To come up with the new tester, employees from
3M's aerospace
division looked to their colleagues in the telecommunications
division. They already had developed a tester to locate faults in
voice, video, and data circuitry, says Paul Neary, market segment
manager for 3M's aerospace MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul)
business.
Neary and his colleagues brought the telecommunications tester to
maintenance workers, mechanics, and engineers at their aerospace
customers, looking for their insight into the functions that would
be most useful in that industry. They discovered that the concept
of existing telecommunications tester would work, with
modifications. "The baseline product had existed in the telecom
division but just hadn't made it to aerospace," Neary says.
The result was 3M Advanced Systems Tester 900AST. Workers can check
for faults from wherever they can access the wire; previous testers
required workers to visually inspect the wires, which often meant
taking down wall panels. What's more, the new tool is about the
size of a loaf of bread; previous testers were closer in size to
ovens.
Electronic Arts, the Redwood Shores, California-based developer of
computer games, reaches its lead users via the Internet. Once
they've purchased the original game, users can download portions of
the code used to develop it.
They then can create "mods," or modifications, to the game. In
2005, a "modder" tweaked the company's
Battlefield 1942
game. While the original game takes place on the battlefields of
World War II, the modified version occurs in the desert. Other
Battlefield players also can download and play the modified
version.
Although the mods don't generate revenue, they still contribute to
EA's bottom line, says spokesperson Steve Groll. Most
significantly, mods keep users engaged in the product. "They keep
playing the mods until the next official title in the franchise
ships," he says.