New York Times article on guys trying to introduce a new razor

This seems to me like a dumb product, but it is interesting to read about the business decisions that they made.

CASE STUDY

Bringing an Innovative Razor to the Masses

By MICKEY MEECE

Published: April 28, 2010

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L.P.I. Consumer Products makes and distributes patented ShaveMateall-in-one razors that feature shaving cream dispensed from the handle. The company, which has been in business since 1987, has been developing its line of razors since 1997.

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John Van Beekum for The New York Times

Peter Tomassetti, left and his brother Louis invented ShaveMate razors, which dispense shaving cream from the handle.

How Can ShaveMate Compete with Gillette?

To see how business owners with related experience assess ShaveMates' plans and to leave your own comments, please go tonytimes.com/boss.

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John Van Beekum for The New York Times

After years of research and development, the brothers took their razors to the military in 2002 because they had heard that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan were dry shaving.

Titan 6, for men, and Diva 6, for women, which have six in-line blades, are the newest products. The company employs four people and had revenue of about $2 million in 2009.

THE CHALLENGE To crack the $2.6 billion United States razor and blade market, which is dominated by Gillette and Schick.

THE BACKGROUND Louis D. Tomassetti and Peter C. Tomassetti, known as “the inventor brothers” in Pompano Beach, Fla., created and sold a line of marine signaling devices under the Safety-Sport brand. More recently, they homed in on razors because they believed shaving was getting “complicated.” They concluded, Louis said, that “the common sense thing to do is to combine the shaving cream with the razor.”

After years of research and development, engineering and patent work, the brothers took their razors to the military in 2002 because they had heard that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan were dry shaving. That first product was rugged and featured two blades, with the shaving cream in the handle. The military became a repeat customer.

Still, the Tomassettis found American retailers reluctant to take shelf space from Gillette and Schick. Store managers encouraged the brothers to improve their product — add more blades, they suggested. So the Tomassettis did. With six blades, ShaveMate offers one more in-line blade than its competitors, and it is the only all-in-one razor on the market with shaving cream in the handle.

When Titan 6 and Diva 6 were in prototype, the brothers took the razors to trade shows. While retailers were intrigued, they said that ShaveMate lacked brand awareness. It became clear that the brothers needed to stimulate demand by building name recognition and educating consumers on the benefits of their razors.

THE OPTIONS The brothers thought they had three options:

They could go head-to-head with Gillette and Schick with a national print, television and radio advertising campaign, supplemented by store promotions and coupons. Because the cost could easily exceed $150 million, the brothers dismissed this idea out of hand.

They could market ShaveMate on their own through shavemate.com and specialty retailers like hotels, airport stores and cruise ships, using their tagline, “The future of shaving is here.” This was the most affordable option, costing an estimated $100,000 to produce razors for the initial stock, displays and promotions, but it would take a while to build the brand and increase sales.

Finally, they could initiate a two-pronged marketing attack for about $1 million, looking for a big splash with a low-cost specific public relations effort to put ShaveMate in front of print editors and TV producers. Then they could begin a national, as-seen-on-TV campaign on cable channels to educate consumers via two-minute commercials on how their product could simplify shaving. The goal would be to have a well-known spokesman promote the razors.

THE DECISION The Tomassettis picked the two-pronged attack. All new revenue would feed the marketing beast, and the brothers hoped to build recognition quickly.

The blitz to send out samples and promotional material paid immediate dividends: ShaveMate Diva 6 appeared in the Love That section of O, the Oprah Magazine. Local news stations tested ShaveMate razors on the air. “Live With Regis and Kelly” featured Diva.

Producers of the Discovery Channel program “PitchMen,” heard about ShaveMate, and in February 2009, they invited the brothers to California to try out for the show. Billy Mays, the face of OxiClean, and Anthony Sullivan, also a pitchman, were the hosts who would decide which inventors had a marketable product.

“When we auditioned, they literally went crazy,” Louis recalled. “They said this is monster hit.” The brothers would be included on the show and Mr. Mays and Mr. Sullivan were both going to be spokesmen. Mr. Mays said, according to the Tomassettis, that he loved the product so much he was going to shave his beard with a ShaveMate on national TV. He would be the face of ShaveMate.

But last June, Mr. Mays died. His death knocked the Tomassettis off Season One of “PitchMen,” and, Peter said, “took the wind out of our sails.”

