Dyson's high-profile announcement of a car-building plan and then a failure of the plan would be frustrating for other companies of this size, but for Dyson, the word failure means something different.
Sometimes, failure is even gratifying.
On April 23, 2022, World Book Day, james Dyson, founder and chief engineer of the global technology company, wrote the Chinese edition of the new book "Invention: James Dyson's Creative Journey".
In this book, "failure" is a high-frequency word.
In 1983, after 4 years of creation and testing and 5126 failures, James Dyson successfully designed a prototype cyclone vacuum cleaner in his old-fashioned marcou. Although the book is full of stories about engineering and business developments, perhaps the story behind James Dyson's intentions is perhaps the story behind these 5126 prototypes and the innovative technologies and products that failed to commercialize.
Since the introduction of the dc01 vacuum cleaner named after Dyson in 1993, Dyson started from a humble rural area and gradually grew into a global technology company with 15,000 employees today, and is also a business card of British industry.
In addition to his own engineering story, James Dyson tells the stories of past inventors, engineers, and designers, including Alec Issigonis, who designed the Mini car, Frank Whittle, who designed the jet engine, and Buckminster, the American architect and inventor Fuller et al., as well as his lifelong mentor, inventor and entrepreneur Jeremy S. Thompson. The story of Jeremy Fry, their inspiring stories of invention and the spirit of inventorship they possess inspired James Dyson.
▲ Dyson engineer Hu Hongfei Brian
From top to bottom, Dyson's engineers and employees are also naturally affected by it, and after the book's domestic launch in China, Dyson engineer Hu Hongfei Brian told AiFan'er and other media:
The number 5127 has profound implications for every member of Dyson, and in 1983, after 4 years of creation and testing and 5126 failures, James Dyson finally successfully designed a prototype cyclone vacuum cleaner in the old-fashioned marcus at home.
There are more failures in the process of invention than the ultimate success. We should welcome failure, not avoid it. Engineers, scientists, or anyone else shouldn't be afraid of it.
Hu Hongfei Brian came to Dyson to participate in the first project is the development of the hand dryer Airblade, similarly, this hand dryer used in many high-end shopping malls and toilets has also experienced many failures to succeed. If you have used this hand dryer, you will find that compared to other human induction faucets or hand dryers, its induction of the human body is more sensitive and accurate. This stems from their summary of "failure", through a lot of tests to find the most appropriate height and distance, so as to come up with a better solution.
Just as the stand-in messengers will attract each other, the spirit of engineers is also infectious, Hu Hongfei Brian joined Dyson, but also because after becoming a Dyson DC22 vacuum cleaner user, attracted by its performance and design, just saw Dyson recruiting, so chose to join the team.
▲ Dyson series hand dryer Airblade
Vacuum cleaners, hand dryers, hair dryers... Dyson's product categories are diverse, many of which are related to airflow, but the core technologies of these categories are often different and cannot be generalized. So how does Dyson decide whether to enter a new field? Hu Hongfei Brian told Ai Fan'er:
If we want to enter a new field or industry, we must always have better technology and new technologies, otherwise we will not do this easily. So sometimes, we don't get into a certain product area as part of the business plan, but because we create some technology that can make that product better. For example, the Hand Dryer Airblade, in fact, the hand dryer is not the commercial content of our planned layout, but we have this technology, through which it can reduce energy consumption to 1/6 or nearly 1/10 of the existing product, and blow dry faster. So the answer to the question is that when Dyson has the core technology or the new technology to be able to get into that field, we're going to go into a new space and aren't afraid to do it in an industry that seems like we're very naïve and new to it.
This revolutionary energy consumption breakthrough also exists in vacuum cleaners: Dyson's current handheld cordless vacuum cleaner consumes only 1/10 of the energy of a typical vacuum cleaner, which typically consumes 2000 watts, while Dyson's lightweight vacuum cleaner consumes only 200 watts.
▲ James Dyson and Dyson DC01 vacuum cleaner
Last year, Dyson has completed the milestone of producing 100 million digital motors, while investing a total of 350 million pounds in the design, development and manufacture of digital motors, with equally huge benefits and investments. Of course, the reason for investing so much may be because there are so many failures.
At the same time, many consumers have the impression that Dyson is that the integration of performance and design is very good, and its hair dryer is an example, whether it is dry hair effect or shape design, it is ahead of the competition. This is also because Dyson has a different corporate culture, Hu Hongfei Brian said:
At Dyson, we don't distinguish engineers from designers. Everyone who conducts research, design, or development in the field of engineering is called an engineer or scientist. This is also an important reason for driving the balance of function and design of Dyson products.
Usually, when Dyson engineers talk about design, they don't mean how the object looks, but everything about the product, which includes technology, engineering, and how you make it, how it performs, how it's going to be used, how long it lasts — that's called design. Arguably, all of Dyson's designs are based on this — to be sincere, purposeful, and reflect the technical and engineering standards.