While veneers are essential for Lack table aesthetics and durability, the new solution should give the customer the same feeling as real veneers. Thus, this excluded the possibility of using easy-fix solutions, such as papers or plastics.
The goal of the project was to develop a technology that would allow printing a veneer pattern directly on a wooden surface, such as the HDF used for Lack’s legs and tabletops.
In Akzo’s early drafts this new technology resembled offset printing more than traditional industrial coating. This meant that it was a technology of which Akzo had only limited knowledge. Furthermore, it meant that the coating lines installed at Swedwood would not work for the new process. For this reason, Swedwood and Akzo had to involved the two coating line manufacturers, Burkle and Sorbini in the project.
However, Lack’s “printed veneer” project entailed a new challenge: printing on finer furniture such as tables required much better quality, consistency and smoothness of the veneer-like patterns than those the coating lines and materials used for rougher benches and parquet could attain. Thus, to allow the printing of a veneer pattern directly on the HDF of the Lack table, IKEA, Swedwood, Akzo-Nobel, Burkle and Sorbini had to change and fine-tune both the coating machines and the lacquers and inks.
PRODUCT INNOVATION #2:
Veneer printed products instead of veneering products
Veneering refers to the gluing of thin slices of wood, usually thinner than 3 mm on the surface of furniture such as doors, tops and panels for cabinets etc
With its strong belief of keeping Lack’s table retail price low as long as possible. IKEA was wondering if veneering could be replaced by veneer printing.
To tackle this issue, in 2000, IKEA invited Swedwood, manufacturer of Lack’s tables owned by IKEA group and Akzo-Nobel to participate in this technical project.The goal of this effort was to simply find solutions that would reduce the costs associated with the veneering operation.
Akzo-Nobel became immediately interested because it had a possible solution, which it had successfully tried with some of its customers, namely producer of parquet and of wooden benches for outdoor environments (eg. parks). Akzo suggested literally substituting veneers with a printed veneer-like pattern.
Source:
Hakan Hakansoon & Alexandra Waluszewsk. (2009). Knowledge and
Innovation in Business and Industry: The importance of using others
Source:
Hakan Hakansoon & Alexandra Waluszewsk. (2009). Knowledge and
Innovation in Business and Industry: The importance of using others
After hundreds of round of trials and error, the knowledge that emerged from the “printed veneer” project consolidated and was ready to be exploited to contain Lack’s costs and maintain its price, without compromising its aesthetic appeal.
However, when Swedwood was about to start producing the new printed-on Lack tables an unexpected event happened. IKEA’s purchase offices around the world had never stopped looking for convenient sources of veneers. And it was in this search that IKEA stumbled on a very large supply of surprisingly high quality veneer, available for a very good price.
IKEA was suddenly confronted with a new situation: the need to find a use for this precious process material, which could help lower the high cost of veneers on the Lack table was the candidate for making use of this highly convenient resource to reduce veneering costs.
This choice created a completely new scenario for the newly developed “print-on-wood” technology, in which a large investment had been made at Swedwood. This new technology could not simply be left unused after all efforts and development costs. And luckily, even if the extensive investment in “printed veneer” had been tuned to serve primarily such a large application as hundreds of thousands of Lack tables, Swedwood still produced many other products for IKEA that utilise veneers. Therefore, the first commercial application for the print-on-wood technology was found in such furnitures such as IKEA shelves.
Source:
Hakan Hakansoon & Alexandra Waluszewsk. (2009). Knowledge and
Innovation in Business and Industry: The importance of using others
Strength:
1. IKEA's corporate culture of starting early and failing often motivates employees to innovate and embrace failure. This culture similar to that of IDEO where rapid prototyping was carried out.
2. The technology used in producing Lack table can be applied on other wooden furnitures
3. Synergy is established between IKEA and the players within its ecosystem. Hence, it will easier for IKEA to push forth future collaborations with these players. Similarly, in the BMW Vol De Nuit case,
BMW tap on the expertise of external parties for its innovation project. However this case differs from
that of BMW because this project has approved by IKEA senior management.
Weakness:
1. Maintaining good relationship with its suppliers is extremely important as IKEA is heavily reliant on them
Similar to
Vol De Nuit