Several months went by. Mr. Sullivan assumed that “the avenue to market had expired with Billy.” Then, last fall, Mr. Sullivan said, the brothers called him back and asked if he would be their pitchman. He agreed, and his company produced the infomercials.

THE RESULTS The media attention and product exposure caught the eye of retailers like Walgreens.com, Target.com and Meijer Stores. On Feb. 1, Walgreens decided to sell ShaveMate in its stores nationally.

The first Anthony Sullivan two-minute commercial, which cost about $40,000 to produce, is scheduled to be shown on cable TV in test markets starting Monday. The Tomassetti brothers were added to Season Two of “PitchMen,” which will appear in August.

Meanwhile, Gillette and Schick are introducing their latest products: the Gillette Fusion ProGlide and the Schick Hydro, in what some analysts are calling “the razor wars.” The Fusion ProGlide, which features five blades and seven “high-precision advancements” (but no shaving cream in the handle) will be introduced June 6 in a manual version ($10.99) and a power version ($12.99). The Schick Hydro 5 ($8.99), which offers a hydrating gel reservoir (but, again, no shaving cream in the handle), hit store shelves April 6. The Hydro also sells a three-blade version ($7.99).

The Tomassettis hope their product, which costs $9.99 for a three-pack of all-in-one razors (and shower hook), will help win over customers who are paying more than that for replacement cartridges alone.

The direct marketing approach allows the brothers to pay as they go. If the test in May is successful, they expect to spend up to $100,000 a week on air time. The goal is to sell a few million of the three-packs in one year (sales are currently at about 250,000), Mr. Sullivan said, adding, “In the grand scheme of razor blades, that’s probably a drop in the ocean.”

A version of this article appeared in print on April 29, 2010, on page B5 of the New York edition.

Medical Design and Manufacturing Expo at Javits Center early June

I go to this conference every year. It is really good as a way of finding out the latest developments of new products, materials and manufacturing methods. It's good for anyone who wants to know more about how very advanced products are designed and made right now. You don't have to have a special interest in medical devices to get a lot out of this show.

An example of the kind of things you will see at the expo. This is a new idea for caps for containers containing pills and other pharmaceuticals. It is supposed to be easy and quick to remove and replace. 

You can can get a free pass to the expo if you sign up on line in advance. Here's the link.

interview about fake subway etiquette signs

 

HS_Thesis board

Obituary for the inventor/designer of the trampoline

George Nissen, Father of the Trampoline, Dies at 96

By DENNIS HEVESI

Published: April 12, 2010

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One by one, the trapeze artists topped off their routines by dropping from their high-swinging bars into the net stretched below, then rebounding into somersaults — to the roar of the crowd at the traveling circus in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And one kid in the stands began to wonder: Hey, what if there was a contraption that made it possible to keep on bouncing and flipping?

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Ron Munn

George Nissen, a father of the trampoline, went airborne at the top of a pyramid in Egypt in 1977.

George Nissen, 16, who was a member of the gymnastics and diving teams at his high school, was soon tinkering in his parents’ garage, strapping together a rectangular steel frame and a canvas sheet. Even though it was not quite as springy as he had hoped, he called it a bouncing rig. That was in 1930.

It would be several years later, while a business major at the University of Iowa, that Mr. Nissen and his gymnastics coach, Larry Griswold, would work together to make a more flexible contraption with a nylon sheet. They still called it a bouncing rig.

Then, in 1937, Mr. Nissen and two friends formed a traveling acrobatics act called the Three Leonardos and began performing throughout the Midwest and Texas and then in Mexico. It was there that he heard the Spanish word for diving board: el trampolin.

He added an “e” and registered “Trampoline” as a trademark for what has become a joy-inducing device for backyard tumblers, fitness freaks and, since 2000, Olympic athletes.

Mr. Nissen, who devoted his life to promoting and manufacturing the trampoline — once renting a kangaroo to bounce with him in Central Park — died Wednesday at a hospital near his home in San Diego. He was 96. His son-in-law Ron Munn confirmed the death.

Dwight Normile, the editor of International Gymnast magazine, said of Mr. Nissen in a telephone interview on Friday: “He took the device all over the world and gave them as gifts. He wanted everybody to know about the health benefits of bouncing on a trampoline.”

