But what is a really innovation induction hob? And how can you conceive it to fit your customers’ real needs?

Here are 5 expert tips to create the most innovative cooktop on the market today, without breaking the bank.

APPLY THE DESIGN THINKING TECHNIQUE TO YOUR INNOVATIVE INDUCTION COOKTOP

If you’re interested in innovation, you might have heard about Design Thinking. This creation technique helps many companies today reach high-end, functioning products, that perfectly match their market’s needs.

The Design Thinking technique is based on two major key-points:

1. Co-designing. Implicating your final customer from the beginning helps you search for the real value behind your innovative idea.
2. Iteration. As long as your product isn’t perfectly adapted to the demand, the process keeps going, through various prototypes and test-and-learn designs.

This technique is a great wat, not only to design an innovative induction hob, but to give it a real differentiating value for your customers.

But if you want to go even further, don’t stop at questioning your customers about their needs: implicate your cooktop designer and technology suppliers in the process. Those are the value chain actors that may help you detect new materials or technologies, that you never knew existed or were possible. By combining your expertise (on your market, and what your audience is looking for) and your partners’ (from a material and technological point of view), you’ll create a real innovative cooktop, in the end.

THINK ABOUT INNOVATION “OUTSIDE THE BOX”

When thinking about innovation, it’s easy to focus on the product itself, its design and look and feel. But as a matter of fact, innovation goes way beyond the product itself: it’s a way of looking for a real value for the customer.

For instance, you can think about:

• A new configuration for your cooktop. For instance, why not think about a full surface induction system, for an easier and faster cooking experience.
• A new technological component, that adds value to the cooking process. A connected cooktop that guides cooking, for instance

Sometimes even, this value can be just a “perceived value”, such as a thicker metal sheet, to make the product seem more resistant or innovative, or a never-created-before diameter for the cooking zones.

Also think about the more innovative details that surround your product, such as its marketing. When creating an induction cooktop, always think about the way it will be marketed for your target-audience. Is your audience sensible to “made in France” products? Or to a differentiating packaging?

Your product’s features may not be enough to create value for your customers, as they may not perceive it directly in store. Make sure you design the right marketing message, that’ll appeal to your audience, and train your sellers to deliver this innovative message the best way they can.

All those details need to appear in your initial specification for the designer, as well as the technical specs you are looking for.

CHOOSE A REAL OEM PARTNER

Top-leading brands always prefer choosing a factory entirely dedicated to their products.

In fact, by choosing a 100% brand-free partner, you ensure yourself that the manufacturer won’t retain any innovative technology for itself, and that your project won’t come second on the production line in case of a bottleneck.

A real OEM also won’t stop at mass customization, by simply putting your logo on standardised products. As a matter of fact, a real OEM will take into account all your needs regarding innovation in one global solution.

Make sure the partner you choose will be able to:

• Understand the induction hob trends and markets, to guide you through the conception of a real innovative product.
• Identify the best technological partners in his address book, to reach a pitch-perfect induction cooktop for your customers.
• Adapt his methods to your supply-chain model, by tailoring his fabrication and logistics process to yours.
• Take care of your customer service for you, with services such as a dedicated hotline, repairing experts, and a rigorous follow-up on your customers’ satisfaction.

If choosing a small OEM can seem like a good idea to produce an innovative product, beware of the costs these small manufacturers may entail. In fast, in the household appliance world, the bigger the factory, the bigger the economies of scale.

Our experts at ARPA Cooking remain firmly committed to your success, by taking a large share of the commercial responsibility of your creative cooking solution project. Let’s say your project fails (which we do everything for it not to): that doesn’t have to be an issue to our customers, as we have taken care entirely of the study costs, and our remuneration depends on how much products you sold.

SEEK FOR FLEXIBLE PRODUCTION LINES

You may already know it: true innovation needs to adopt a quick pace, for an optimum time-to-market. You can’t just let your competitors market the most innovative cooktop before you have time to design yours.

Which is why you need to look for a factory that can adapt its production and assembly lines quickly. Its goal? Changing details fast enough after the first SKUs are out on the market, by taking into account customer reviews for the next product batches.

Want to design a whole collective of different innovative products? Seek for a designer that can split its factory into mini-production lines, to conceive each of your collection’s products at one time.

Want to a small series of a few products? Choose a partner that will ensure you 100% customized products, even from a small batch production. At ARPA’s, we start our runs as low as 34 pieces.

CHOOSE A COOKTOP FACTORY THAT FOCUSES ON OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

Every day, you get challenged by your customers on prices, value, innovation. Why not challenge your cooktop designer as well?

The best way to do so today is to ask for an operational excellence process inside their factory. The best induction cooktop designers today can’t do without this management technique, that helps each of the project’s stakeholders to seek for the product’s final value.
Operational excellence relies on three major pillars:

• Performance, with flexible and custom-made production lines for each cooktop project
• Employee well-being, with employees being trained to production best practices, and a test-and-learn state of mind
• Sustainability, with an eye set on the production’s respect for the environment

Only when those two pillars meet can the production lines become more effective, more customer-focused… and more innovative, to meet your success goals.

At ARPA’s, our expert teams help you design, not only your future product, but tomorrow’s innovative induction hob: the one that’ll differentiate you from your competitors, as well as satisfy your customers’ needs.

We rely on the best glass-ceramic and cooktop electronics suppliers, and an operational excellence approach, to offer innovation at the best price possible. Want to see it for yourself? Please contact us: we’d love to hear about your innovative cooktop project.

