Cava, make your own cheese
- Mar 21
- 4 min read
Problem owners: Lácteos Campo Real
Process owners: 5 industrial design students, part of the course Design project: technology and innovation, at the Pontifical Xavierian University and one professional designer from Solutions Group
Part of the research project of Ricardo Mejia Sarmiento: Vision Concepts for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Developing a Design-Led Futures Technique to Boost Innovation
Supervisory team: Promotors Prof. dr. P.J. Stappers (Pieter Jan) and Prof. dr. H.J. Hultink (Erik Jan). Daily Supervisor Dr. G. Pasman (Gert). Mentor Dr. E. Karana (Elvin).
Completion Date: September 2016, Colombia
Challenge
Designers made this vision concept as part of the evaluation of DIVE. It is a design-led futures technique that assists designers in making and sharing vision concepts for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Its development began with an inquiry into concept cars in the automotive industry and concept products and services in other industries. We then combined the insights derived from these design practices with elements of the existing techniques of critical design and design fiction into the creation of DIVE’s preliminary first version, which was then applied and evaluated in two iterations with SMEs, resulting in DIVE’s alpha version. This vision concept acts as a probe that explores a new territory, the speculative future of Campo Real.
Lácteos Campo Real is a family small-sized enterprise that develops, produces and markets dairy products, mainly cheese. The company is located in Bogota since its foundation in 2005 and has two other facilities in Cartagena del Chaira and San Jose de Guaviare, Colombia. The company distributes its product, a large variety of fresh and old cheeses, through retailers that sell directly to the end-users. Even though the Design and Development Division is considerably new, the company has a long-standing tradition implementing design, in particular regarding packaging and branding. Its directors had participated in different training projects related to design and innovation with governmental and non-governmental institutions, such as the Bogota Chamber of Commerce.
Following the analogy proposed by the Strategic PES (see more details of this tool here), participants recognized that “Campo Real is a female fish with a large head linked to the heart; it is one of the few fishes that one can find that have an artery that comes directly from the heart to the brain.” Her purpose, as the leader of the school of fishes, its community, is to take care of the other sea creatures, providing them food and protection. To accomplish this, she uses her big eyes, which guarantees a broad and sensitive vision to the local needs. Concerned about the school of fishes, she tends to eat a lot, in such a way that she has gained weight, which makes it difficult for her to swim with the same agility as before. She uses a robust and large tail then, which allows her to socialize with others and thus find allies who help her and her community. Their high head, tail, and belly consistently compete among them. Given this analysis, participants set the year 2025 as the time frame, which coincides with company’s twenty birthdays and defined the domain as “health, nutrition, and well-being, framed in the shared value.”
Purposes
Campo Real then needs a new vision of a desirable future, genuinely informed by its values, that help her to be agile. A vision that:
inspires ideas about the future of the business
choose the strategic direction of the company
understand how to implement new technology
Process
After the context factors’ analysis, which includes several trends in the field of Food 3D printing, the participants defined a future vision. It claims that “Campo Real wants to offer to women, who are identified with the company’s values, the possibility of participating in the creation of new experiences of sustainable consumption, which connect them to its Colombian origin and the inheritance of the countryside.”
Activities: DIVE: setting a domain, defining a vision, creating the vision concept, and making the prototype. Moreover, designers have used the prototype to discuss the future with the company representativesLength: three days in the whole project
Length: three days in the whole project
Budget: they spent less than 50 Euros making the prototype
Results
As result, the designers made Cava, a 3D printer to extrude various cheese preparations in different shapes and sizes. It has special pressurized tanks to make several types of fresh and old cheeses and mix them with consumables, such as condiments, spices, herbs, fruits, vegetables, oils, and beverages. The printer can perceive its environment including the relevant user’s devices to suggest products for the grocery lists, preparations for menus, and takes actions that maximize the possible cheese preparations based on different requirements such dietary conditions and weather. To present this vision concept to the company representatives, the designers made a video that introduces Juan, a young man who is planning a date with Laura. He used Cava to define the menu and to prepare small portions of fresh cheese with strawberries then.
Cava allowed to discuss the necessary actions for the company to learn more about its end-users and strengthen their relationship with them. Participants suggested to transform the company’s value proposition from selling of quality food to one that focuses on supporting people in the consolidation of better nutritional habits, which includes dairy products as supplements. This speculative exercise posed a series of challenges in the short and medium-term related to new products, services or strategies, including new ones.
Comments