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How do we turn our consumer products into smart products?
Challenge Type: engineering
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$1,600
top 50%
92
submissions
DONE
75 months ago

Kimberly-Clark has some of the most recognized brands in the world. Our brands hold the No. 1 or No. 2 share position in 80 countries, and we have five billion-dollar brands: Huggies, Scott, Kleenex, Cottonelle and Kotex.

K-C has a strong legacy of innovation, backed by our proprietary technologies. In fact, we’ve created five of the eight major consumer product goods (CPG) categories in which we compete. One interesting development is the smart connected technology of the Internet-of-Things. We recognize that the combination of sensors, the cloud, AI, apps and a physical product can revolutionize the world of CPG.

Deliverables

Propose a way technology can turn one of our consumer products into a smart product that will make consumers' everyday lives better. Specifically, include the following:

  1. What digital capabilities could we add to this specific product via some existing sensor technology? What information would be conveyed from the product, and who would receive it: the user, the store, the company, or someone else? Specify which product you want to focus on and if you are adding intelligence to the product and/or its packaging and/or a separate but related device.  Regardless, it must directly relate to one of our existing product lines:  Adult CareBaby and Child CareFamily Care (facial tissue, toilet paper, paper towel), or Feminine Care.
  2. How does the consumer interact with the smart product and benefit from its digital capabilities? How and when does the user receive information from it?
  3. What digital services could we add that’s consistent with our products? (e.g. a find-a-bathroom feature for Cottonelle)
  4. As a brand, what other engagements could we have with the consumer that s/he would find valuable?
  5. Include a visual to illustrate your idea.

CRITERIA: Your idea must include some type of sensing technology and must be cost-sensitive.  First, you must be able to show proof that this sensor technology already exists.  Plus there must be a reasonable pathway for this sensing technology to become cheap enough for an average consumer to purchase. Big, revolutionary ideas that change the future are ideal, but submissions that make life substantially easier are valuable too.  Submissions will be graded on the following criteria:

    Submissions will be graded on the following criteria:
  • Meets Deliverables
  • Creativity
  • Clarity
  • Potential to Create Value
Reward Tiers
Top 10%
will share $1,000
Next 15%
will share $400
Next 25%
will share $200
Actual individual rewards will be based on the total number of eligible solutions.
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$8.70 Sam Alex Montclair State University
$8.70 Divyansh Bengani NIT Trichy
$8.70 Federico Giovine Florida Institute of Technology
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$8.70 Josh Grossguth Los Angeles Community College District
$8.70 Jessica Robertson Brigham Young University
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$8.70 Louis Schlessinger Washington University in St. Louis
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$8.70 Zhuohong (Kenny) Xie University of Maryland
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