Final Customer Purchasing from the Product Producer
Use Steps: Use steps include all the customer's value added activities or the consumption of the product itself. These steps include all the costs the customer incurs in employing the product in its intended use.
B.
Resources: Reduce resources required for the use of the product
3.
Energy: Reduce the energy the customer uses with the product
A. Effort – Reduce the physical constraints on the customer
Add components to improve physical performance of product
Adapt product for the physically challenged
No. | SIC | Year | Note |
1 | 2834 | 2003 | Blood-glucose monitors and insulin injections are necessary for diabetes patients; sugar-free cough syrup from Hi-Tech isn't. "It's nice to have sugar-free products. But if it wasn't available, people could adjust." |
2 | 3711 | 2004 | Nissan's Autech subsidiary is supplying General Motors Corp. with the technology for "Sit-N-Lift" GM's electrically powered chair, operated by a handheld remote, that extends out of the vehicle and lowers for easier entry and exit. GM says the product is available on its Chevy Venture and Pontiac Montana minivans. |
3 | 3711 | 2004 | Japan's car makers may not find it easy to sell their elderly-friendly specialized cars in the U.S. U.S. car makers have largely ceded that business to customizing companies that refit finished cars and sell them through mobility dealers. Most car companies offer a $1,000 subsidy to customers who can prove special needs, money that is used to defray the cost of customizing the car. |
4 | 3711 | 2004 | The Nissan March has swivel seats and a motorized crane to lift a walker or wheelchair into a trunk. Toyota has come up with a car seat that doubles as a wheelchair; it can be moved in and out of the car. Japan's population is aging so rapidly that by 2010, one out of every four Japanese citizens will be 65 or older. Currently, the market for specialized cars is tiny, at less than 1% of all vehicles sold, and few will guess how big it might become. |
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