Advanced Frugal Innovation

 

Dr CK (Coimbatore Krishnarao)  Prahlad, Indian origin academician working in USA is a pathbreaker   with his highly influential books and concepts, including the introduction of core competencies into the management lexicon and his seminal book Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. In 2004, CK published two books. The Future of Competition, written with Venkat Ramaswamy, introduced the notion of “cocreation”, while The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, argued that the world’s poor (the “bottom of the pyramid”) represented an untapped market worth anything up to $13 trillion a year. He cited several innovative practices from India, used as cases in management schools. Two case studies, namely Narayana Hrudayalaya (NH) and Aravind Eye Care Systems (AECS), two low-cost specialty hospital chains in India to explain why BOP markets can be considered a source for disruptive innovations.

Navi Radjou, Indian Origin, independent scholar, an innovation and leadership advisor, author of global best seller-Juggad Innovation followed with another best seller-The Frugal Innovation. The authors traced variations of frugal innovation around the world, such as jugaad (India), jiejian chuangxin (resource-saving innovation, in China), and kanju (make do, in Africa). In sum, frugal innovation helps creativity emerge from the bottom upwards.
While both the authors have referred directly or indirectly to low unit cost products/ services from India, Prof Balakrishna Rao of IITM addressed the question can a product be made frugal and coined the term Advanced Frugal Innovation.

Balkrishna C. Rao is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Design at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) in India. As a member of the Sustainable Manufacturing Group at IITM, he conducts research pertaining to frugality in engineering other than topics in manufacturing. He has been one of the early researchers in frugal engineering who has worked in various aspects of frugality related to poverty, sustainability and engineering. Other than working in manufacturing for automotive and aerospace sectors, his work in frugal innovations has led to the creation of a new type called Advanced Frugal Innovation (AFI) to account for the increasing sophistication seen in these products. The factor of frugality is based on executing rigorous design procedures with the best of theoretical models and accurate data to compensate for uncertainties arising from lower safety factors. AFI is an advancement of design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA) focused on reducing assembly complexity while also making components easier to manufacture by following well-established design principles. Rao uses a three-step methodology to systematically engineer an advanced frugal product from scratch. Rao’s approach uses the factor of frugality in designing an AFI by accounting for every stage of product development The factor of frugality is a composite number based on the factor of safety and the fractions of material saved in the various stages of product development.

Jaw crusher invented in 1858 is still in in use as primary crusher in very stone quarry. Can it be made frugal? Rao addressed this and got a patent.
Reference: Frugal engineering of a jaw crusher using the factor-of-frugality, a modern version of the safety-factor | PLOS One