Market development of air and solid particle separation

Abstract: Background The thesis was initiated by Alfdex, an oil mist separator manufacturer, to explore the organisation’s possibility for expansion by adapting their product to separate air and solid particles. They are currently prototyping a new product without knowing what markets it would succeed in and thus have the need for an expansion strategy. The market possibilities for the new product were examined and analysed to give a wellfounded recommendation for possible market development. Purpose Evaluation of potential markets for a new product, providing reasoning and recommendations as well as exemplifying new product introduction. Method A case research strategy was used, focusing on internal documents, online publications, literary reviews, and field research in the form of in-depth interviews with industry professionals. Agile project planning allowed the project the ability to adapt as the thesis was written parallel to the development of the prototype of the case product. The analysis was carried out by funnelling down the possible alternatives using relevant theory and professional input. IV Analysis The analysis was focused on the three aspects of Needs, Feasibility and Profitability, notably pointing out the importance of pressure, air flow, current business relations and volumes. The applications that included pressure and air flow that deviates greatly from current Alfdex product working conditions would require more adaptions of the prototype and thus a higher risk. Current customers filter needs were premiered as good markets as the Alfdex brand is strong with them and they are already a trusted supplier and can thus avoid some entrance barriers. As new product development is costly and a risk in itself, suitable markets needed to be large enough to be able to generate enough profit for Alfdex to adapt their product for that particular market. Conclusions and recommendations As the study is focused on a specific case it is difficult to make general conclusions. However the most viable alternatives will be those more closely related to the current business and with similar functionality, as this allows exploring advantage from experience and current business relations. This can be evaluated through the three aspects of Needs, Feasibility and Profitability, looking at what needs the product can fulfil, which of those are feasible to satisfy and lastly which that can be profitable to sell and produce. This ensures that the product will be satisfactory on the selected markets and that markets utilising positive synergies are prioritised.