Whirlpool prides itself in having an innovative ethos. The company attributes US$ 1.6 billion of its 2006 revenues to innovative products. Its policy of encouraging all employees to take part in innovation processes led to its inclusion in Business Week magazine’s top 100 innovative companies list. The company values its current innovation pipeline at US$ 3.6 billion
To shake up part of this pipeline, its design strategy, Whirlpool appointed Chuck Jones in 1995 to head up a central Global Consumer Design group as its Vice President. Under Jones’s leadership the company linked all its global design functions into a single structure, rather than running design functions for individual brands as had been done before. It also merged its usability and human factors groups into the design department.
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Jones essentially challenged the previous configuration of design in the company and pioneered new processes throughout Whirlpool and successfully demonstrated to the company that design input could add significant additional value to both the profitability of individual products and the nascent product platform strategy.
The Duet washing machine, launched five years ago, was the first big win for the common platform approach.
By redesigning an existing product, using the same underlying technology but with modifications to the appearance and user interface, the design team created a product that could be sold at three times the price of its predecessor and competitor products.
More recently, with the launch of its Garage Works range of storage furniture, the design team was able to take a totally new product line from early concept to launch in only 12 months.
The design process within Whirlpool, says Jones, is effectively inextricable from the company’s innovation process.
Whirlpool has been working to achieve a more strategic role for its design department. Jones has, he says, been 'chipping away at this since 1999.' He has also worked at breaking down traditional functional silos and improving the links between design and other corporate departments. Whirlpool’s Platform Studio is an example of success in this area. The design-led Platform Studio is central in developing brand engineering for Whirlpool at a strategic level.