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- [Narrator] The secret sauce
to Ikea's innovation philosophy
is to allow all staff to be innovators.
The brand have stationed their head office
on the site of the first ever Ikea store in Almhult, Sweden.
Six hours away from the capital
and the distractions of city life,
the HQ is a living, breathing innovation lab
where staff are encouraged to share ideas, opinions,
and use these spaces as much as possible.
- We are never really satisfied in Ikea.
We always want to make things better,
and we have a magic formula in the center of that
called Democratic Design.
That means that we look at form, function,
sustainability, quality, and a low price.
We also look at movements in the world;
what is happening around us, how the world is changing.
The expectations on furniture and our solutions
are also changing.
Innovation doesn't happen in one place in Ikea.
It happens all over the place.
Innovation stretches all the way
from the raw material through production,
through the product that's being sold
and used in customer's home,
and then also recycle or reused.
We love to collaborate.
Everyone can contribute in making
our products a little bit better,
our solutions a little bit better.
When we develop products in Ikea,
we always wanna have something to look at.
It's not until you actually see it in the real scale,
in a real context, that you can also weigh in
the home furnishing aspects.
We have started Ikea Home Smart for example.
An area where we combine technical solutions
and digital solutions with home furnishing.
And a good example of that is how we launched STARKVIND,
which is an air purifier combined with the coffee table.
Meaning, a technical product
that really blends into home furnishing
by being a fantastic coffee table,
and cleaning the air at home.
Right now, we're in the middle of a reality check
regarding small space living.
More people living in dense areas,
more people sharing spaces,
more people living in smaller spaces,
more activities happening in the same spaces
where we really test our furniture
and our solutions in a small space.
How do they work there?
How do they fit together?
How can you make it really a great space
though being limited square meters?
- [Narrator] The product engineering department
apply Ikea's innovation philosophy
through a problem solving model.
Mathias Persson, Ikea's range
and product engineering manager,
shares how his team reimagined
their biggest and most problematic piece of furniture
for people living in small spaces.
The wardrobe.
- We know by facts and customer insights
that it's very difficult to assemble a Pax wardrobe
when you live in a small space.
So we wanted to solve our problem for the customer
with a new generation of Pax
where it's actually possible
to assemble the frame vertically.
We have pre-glued together the side panel
and the back panel, which makes it like a book.
You unfold it vertically.
I have two fantastic colleagues from my team,
Josephine and Simon, that will take us through the assembly.
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Without fittings in the back, without nails,
we believe that we can actually reduce the assembly time
from 70 minutes on an average, today down to five minutes.
It's very difficult to develop a product like this.
It takes a long time.
It's a lot of design iterations.
Finding the right materials, the right components.
We are constantly pushing the boundaries within Ikea,
and we are a very big company
that can really influence the way people live.
I think also within Ikea,
I think everyone have the possibility
to actually influence and innovate.
It could be on the factory floor,
it could be on sales floor at our stores.
I think everyone being able to actually influence
and impact how we can do things better,
I think that's very connected to our culture.
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