Innovation task

Provoke set out to innovate a new sauna heater model that would consume less materials and energy to produce and at the same time get a modern yet time-lasting design.

The market and ValueMap® segments of the lower price category sauna heaters were investigated by Provoke Strategics team to give depth and meaning for the innovation work by Provoke Creatives team.

For consumer insight, ValueMap® was used. The tool is based on MBTI. Provoke is an official licensee of MBTI.

Challenge

Old models of sauna heaters were getting costly to produce as the price of steel tripled during the last years. In lower price categories competition is very price sensitive.

Manufacturing using spot-welding was energy intensive. Material and energy should be effectively used to gain cost and sustainability advantages in production.

Process

Provokes Creative team launched a series of workshops where designers and engineers innovated a new product eliminating the need for spot-welding as a cost issue.

They disassembled old metal toys to get inspiration for the new assembly ideas. 3D CAD was used to investigate manufacturability and the weight of the structure. Prototypes were built early on to test assembly ideas and the quality of steam in test sauna. After one of the concepts was selected, production documentation was finalized together with the client.

Result

The new model was launched in 2008 with the name Lumi, snow in English. Provoke was able to eliminate the need for spot-welding.

The new model requires considerably less steel than the old models, thus also contributing to a more sustainable and cost-effective solution. The new design has boosted the sales of the heaters and is among the most popular models.