How Surface Innovation Can Solve Product Commoditization — And Be the Key to a Sustainable Future
Physical product companies today face many challenges including a lack of differentiation, excessive resource use or carbon equivalent emissions, and decreasing marginal benefit from existing R&D investment. To delight customers again, these companies will need to be bold in their approach to the future. Breakthrough surface innovation can solve their problems and transition products to sustainable, environmentally sound options for businesses and consumers.
Many companies focus on development of the design or bulk composition of their product, but it can be far higher leverage to evaluate the capability of a product’s surfaces. This is where the most important physical product performance metrics can occur — from heat transfer to electronic storage to fluid flow to contaminant build-up to optical effects and more. Controlling behavior at the surface can produce dramatic new benefits for the entire product. And unlike changes in product design, it’s much more difficult for competitors to replicate advancements at the surface level. For product owners and investors, the result is significant and long-term differentiation and protection.
Why is surface innovation often neglected? Because the existing business model that dominates the current coatings and advanced materials industry incentivizes companies to focus on volume of chemicals sold, offering only a small set of coating formulas applicable to a broad range of products. Coupling this with a lack of success in developing new, differentiated advanced materials misaligns suppliers from changing demand in the marketplace. There is far more opportunity — and market need — in bringing new technology and customizing a solution to meet a specific use. By taking the leap and focusing on better surface performance, product companies will find an open space of opportunity to explore and amaze customers, which is more likely to yield the fresh, bold new direction that builds or affirms a leadership position.
Lastly, we can’t overstate the environmental benefits of creating better, higher-performing physical products through advancing surfaces. Take one product that billions of humans use every day: the air conditioner. For decades, air conditioners have advanced mostly due to incremental mechanical design adjustments — a development strategy that will no longer cut it for customers or the planet. At Nelumbo, we’ve tackled this problem by focusing on surfaces first, which has allowed us to demonstrate significant performance (efficiency), durability, and cleanliness improvements in the entire air conditioner product! This has the potential to save billions of dollars in energy costs and millions of tons of carbon emissions, which satisfies customers and is balanced with the needs of the planet — all with less than a millimeter of material added to key components.
Ultimately, we can improve countless products — making them better for both the bottom line and the environment — simply by incorporating the latest developments in surface technology in a way that aligns with customer’s needs. By taking product surfaces to the next level, companies can create newly differentiated, defensible, sustainable products that their customers love. Surfaces are key to building a successful physical-product business without causing damage to the environment. It’s time to invest in these sustainable solutions.
If you are interested in getting in contact and learning more about the capabilities Nelumbo can bring to your products, more information is available at info@nelumbo.io or www.nelumbo.io
