Co-Creation Study: Zebra Technologies/Jabil Circuit Olivia Hnatyshin April 4, 2016 Frameworks of co-creation have proven to be an element for success on organizational, innovative and strategic levels. Co-creation processes can range from an end-to-end experience, starting with research and development and finishing with implementation to market and beyond. However, there is also opportunity for co-creation at other points during the innovation process that can act as catalysts in moving a project forward. An example of this kind of co-creation exists with the example of a partnership between Zebra Technologies and global manufacturing giant, Jabil. With the cited case study, I will address the six-question assessment framework drawn from Defillippi Thorsten Roser’s paper, “Aligning the co-creation project portfolio with company strategy” and how this co-creation strategy has aligned for this particular project.
In 2013, “Zebra introduced the industry’s first, real-time player tracking system that captures professional football game data and converts it into real-time, meaningful statistics with groundbreaking speed and precision (Jabil).” This technology enabled the NFL to create new insights on player performance, training techniques and fan experience through RFID sensors placed within the players’ shoulder equipment (Figures 1 and 2, Zebra Technologies). While the initial research and design were in place through Zebra’s in house talent, they needed to co-create in order to complete a finished product. Through its’ partnership with Jabil, this end goal was possible.
Purpose: Co-creating for what purpose?
According to the case study, co-creation for this specific example had two reasons, one was to finalize product design and ramp the production of said design rapidly enough to meet a two-month delivery schedule. The second reason was because of Jabil’s specialized expertise in RFID and global supply chain. These capabilities were important to ensure innovative IoT solutions.
Co-creator type: Who will be involved?
Besides Zebra’s initial team of developers, engineers, researchers, designers and user experience experts, Jabil entered the project with manufacturing, IoT and global solutions teams in order to accomplish Zebra’s goals. The process, which I got to experience first hand on a trip to Jabil’s BlueSky Centre (March 2016) included global supply chain analysis, part allocation, manufacturing centres in San Jose, developing and prototyping new designs through 3D printing and RFID development.
Locus: Where in the innovation process should it occur?
Because Zebra Technologies had the talent of in house design teams including the above mentioned experts, the co-creation of Zebra’s RFID sensors called for an extra set of expertise in realms they knew they were not capable of, specifically in execution and
final design of the product. “Jabil’s Silicon Valley manufacturing facility provided sophisticated manufacturing capabilities with close proximity to Zebra’s operational team (Jabil).” Through this, realiable and quality products were undoubtedly scalable for Zebra’s needs.
Intimacy: How much involvement should there be?
Jabil and Zebra Technologies had an already long-standing relationship, so best practices and processes were used to meet a demanding and tight timeline. Due to the execution of past products, Zebra did not hesitate to include Jabil to heavily contribute their set of expertise on this innovative solution. “Jabil’s ability to assemble a team with complementary skills and experience was key to creative changes in product design (Jabil).” With this, due to geographical location, Jabil’s Blue Sky Center also proved to be an asset in the co-creation process, causing an accelerated pace in next generation IoT product development.
Time: How long should co-creators be involved?
For this specific example, the co-creators had to come to many decisions quickly based on a 2-month delivery. Jabil was a part of this co-creation for the last steps of product development, sourcing and manufacturing during a period of fast iterations and
prototyping.
Incentives: How should co-creators be motivated?
Co-creators should be trusting of one another and able to hand off expertise without ego or closed mindedness on a project. In this instance, a long-standing relationship was motivation for partnering again on deliverables in a short time span. As quoted by Jill Stelfox, Zebra’s Vice President and General Manager of Location Solutions, “our cultures are actually quite similar in that both Zebra and Jabil believe in innovation and engineering strength. There is a person-to-person commitment at Jabil that makes a huge difference in what we’re trying to do.”
In conclusion, this case study showed a successful co-creation process where end-to-end development was not necessary, however became a consideration to execute an innovative idea that could only meet a strict timeline with a partnership. Zebra and Jabil co-created a revolutionary device now used in professional sports that really is a “gamechanger.”
Figure 1 - Zebra Sports Data Sheet
Figure 2 – Zebra Sports Data Sheet Citations Robert DeFillippi Thorsten Roser , (2014),"Aligning the co-creation project portfolio with company strategy", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 42 Iss 1 pp. 30 – 36 “Zebra Case Study.” Jabil. Web. 04 Apr. 2016. “Zebra Speeds Development and Delivery of Sports Tracking Solution.” Jabil. Web. 04 Apr. 2016. “How RFID Works.” HowStuffWorks. 2007. Web. 04 Apr. 2016. “Zebra Sports Data Sheet.” Zebra. Web. 04 Apr. 2015