Abstract

KOODESIGN was founded in Hong Kong by Larry Koo and Natalie Chan in 2017. From its base in Hong Kong, KOODESIGN has managed global design projects for clients around the world, such as Philips, Whirlpool, and Softbank. All of those product designs then needed to be manufactured and brought to market. Accordingly, KOODESIGN also developed its Go-to-Market strategy to facilitate the process of moving a product from a design concept to a finished product ready to be launched in the market. KOODESIGN’s latest project was the design of an Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) for a major, new client, Eaton, a global conglomerate with US$20 billion in annual sales. The product called the ATS MATSN was to be manufactured in China and was intended for the mainland China market. 
As the product design lead for KOODESIGN, Larry interacted extensively with Studio Blue, Eaton’s human-centric design team, and studied the Eaton Designer’s Guide to Visual Brand Language (VBL) that Studio Blue had shared with KOODESIGN. Natalie, on the other hand, had been in close communication with the ATS MATSN project team in China, which included product development, as well as sales and marketing. They also provided input on product design.
Over the course of the interactions that Larry and Natalie had with the respective parties, it became apparent that the priorities of the design team in the USA and the product development and manufacturing teams in China were not necessarily aligned. While KOODESIGN had an established Go-to-Market strategy, implementing that strategy varied across projects depending on the stakeholders involved in each project and their respective priorities. It was necessary, therefore, for Larry and Natalie to further vet the priorities of the parties involved with the ATS MATSN project and ensure that key elements of Eaton’s VBL were not compromised while also ensuring that the product could be manufactured and assembled in a cost-effective manner so as to be competitive in the China market. 

Learning Objectives

After analyzing the case, students should be able to:
1. Gain insight into the variables involved in Design for Manufacturing (DfM) and related concepts; 
2. Managing product development projects and ensuring a product is fit-for-market; 
3. The roles of Value Engineering and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) in product development projects. 
4. The important role of customer feedbacks for long-term product success.  
5. Hong Kong’s role in product design and development over the past several decades.