Ten years ago, Mr. Nissen spoke of his enduring goal to see trampolining become an Olympic sport. For years, his friends told him he was just dreaming.

“They said, ‘George, it will be the year 2000 before trampoline is ever in the Olympics,’ ” Mr. Nissen said in an interview with International Gymnast.

They were right. “He was at those Sydney Olympics in 2000, 86 years old at the time,” Mr. Normile said, “and they actually invited him to bounce on the official trampoline.”

A twist was that in the early 1950s, Mr. Nissen had donated a trampoline to the Soviet Union — its first. Russia won the first Olympic gold medals for trampolining in 2000.

George Peter Nissen was born in Blairstown, Iowa, on Feb. 3, 1914, one of four children of Franklin and Catherine Jensen Nissen. His father owned a dry goods store. The family later moved to Cedar Rapids.

George started tumbling when he was a child at a local Y.M.C.A. and continued in junior high and high school. At the University of Iowa, he was a three-time winner of the intercollegiate national gymnastics championship.

After making the first prototype trampoline, Mr. Nissen and Mr. Griswold, his college coach, opened a small factory in Cedar Rapids and began marketing the device. But initial sales were slow, and Mr. Griswold, who died in 1996, went out on tour as a comedic acrobat under the name the Diving Fool.

Mr. Nissen, however, continued to make and market trampolines, even persuading the military to buy them as a training tool for pilots and divers. He served in the Navy during World War II, then returned to Cedar Rapids to expand his company. The Nissen Corporation, which he sold in 1973, eventually produced a full range of gymnastics equipment.

In 1951, Mr. Nissen married Annie De Vries, a high-wire artist from Holland who was performing with the Cole Brothers Circus in the United States. Besides his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Dagmar Munn and Dian Nissen-Ramirez; and one grandchild.

Well into his later years, Mr. Nissen remained head over heels for his sport. In 1977, with his son-in-law Ron, he scaled a pyramid in Egypt — one with a flattened top — set up a trampoline and did some flips.

Year after year, he attended the National Collegiate Athletic Association gymnastics championships.

“And at the banquet before the competition he would do a handstand,” Mr. Normile said. “It became a tradition.”

“The last time I saw him there was in 2006,” Mr. Normile continued. “He did one of those kind of yoga headstands where you’re on your head and elbows. That was only four years ago; he was 92.”

A version of this article appeared in print on April 13, 2010, on page A17 of the New York edition.

NY Times article about a workshop cooperative for entrepreneurs commercializing new products. READ THIS.

PING

Inventors Wanted. Cool Tools Provided.

Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Mark Hatch, left, and Jim Newton started TechShop to bring expensive tools to everyday tinkerers. Members pay a fee and can use any of the equipment. More Photos »

By ASHLEE VANCE

Published: April 9, 2010

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Menlo Park, Calif.

Multimedia

Slide Show

At TechShop, the Roots of Revolution

MARK HATCH sees the revolution going something like this:

Wealthy, love-handled Americans will turn off their televisions, put down their golf clubs and step away from their Starbucks coffees. Then they will direct their disposable income and free time toward making things — stuff like chairs, toys and, say, synthetic diamonds. They will do this because the tools needed to make really cool things have become cheaper and because humans feel good when they make really cool things.

Should this revolution take place as planned by Mr. Hatch, much of it will happen atTechShop, a chain of do-it-yourself workshops. Mr. Hatch is chief executive of the company, which has three locations and plans to set up about 10 more over the next 20 months.

“Making things is core to who we are as Americans,” Mr. Hatch says. “We are inventors. We are creators. Once you give people access to the tools, there will be a resurgence of creativity and innovation.”

TechShop represents an inevitable, corporatized version of the “hacker spaces” that have risen in popularity over the past couple of years to cater to people who like to hack things open and see how they work.

The typical hacker space consists of a few dozen people who share the costs of renting a work area and buying tools. There are spaces that lean toward robotics, some that specialize in software and others that generally encourage the melding of metal, electronics and plastic in artful forms.

TechShops offer more structure and a grander scale. Each has hundreds of members who pay a $100 monthly fee for access to a workshop and $500,000 of equipment. The members sign up for time on a machine or for a class and pop into the TechShop to do their work.

