5 years & 5127 Prototypes- Dyson James Ltd.
It took 5 years and 5127 prototypes for Dyson Vaccum to hit the markets. A design engineer and an inventor, whose net worth is approx. 6 billion, took 5127 shots to perfection. If that’s of interest, keep on reading.
This is the story of Sir James Dyson. Sir James was born on 2nd May 1947 in Cromer, United Kingdom. Both of his parents were teachers. He attended the Gresham’s School in Holt, Norfolk, from 1956 to 1965, this is when sadly his father had passed away, James was 9 at the time. Alongside his schoolwork, James helped out his mom with the household chores, this possibly was the first time he thought about changing the vacuum design, as he was vacuuming around the house he had to pick up things that the vacuum could not suck. He later attended the Byam Shaw School of Art, and then studied furniture and interior design at the Royal College of Art. Later, Sir James went into innovation and engineering, as he puts it he was an ACCIDENTAL ENGINEER.
His first invention was alongside Jeremy Fry, the chairman of Rotork Controls Ltd. Jeremy and Sir James met at the college in 1970 they designed and produced the sea truck, a small, fast, versatile flat-bottomed fiberglass landing craft used by the military to transport soldiers and vehicles across the sea. While designing the sea truck, Sir James learned how to use the welding gear, Jeremy allowed James to make his own mistakes. This experience has an effect on Sir James recruiting process. Sir James prefers new graduates rather than experienced individuals. He believes that fresh graduates would do things differently and will encounter mistakes, and these mistakes will allow them to take another path which leads to innovation. After finishing the prototype for the sea truck, Sir James asked Jeremy, “Now what?” and he said, “We make it.” And then? “We sell it.” It was as simple as that. Soon, they were selling 200 boats a year.
In 1974, while doing renovations at his house. Sir James got frustrated using the wheelbarrow, the wheel in the front kept sinking every time a heavy load was thrown in the barrow. He redesigned the barrow and came up with a plastic wheelbarrow that had a large inflatable ball at the front. The size of the ball stopped barrow from sinking.
In 1978, James Dyson was using Hoover Junior to vacuum his house. He got frustrated with the cleaner’s performance, the screaming noise, the smell of the dust, small bag size, the power of the cleaner as he had to bend and pick things up often. He thought if the bag could be eliminated, the suction power would increase, this came with a problem, what would replace the bag?
Driving once across a sawmill he saw a massive 30-foot high cyclone collecting sawdust all day long without clogging, he thought of the same design for his vacuum cleaner. Sir James rushed home and replaced the vacuum bag with a cardboard prototype of his cyclone design, it worked! Getting a final design took 5 years and 5,126 more prototypes, his wife Deirdre Hindmarsh supported him by teaching arts. Coming from an arts background herself she knew that a good painter could take a year to make, so she figured that a bagless vacuum might take longer.
Remembering his lesson from Jeremy Fry, Sir James went started selling his design. No manufacturer showed interest in his design, he finally decided to borrow $900,000, by putting his house on the line and left for Japan. The first sale he made was to a mail-order catalog. He sat with the buyer and at the very end the buyer said, “It’s an interesting vacuum cleaner, but why should I take a Hoover out of the catalog to put in yours?” his reply was,
“Because your catalog is boring.”
The buyer made a deal with Sir James. The product became popular and the proceeds from the sales allowed him to open his own company, Dyson Ltd. In 1993 Dyson opened a plant in North Wiltshire, they were selling good but Sir James wanted to sell his vacuum cleaner at Comet (equivalent to Best Buy). In 1995, the former British foreign secretary, Lord Howe, came to look around at the factory. He asked if there were any problems. Sir James’ mentioned his ambitions of selling his design to Comet, Lord Howe replied, “Well, my wife’s on the board!” The next day, Dyson Inc got a call from a purchase order. Within a year, Dyson Inc had the best-selling vacuum cleaner in Britain.
In 2018 Dyson Inc was touching sales of 4.4 billion. In 1997 he published Against the Odds, an autobiography. Fast-forward over two decades, Dyson has grown from one man with one idea to a global technology enterprise of over 7,000+ people including 5,000+ engineers. From acoustic to robotic, software to electronics, with more than 60 consumer products. The next challenge for Dyson could be the company’s biggest so far, to take on the market of electric cars. The car will be built in Singapore and is said to be on the market by 2020.
Sir James has also supported engineering through the James Dyson Foundation. In 2002 the Foundation was established with the aim of encouraging young people to enter engineering by awarding prizes and grants. Sir James once said that the thinking process starts with frustration as a user. Once you see a problem, get on improving it.
