Michael Suman, left, and Lynn Smith, right, worked together to develop and bring to market, iLean a shelving solution Smith designed. The product was recently used in several ArtPrize displays in Grand Rapids. PHOTO: JOE BOOMGAARD

By Joe Boomgaard | MiBiz
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WEST MICHIGAN – Behind many successful products is a designer that saw a problem that needed to be solved.

That was the case with iLean, a shelving product developed by Lynn Smith, SVP of private wealth management at Robert W. Baird & Co. and Michael Suman, owner of Product and Market Development LLC.

Smith lives on the lakeshore and needed a place where she could place an herb garden that was away from both weather and pets. But two years ago when she started shopping around, she couldn’t find anything to her liking. So she built a solution herself.

“Initially, I just built iLean to solve my own problems, and I still use (the original models),” Smith told MiBiz. “I’ve been designing and using things for myself for years, and people have said, ‘You could market that.’ It seemed like the right time at 55 years of age. Why not throw the dice now?”

Realizing iLean was the right design with which to hang out her own shingle, Smith got connected to Suman, an inventors’ coach and former executive in marketing and business development for many years at Johnson Controls Inc. and its predecessor, Prince Corp., and the co-inventors started down a two-year journey of product development, eventually filing a utility patent on the product and forming the company AngleWorks. The current finished product is “probably the seventh generation” of the shelving system, with each step more improved and refined than the last, she said.

“We spent one year in steel, and then we realized that steel was not going to be cost effective to our consumers. The next year, we focused all on wood,” Smith said. “In the beginning, the idea is that Americans are going to be (downsizing and) doing more with less. We wanted a product that was created using lean manufacturing technologies and lean financial discipline so we can provide the end user an affordable value.”

The iLean product consists of a wooden frame and shelves set in a metal brace and held up at three different angles by metal prop wires. The whole system can be portable and just propped up against a wall or affixed more permanently. A removable flexible lip can be added to keep items on the shelves if they are placed at an angle or if more security is desired.

“It morphs into anything you want it to be,” Smith said. “You could put a sculpture on one shelf and a plant on the other. Or you could use it as a computer desk for your laptop. It offers nine different iterations in its current form. When you begin to use accessories, you can get it up off the floor.”

Smith said iLean was designed to be shipped flat and fully assembled so customers didn’t have to worry whether they have all the right tools to put it together. Likewise, the product can also be taken down and stored flat when not in use. The shelves are interchangeable and available in three finishes. At 17 pounds, it’s also light enough for people to travel with.
“(Being easy to use) was always part of the original goal, and we’ve always adhered to that,” Smith said. “My question was always, ‘Can Grandma use it and understand it?’ I wanted something that could be portable and relevant without a lot of input from the end user.”

Working together, Smith and Suman have identified the dorm, RV, home, office and commercial markets as potential users of their product. They’re now in the process of working through their list of contacts  and a professional marketing agency to get the word out about the product.

Suman said the pair ran iLean through a series of focus groups and retail testing as part of a process of continuous improvement. For example, potential customers said they wanted rubber feet on the top and bottom of the product, so that was added as production want along.

“We wanted to be responsive to the marketplace,” Smith said.

The key to success, Suman said, was being flexible in navigating through the unknowns inherent in the product development process.

“People who are successful get around the roadblocks they’re bound to run into,” Suman told MiBiz. “You either change like she did or you give up that ability to get around those roadblocks. Sometimes, stop is an option. Core to all of this is customer focus. If you keep your eye on the customers’ delight with this product, you can’t go wrong.”

The two have already begun planning for future iterations of the product, which could include a two-self model and an integrated shelving system for apartments or senior living.

While Smith knew she had a good idea early on, she also realized that she didn’t have all the answers about how to make a product or bring a product to market. That’s why she tapped Suman, who’s involved with the Grand Rapids Inventor Network and the Muskegon Inventors Network.

“This is hard, really hard, and satisfying, but it takes a village. I can’t do it alone, even with my years of experience in business. What I lack in manufacturing acumen, I make up on the business side,” she said.

Smith doesn’t think she’s alone, either. With so many people unemployed or under-employed in West Michigan, she hopes her story might serve as an example and motivate someone else to try his or her hand at inventing a product.

“The cost to do something like this is low, and historically, so much innovation occurs during the economic troughs,” Smith said.