study of a complete re-design of the product line at Black and
Decker, based on placing advanced manufacturing engineers working with design
engineers elbow to elbow to completely re-design the product line.  The
program, called "Double insulation" because of a perceived threat that all
household electrical products were going to require a second line of
insulation, resulted in enormous levels of standardization and homogenization
of the manufacturing platform.  

The investment in the re-design - about $17m, was a substantial risk, and new
products development was almost halted for a period of nearly 4 years.
Interestingly, investments were nearly equal in the design and manufacturing
aspects.

The re-design paid off with tremendous dividends including many unanticipated
benefits.  Cost savings resulted from a four-fold reduction in both labour
(from 60 workers to 15) and capital (from $2.3mn to 0.8).  Other savings
included increased utilization in plastic (and other savings - e.g. colours
were added while moulding), replacing standardized spur gears for bevel - and
powder metallurgy manufacturing; standardization of other parts, etc.

At the same time, the look and feel of the product line was given a similar
(the familiar red) format. 

Another benefit was the ability to flexibly
introduce (and terminate) new designs, since little special-purpose
equipment was needed

Within a decade, all the domestic competitors of B&D - Stanley, Skil, McGraw
Edison, GE, etc, had withdrawn from the power-tool segment, and B&D
established a handsome foothold in the European market.

In particular, the line of universal motors was reduced from a diverse lot to
four motors varying in a single parameter - the stack length - between 0.8in
and 1.7in, generating power from 60w to 650w.  This re-design has been widely
investigated in the design community [Simpson 98].

National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
Technology and Global Industry: Companies and Nations in the World Economy (1987) 
also online as an openbook: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1671&page=49