Zenith Appliances hunts for Innovative Solutions to a Complex Problem

Background 

Neeraj Shinde works as a senior Marketing Manager for Zenith Appliances, a leading homegrown washing machine manufacturer. In the early days, the firm was faced with a unique challenge: adapting its washing machines to the varied water quality across India to improve performance. Neeraj was tasked with finding a solution. To do this, he had to liaise with the engineering team. 

The Challenge 

In a meeting, Neeraj addressed a team of 7 engineers, “We need to find a way to determine the water hardness in a given area before the machine starts its wash cycle. Does anyone have any ideas on how this can be achieved”? 

“We can insert a water hardness sensing unit into the washing machine. That would solve the problem in one go”, a jubilant engineer Sahana offered. “But this would also add to the weight of the machine and increase the overall cost to the customer,” another engineer Kunal countered. 

“True”, Neeraj said, then added, “We are looking to achieve two things. First, we want to ease this process for our customers. And second, we need to leverage space judiciously to accommodate heavier wash loads. Based on our market research, customers favour larger washing machines to finish washing all their clothes in one sitting”. 

The marketing and engineering team got into an intense brainstorming session, with no viable solution in sight. Neeraj wondered what the most optimal solution was for this problem.