LOOK FOR HIDDEN PRICES INSIDE YOUR MANUFACTURERS’ OFFERS

Let’s face it: induction hob manufacturers located in low-cost countries, such as China, can seem very attractive, from an economical point of view. So when cooktop designers aim at creating a competitive product, it can seem like the ideal solution.

But have you thought about all the hidden prices inside those low-cost offers? When establishing your budget, look for every additional cost that those kind of offers can induce, such as:

• Payment by letter of credit, that often occurs in long-distance international trade, and that may slow down the project’s process.
• Custom duties that can surprise you if you don’t include them as a budget line from the start.
• Less agile production lines, which aren’t able to react as fast as you’d like to if something goes wrong during the creation process.
• Longer deadlines for deliveries, but also all the issues that can occur in this long-distance process, and upon which you won’t be able to really act. And can a late penalty really make up for a sale that was lost due to a missing item?
• Breakdown costs. Some low-budget factories may deliver products with a high breakdown rate, resulting in significant repair costs.
• Your time. Because time you spend trying to make sure your order will be delivered the right way represents time you won’t spend on developing your business.

In fact, a really low-budget induction cooktop manufacturer will be able to establish your budget with you, taking into account every detail of your conception pricing. Look for the perfect ally to design and conceive your product, that will help you do so.

SEEK FOR ECONOMIES OF SCALE

The glass-ceramic market is quite monopolistic. The raw material’s price depends a lot on how much volume you buy. The same applies to the electronics you need to create an induction hob.

To conceive a really low-budget hob, you need to find the manufacturer that’ll make economies of scale, by buying large volumes to their partners. Those kinds of synergies make some providers more competitive than low cost countries, thanks to the volume of raw material they buy.

At ARPA’s, we are able to offer excellent prices, thanks to the volume of products we conceive each year: we have an economy of scales, that benefits all of our customers, from the ones that want to conceive the smallest batch to the biggest distributor.

TAKE INTO ACCOUNT USER EXPERIENCE FROM THE START

Let’s say you designed a highly competitive induction hob, and put it on the market… but you realize it doesn’t meet your customers’ needs. What happens then? The truth can be harsh to admit: the cooktop will cause customer service issues, and, after its (bad) reputation is set, won’t even be bought at all.

Taking into account your product’s user experience from the start of your cooktop project can help your product be more cost-effective in the end. This may seem like a basic advice, but taking into account UX is not always top-of-mind to every manufacturer.

That is why you need to seek for an OEM that:

• Conceives its products based on a real value analysis. Sometimes, the saying “less is better” is the best way to design a competitive product – and how can you really make a value analysis when you don’t understand the consumers’ perception, as can’t some OEMs ?
• Uses the Design Thinking technique to generate innovative ideas, even for a low-cost project. This technique helps you and your designer/manufacturer to seek for the most striking ideas, that’ll immediately appeal to your target-audience.
• Has set an operational excellence process, that makes its factories more agile, and more focused on user experience.
• Keeps an eye on your marketing, by customizing your hob’s every detail, and make it match your audience’s needs. Can your OEM help you design your product’s packaging? Or find the best design to stick to the actual induction hob trends?

To put it in a nutshell, your partner in creating your low-cost induction cooktop needs to take part in your commercial success from the start, to avoid user experience issues.

FIND A PARTNER THAT TAKES CARE OF YOUR LOGISTICS…

A cooktop project’s budget cannot make without significant logistics costs. Where will you stock your products? How will your supply chain be managed? Some of those questions can make your product’s final cost higher than expected.

For instance, some induction cooktop manufacturers take care on their own of your stocks, allowing you to save budget on such a crucial issue.

Others make sure the production and logistics of your products perfectly match your supply chain model.

By making sure your OEM’s logistics match yours, you can reduce your inventory costs thanks to:

• Proximity. With local stocks, no need to order your cooktops by container, and your products’ lead time is shorter. Plus this local logistics method can help you reduce your product’s ecological footprint, meeting your CSR duties.
• Small batch production. Many low-cost countries won’t start their production batch under a consequent amount of pieces. Some (such as ARPA) allow you to start it as low as 34 pieces, making it easier to stock your products in an agile way.

… AND OF YOUR AFTER SALES CUSTOMER SERVICE

As a conscious home appliances brand, you know as much as we do the after sales customer service take a large part into your products’ budget lines.

Did you know some OEM also cover, inside their initial invoices, some of those after sales budget lines, that may lower your final product’s prices when taken into account from the start? Some can add to their prices crucial elements, such as:

• A full technical documentation, enabling the customers to be more autonomous when using their induction cooktop.
• A training of your quality and after sales teams, for them to become experts at answering the final customers’ wishes and questions.
• A precise traceability of your products, by serial number, making it easier to manage the customer issues that emerge after the sale.
• A customer service hotline, to deal with customer issues after the launch, without deploying your own teams on the matter.
• A follow-up with the customer’s satisfaction, to evaluate how your product performs when it’s out on the market.
• An easy access to spare parts, which other low-cost factories don’t take into account, adding another expensive (and sometimes unexpected) line to your budget, and leading to scalability issues.

In fact, what you need to look for is an OEM that focuses on your customer satisfaction, from the start of the production process to your client’s final use of the product. Because, when your margins tighten, can you really afford any unpleasant surprises?

At ARPA’s we believe your low-cost induction hob project’s success depends immensely on how we help you design, conceive and distribute it. That’s why we don’t charge research and engineering costs: we act like true business partners, by taking over the commercial risk for you.

Reach out to our team of experts to know how we can help your design and produce your low-cost induction hob… without making it cheap!