What’s in it for me? Benchmarking as a catalyst for innovation
Commissioned by Didak Injection, Artori developed the Foldaway — a revolutionary, innovative, robust, user-friendly and sustainable plastic folding crate. Thanks to its unique design, the crate folds up to 20% more compactly than other crates on the professional market, while its maximum internal volume delivers the best volume-to-weight ratio.
In a series of articles, we highlight the journey from brief to finished product of this one-of-a-kind crate.
Today: benchmarking as a catalyst for innovation.
What’s in it for me? Benchmarking as a catalyst for innovation
Folding crates — we all know them. They’re practical containers for storing and transporting products, goods or raw materials. But not all folding crates are created equal. For the professional market, a folding crate must meet a number of (economic) requirements, which we list below:
- Transport as many goods as possible per crate
- Minimise storage space for folded crates, thereby maximising the number of folded crates during transport
- Cost efficiency and robustness are essential
Needless to say, many manufacturers promote their crate as the best on the market. Yet most crates for professional use only excel in one or two of the criteria above.
Didak Injection, specialised in custom moulding and injection moulding, also produces standard and tailor-made crates. The Grobbendonk-based company, known for its drive towards innovation and sustainable production, wanted to take things one step further by developing a folding crate that scores on all three requirements. To achieve this, they teamed up with product development bureau Artori — and that’s how the Foldaway came to life.
Translating the initial requirements into four concrete parameters.
Starting from the above challenge, Artori initiated a benchmark by closely analysing competing crates. Benchmarking is a valuable tool to improve products, gain a competitive edge and respond to the evolving demands of the market. More than that, it acts as a true catalyst for innovation. By aiming to outperform existing solutions, we were driven to optimise processes and find creative answers.
After an in-depth benchmark, we translated the three key requirements into four concrete parameters:
- A stacking height of 30 mm (space-saving: the lowest stacking height on the market)
- A maximum unfolded height of 232 mm without overlap
- A weight below 1.8 kg (the lightest crate on the market!)
- A load capacity of 20 kg
To actively involve Didak in the different stages of the development process — concept creation, prototyping and testing — we shared our findings via Miro. This allowed us to receive immediate feedback and implement the necessary adjustments along the way.
The fact that the Foldaway is now in production confirms that the folding crate meets all three of Didak’s requirements — as well as those of the professional market — and fulfils the four parameters we defined.
Next week: can design ensure that a product not only looks better, but performs better too?
After all, when we think of (folding) crates, we might picture a rather technical or utilitarian product. That doesn’t mean design has to take a back seat. Stay tuned and read all about it in next week’s article.
Related articles in this series
- Part 1: The Foldaway – Introduction
- Part 2: Benchmarking as a Driver for Innovation
- Part 3: Design Focused on Branding and Structural Strength
- Part 4: Strength Calculations for the Best Result
- Part 5: From Theory to Practice with Prototyping
