Innovation is an essential factor in getting the edge over competing products and helps make the difference in quality rather than in price.

In many areas of the market it has become extremely difficult if not impossible for an American or European manufacturer to compete directly against cheaper Asian suppliers.

This often forces companies to outsource in order to bring production costs down, but the price battle continues.

An innovative product finds itself on higher ground. Promoted on its own terms with fewer competitors and a more welcoming market, it also opens the door for other products of the same brand to benefit from the newfound success.

Our forklift truck concept for Still is exemplary of this, where it became a media magnet at its debut at the Frankfurt trade fair in 1998.

It is still featured in magazines and books all over the world. But even more subtle innovations can gain the admiring attention of critics and users.

There are four impetuses that act as a catalyst for innovative ideas:

1 Unrequited user needs are identified
2 Differentiation of a product over competitors is required.
3 New technologies.
4 Existing functions are combined to create a new application.

When we brainstorm with our clients we have a number of methods to explore each of these, which always result in several exciting and marketable concepts.

Many of these generate enough attention and support and thus catapult their way through industrial design and development and into production.

© 2006 TEAMS Design, Inc. All rights reserved.