If bending metal is your thing, great. The same goes for using a laser to cut fine designs into paper, creating custom silverware with the metal tools or making bespoke light fixtures with a 3-D printer. There are plenty of open workspaces, free popcorn and a communal kitchen, too — all to foster discussion, of which there is plenty.

The hacker spaces and TechShop are part of what has been described as a “maker movement,” basically a surge in do-it-yourself behavior that is at least partly a reaction against the banality of mass-produced goods.

Mr. Hatch is among those who say the maker cause will shift from a bandwagon to something that might have staying power in the American consciousness, like jogging or iced tea.

He says that the prices of serious tools — mills, lathes, laser cutters, 3-D printers — have fallen about 90 percent over the past 15 years. One of the company’s $17,000 lathes, for example, used to cost $250,000. (It seems that China has a knack for lowering not only the price of finished goods but also the equipment needed to produce them, Mr. Hatch says.) In addition, people can now connect powerful computers to these machines for a low cost.

Building on another American tradition — capitalism — TechShop’s backers have tried to make the most of these trends by pushing hacker spaces into the mainstream.

On an average weekday at the TechShop here in Silicon Valley, you might run into people laser-engraving wedding invitations, making soil fertilization analysis machines or shaping fake dog feces for a movie set.

Michael Pinneo, 60, uses the TechShop’s mechanical fabrication tools to build some of the equipment he needs to make synthetic diamonds. To produce his wares, he mixes hydrogen and methane and turbocharges them with some energy produced from a microwave’s magnetron tube and a high-voltage power supply.

“I’ve been able to reduce the cost of synthetic diamonds,” Mr. Pinneo says. “This work will turn into a commercial start-up this summer.”

His new business will try to sell the synthetic diamond compounds to companies that produce everything from tools to microchips. The hope is that these companies can create affordable diamonds for industrial applications.

With a TechShop membership, Mr. Pinneo was able to run a number of experiments without breaking the bank on tools, he said. Members just have to provide the materials and the perseverance.

Similarly, Phil Hughes, 66, has become chief executive of the Clustered Systems Company, a start-up born at TechShop that has devised technology for cooling computer servers. Employing only three people, the company still operates out of a TechShop. It has won a $2.8 million grant from the Department of Energy and licensed its technology to a major manufacturer.

“The only way forward for someone at my age was to do something yourself,” Mr. Hughes said.

Jim Newton, a longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneur, came up with the TechShop idea a couple of years ago and figured he was onto something when people offered to lend him money to help start the first location in Silicon Valley — where else? The money came in batches of $25,000 to six figures.

Doug Busch, a vice president of Intel, is investing in TechShop as it looks to expand. Its other two current locations are in Durham, N.C., and Portland, Ore.

“It’s a high-risk investment in the sense that the open question is how many communities are there around the country that have a critical mass of people that want to do this,” Mr. Busch said.

There are plans for three more TechShops this year — including one in San Francisco and one in San Jose, Calif. — and an additional seven next year.

Mr. Hatch says the Menlo Park store, which now has 600 members, can turn a profit at 1,000 members.

“I believe a significant subset of Americans will trade up from Ikea to TechShop, so they can point to one of their chairs and say, ‘I made that,’ ” Mr. Hatch says.

Steven's presentation on trade secrets for class on Monday, April 12

flow poster

This post includes the original poster about Flow. The poster illustrates a whole range of ways that we can understand the work of product designers as embodying concepts of FLOW. 

Thoughts on FLOW

I am  personally very interested in notions of FLOW that have to do with creativity and learning. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote an amazing book that discusses the state of FLOW that people enter when they are working on something to their fullest capability. Everyone knows the feeling: when you are completely in the moment doing some creative activity, playing an instrument, engaged in a deep conversation, etc., when you lose track of time and you feel like you cannot make a mistake. For me, this occurs when playing drums, sketching, and sometimes even when doing very ordinary things, like making a list of things to do.  I have various strategies for entering this very enjoyable, productive state. I would be interested to know if other blog members have similar methods for inducing a state of FLOW.

This video is the author explaining his concept of FLOW. 

 Here is  a passage from Wikipedia:

Csíkszentmihályi identifies the following nine factors as accompanying an experience of flow:^[4][5]

1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities). Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should both be high.^[3]
2. Concentrating, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
4. Distorted sense of time, one's subjective experience of time is altered.
5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
9. People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.

Not all are needed for flow to be experienced.