CLIENT: Georgia Pacific // PRODUCT: enMotion Automated Hands Free Towel Dispenser
D-TERRA SERVICES: Research, Product and Engineering Development leading to Manufacturing
The Opportunity
Georgia-Pacific is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of tissue, packaging, paper, building products, pulp and related chemicals. The company reasoned that it could drive sales of its commercial towel products if it could step outside its core competence and develop a next generation paper towel dispenser. Georgia Pacific’s research identified demand for a high capacity, hands-free dispenser that utilized electronic technology to deliver paper towels. The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) strategy included having D-Terra develop, engineer and manufacture an innovative dispenser.
The Solution
Raise your Hand
That’s what Georgia Pacific did when it turned to D-Terra with the challenge of marrying design and engineering solutions to manufacturing capabilities that could provide turnkey delivery of a hands-free dispenser. Did we succeed? You need only walk into any public restroom in the world to know the answer. Today, the enMotion hands-free towel dispenser is more than just a great product- it’s a great brand.
The Strategy
D-Terra’s Product Commercialization Strategy:
- Coordinated efforts to take revolutionary product design through final production and succeed where others had tried and failed
- Eliminated “paper dependency” from the design
- Moved from purely mechanical to combined mechanical and electronic engineering
- Secured offshore manufacturing
- Guided manufacturing launch and logistics of the enMotion
- Analyzed and implement manufacturing solutions to keep costs in check
- Provided program management to coordinate tooling and manufacturing processes, supply chain and logistics to Europe and North America
The Result
- The enMotion launch was known as most successful product launch in GP history
- Nearly a decade of manufacturing and 3 million units delivered
- D-Terra reduced TCO by 42%
- Product quality over the life of the product= 200 ppm or .0002% field failure rate
- At peak production D-Terra shipped 100 containers/month to 5 U.S. ports and 17 countries in Europe with 95%+ on-time performance
- D-Terra protected GP’s intellectual property (the X-Factor) by manufacturing in non-industrial factories