Electrolux's Holy Trinity for Hit Products

What is the most unpleasant thing about vacuuming? Swedish appliance maker Electrolux has a lot riding on the answer. So two years ago the company’s market researchers spent hours in homes in Australia, France, and Russia, watching and asking questions as people vacuumed, then cataloging the “pain points.” Their findings led Electrolux to develop a bagless vacuum cleaner, the UltraCaptic, that compresses dust into a spongy pellet, eliminating flyaway particles when the machine is emptied.

The effort is part of a push by Electrolux, the global No. 2 appliance maker behind Whirlpool, to revamp the way it develops and updates its lineup. The company wants to get new models like the UltraCaptic on the market 30 percent faster by 2015, while increasing what Chief Executive Officer Keith McLoughlin calls its “hit rate” with customers. “We’re not just looking to win awards,” he says. “What we get paid to do is consumer-focused innovation.”