naoual1

When Lego discovered that one of the new development tools for digital designing had been hacked, they hired the hackers. Instead of punishing the hackers, Lego wanted to use their kwoledge and insights to improve and develop Lego’s products.

The hackers of Lego were lead users, with a lot of knowledge and expertise about the Lego products. The hackers were able to improve Lego’s products in a way that the own designers of Lego did not think of. By using the knowledge and expertise of the hackers, Lego was not only able to improve/design products with their insights, but also to build strong relationships with the lead users.

One of the problems of using consumers knowlegde in order to innovate and design new products, is that their information is sticky and hard to transfer in solutions for (new) products. The Lego hackers have problem-solving capabilities that can be used in practice.

Lego did a good job by using the hackers in the development of the digital designing tool.

http://news.cnet.com/Hackings-a-snap-in-Legoland/2100-1046_3-5865751.html

Naoual Aouaki

In an interesting article Connecting to a sustainable future (written by Ernie Hood, 2003) I read that mass customization could be a key driver of sustainability. Mass customization could generate environmental benefits through the different parts in the process such as production, stocks, transportation and reduced use of materials.

The use of recycled materials in the production makes the product not only environment friendly but could also create a unique product for a specific type of customer. I found a nice example on www.freitag.ch, the company FREITAG mass customizes all kinds of bags produced of used truck sail. The production of the bags is also environment friendly by saving water and energy.

FREITAG is a nice and inspiring example of sustainable development by mass customization.

Naoual Aouaki