Lännen Tractors Design Sprint
MULTIPURPOSE MACHINES DIGITALIZED
Lännen Tractors is part of LMCE Group (Lännen Mobile Construction Equipment Group), which is an international provider of smart and mobile multipurpose solutions. LMCE Group’s product range covers Lännen multipurpose backhoe loaders, Lundberg municipal and urban maintenance machines, Watermaster multipurpose dredging machines and Meclift multipurpose forklifts. LMCE Group is also a representative agent for Ljungby wheel loaders in Finland.
“Our goal is to develop intelligent services that create value both for our customers and for their end-customers as well.” – Heikki Haapakoski, Lännen
Lännen Tractors aims for creating new value for their customer with digital services. To understand the customer needs, Lännen had already made customer interviews on how different customer groups use their machines. However, a direction of where to focus the development efforts was lacking in the company. To clarify the vision and to ideate more concrete service concepts, Symbio’s Design Sprint workshop was chosen as a method. Along with the design thinking methods, Symbio brought also digitalization skills to the table. We gathered a team from Lännen, Lundberg and Symbio people and started solving the challenge.
Understand – Define – Ideate
We modified the Design Sprint to a three-day sprint to match with the Lännen challenge. Goal of the sprint was to ideate new digital service concepts and to select the best one(s) for further development. At first, we focused on understanding the challenge ahead by visualizing Lännen Tractors current business on an ecosystem map. We were able to form a common understanding in the group about the current situation and the direction where Lännen Tractors wants to move in the future. In the Design Sprint, it is worth spending time in finding the right problem before starting to create solutions for it. If you jump straight to the ideation, a lot of information stays hidden and the solutions may not fulfill the customer’s needs.
Next step in the Design Sprint was ideation. As a result, we got a wall full of new service concepts, and the best ones were selected for further development. In the end of a three-day sprint we got a new service concept with value proposition, business model and a high-level plan for first technical prototype implementation. In addition, there were lots of other ideas and concepts that Lännen Tractors can develop further later.
”The challenge was explored thoroughly. Now we compile the ideas, evaluate them and make a project plan for implementation.” – Heikki Haapakoski, Lännen
Fast Track to First Implementation
After the Design Sprint, the selected concept was taken to a Proof of Concept phase. Symbio developed an IoT platform that is used to collect and analyze CAN bus data from Lännen machines. In the cloud, the data can be analyzed and processed further to develop value-added services for the customers.
Before starting the implementation, the Design Sprint is a useful tool for ensuring that you are solving a right problem and then ideating solutions for it. Effectiveness of the sprint is even higher when the software development team participates in it. When the developers are involved in the Design Sprint, shift to development project goes smoothly. Symbio’s experts help our clients throughout the development pipeline, from ideation to implementation.
08.02.2022 | References
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