Case Study – Lynden Door

Product Development Case Study – Lynden Door Inc.

2077 Main StreetP.O. Box 528Lynden, WA 98264www.lyndendoor.comContact: Mitchell Toews, Marketing Manager

‘Rediscovery Collection’

Lynden Door is based out of Washington with asales office in Abbotsford BC. The company hasbeen in business for 30 years and makes a widevariety of interior doors including hardboard andprofiled molded panels, plastic laminates and woodveneers. Its primary focus had been residentialmarkets (through distributors) within Western NorthAmerica until 2007 when Lynden managementmade a very proactive decision. During a busy,active market it began to look for ways to expandits business. This exploration led them to thepotential opportunity in the multi-family andcommercial markets. These markets seemed appealing to Lynden, although they would require achange in distribution channels since access to these markets is generally through architects,designers and developers.

The Development Process

Lynden management could have chosen to simply use their existing catalogue of products toaccess the architect/developer market but instead, they chose to develop a product line thatwould specifically appeal to this market. They did so for two reasons. Firstly, a standard productline, as opposed to custom orders, would keep the costs down through economies of scale withmaterial purchasing and manufacturing, allowing them to offer a product with better value.Secondly, having an actual product line would make the job of selling this new product mucheasier. Lynden Management took the time upfront to carefully define the specific goals for thisproject, set a reasonable (but modest) budget and timeline and put leadership in place.

Lynden brought in Mitchell Toews, who’s background is in marketing and business development,to head up this product development project. It was very much a team effort with people fromsales, purchasing and engineering all playing key roles. One of the first things they did was get adeeper understanding of this market potential. They did this by attending seminars, tradeshowsand by reading industry publications. They soon pinpointed a distinct gap in the market for greencontemporary doors. More and more architects and developers were looking to achieve a‘greener’ status with their buildings. It also seemed that while there were many choices forcolonial styled traditional doors at a price point appropriate for the multi-family market there waslittle choice (other than primed hollow core slab doors) for a more contemporary interior. Sincemany multi-family dwellings such as high-rise condominiums are contemporary in design itseemed like an obvious gap.

Next the development team wisely chose to leverageLynden’s existing technologies in the new productline. Lynden Doors had previously developed a“sketchface” door which has wood veneers running inopposing directions, not unlike marquetry in furniture.This process provided an appropriate design platformto work from for this market. It has a cleancontemporary look and since Lynden was already

set-up to do this, it could be achieved within the budget.

Project leader Mitch Toews put together an advisory committee to help guide the design process.This committee consisted of a wide variety of people (including designers and architects, industrymagazine publishers and others) and provided very valuable feedback at various stages ofdevelopment. The success of this interaction between Lynden and the advisory committee wasdue, in part, to the fact that it was orchestrated to be a win/win situation. Participants came awaywith a better understanding of doors, the door industry and the process of developing newproducts.

The final product line is named “Rediscovery” and consists of six basic styles. They are simpleand elegant and are fresh enough to capture the attention of the target market. Toews wasinspired by European door design which has successfully elevated the interior door to almostfurniture status within an interior. These doors are suited for residential multi-family, hospitality,commercial, educational and assisted-living projects. The veneers were carefully chosen toprovide a adequate range of colours while keeping within the target price point. Lynden offersthese doors in an environmental version which uses formaldehyde free agfibre. One particularstyle called ‘Grey Tree’ uses reconstituted veneers and all doors are factory finished doors usinga low VOC coating. Lynden is offering this line of doors in hollow core, solid core and fire ratedversions.

Unfortunately, in the Fall of 2008, just as the product line was being finalized the economy startedto decline. Lynden did the reasonable thing and downsized its operations. In so doing, thedevelopment process of this new line has been somewhat impeded. Now that the product line isat the launch stage, market planning activities like sales staff training and promotional materialdevelopment (including cut sheets and samples) is being done, according to Toews “on the flyand in a messy fast-tracked way”.

Even though the economy is slow, the initial customer response at trade shows has been verypositive. This eye-catching new product line gives Lynden an edge in a tough market. The folks atLynden are confident that the product line will take off when the market corrects. Just recently infact, Lynden has had interest in their product for several large overseas projects.

Lynden Door’s product development process is exemplary in many ways. Firstly, Lynden’s uppermanagement had the foresight to scope for new markets even in prosperous times. This meantthat they were able to allocate adequate resources, both time and money to the project. Inaddition, now that times are decidedly difficult, thisnew product is giving them fresh appeal in anotherwise tough market. Management also enabledthe development process by providing clearobjectives and enlisting a project champion, both ofwhich kept the project focused and on track.

Project leader, Mitchell Toews utilized many outsideresources that proved to be helpful to the project. Theadvisory committee that Toews enlisted was aninexpensive way to effectively capture the voice ofthe customer. He also attended a productdevelopment workshop (delivered by FPInnovations)where he gained insight and information includingstatistics that proved a strong trend toward increasingmulti-family construction within the Canadian market.This product, the ‘Rediscovery’ Collection capitalizeson two other trends, the trend toward sustainablebuildings and building products and the European ledtrend toward doors as furniture.