Innovation through design thinking: Schmitz Cargobull sets new standards in product development

Technological progress that offers customers real added value and ambitious goals in terms of environmental justice are among the key drivers of innovative product development at Schmitz Cargobull. With the aerodynamic semi-trailers of the EcoGeneration, the Münsterland-based vehicle manufacturer is already a pioneer in environmentally friendly transport solutions. Rene Knüpper, Head of Product Development "General Cargo" at the central site in Altenberge, developed a design thinking workshop concept with consultants from noventum consulting to give his product development team impetus for a dynamic and customer-orientated approach.

Workshops as a field for experimentation and experience: methodology and mindset

noventum consultants Dr Kerstin Kurzhals and Laura Wenningmann moderated two innovation workshops for the product development of the Schmitz Cargobull trailer " EcoFLEX ". This trailer from the " EcoGeneration " is already the flagship for sustainable and low-CO2 vehicle models and a flagship for Schmitz Cargobull's modern product range. However, the laws of the market and the increasingly strong pressure of environmental protection legislation in the European Union (VECTO) do not allow for any standstill and so product development is always also "further" development.

As part of the two-day workshops, the entire innovation process, from developing an in-depth understanding of the problem, and generating ideas to prototyping and testing, was run through in its entirety using the design thinking methodology. For each workshop, two interdisciplinary teams were put together to work on a previously defined design challenge.

The two workshops were aimed in particular at generating new innovative approaches and ideas, while at the same time training the mindset to work even more user-centred in SCB product development in the future.

The methodological learning objectives of the workshops were

• progress in methodological expertise and familiarisation with and deepening of the Design Thinking innovation methodology
• Exchange and networking in cross-location and cross-functional teams
• Developing a mindset for innovation by actively questioning the status quo   

The result of the two workshops is a large number of new ideas and concrete prototypes, which are now being pursued further in the product development of the Schmitz Cargobull "Ecoflex" trailer.

In the phase of understanding and observing, the workshop participants gained insights into the actual needs and challenges of the users by taking various truck drivers and their everyday experiences as the starting point of the process. An actual visit "on the ramp" and real self-experience in handling the trailer deepened access to the customer perspective and enabled the developers to immerse themselves deeply in the user's perspective.

In the definition phase, these findings were bundled in order to formulate a clear problem definition with regard to the users' needs. The subsequent idea generation phase served the almost limitless development of new innovative and creative solutions, which were only evaluated and prioritised in a further downstream step. In the prototyping phase, the most promising ideas were translated into tangible models, which were then evaluated again from the customer's perspective and iteratively improved in the test phase.

The two 2-day workshops created a safe space for interdisciplinary teams to "open their eyes", rethink existing solutions and generate new ideas - without making hasty judgements within the team. The design thinking process alternated between converging (opening) and diverging (closing) modes of thinking. In the first step, this encouraged openness and creativity and, in the second step, provided the certainty that concrete and realistic results would be achieved in the end. This structured approach avoided the disorganisation that often accompanies innovation projects.

The starting and finishing point of the entire process was always the customer's situation and benefit. By clearly focussing innovation efforts on the customer, the resources of the interdisciplinary teams could be optimally utilised. At the same time, the methodology provides a testing ground for experiencing an open, questioning and therefore agile mindset and continuously breaking down existing barriers between the locations and organisational units. Because questioning and rethinking the status quo also requires a corresponding mindset. Innovation comes not only from creativity, but above all from trial and error, curiosity and accepting mistakes.

Dr Kerstin Kurzhals emphasised the approach in the design thinking process: "As a contrast to classic product development processes, design thinking is very revolutionary. Traditionally, the focus is on incremental innovations that enable small improvements to existing products, but do not create radical innovation. User-centred thinking and the creative phases of the design thinking process in particular break down these boundaries, as no idea is excluded at the outset. An interdisciplinary composition of teams contributes significantly to this opening up of the way of thinking. The two workshops once again impressively demonstrated that interdisciplinarity makes all the difference. The greater the variety of different perspectives that are brought to bear on a challenge, the better the breeding ground for innovation."

Rene Knüpper, Head of Product Development, also recognises this superpower of interdisciplinary collaboration and is very satisfied with the results at the end of the workshops : "Design thinking is not completely new at Schmitz Cargobull. We already had very good experiences with the methodology at our site in Vreden a few years ago. I am delighted that we have now also successfully intensified this ball for product development at the Altenberge site and can utilise it for our work. It was interesting to see that not only new ideas emerged from the workshop; we were often able to build on existing ideas and rethink them. However, there were also some fundamentally new approaches and my team is very motivated to continue working on them. In addition, the personal experience of each individual in the design thinking process is one of the most valuable results of the workshop for me. Working creatively and interdisciplinarily in a group, experiencing your own effectiveness as an idea generator and always taking the customer perspective - these are great prerequisites for product development work."