NIPÅSEN coat rack and bench w shoe storage

Making more from less

Product development isn’t only about creating new products. For us at IKEA, it’s just as important to renew and improve the products that are already in the range. With NIPÅSEN coat rack and bench with shoe storage, we succeeded in improving functionality, reducing the amount of material, and lowering the price of smart hallway storage.

This time, the first idea came from one of our suppliers – who are just as convinced as we are that everything can be improved. “They discovered that if one of our coat racks was made a bit narrower, you could use steel pipes with thinner dimensions without losing strength. This meant less material usage and a lower price, which is always great,” says Christos Stefanoudakis, who works with product development.

Ideas lead to new ideas

The supplier’s suggestion also spurred Christos and his colleagues on. “While we were at it, more ideas for improvement came up – it became like a snowball effect. By removing the lower shelf, we made room for higher shoes and boots and made cleaning easier. And saved material!” The shoe shelf that was kept turned out to have savings potential, too. “It was made of a metal sheet with a punched pattern. But now we chose stretch metal which, when stretched, forms a net-like pattern. That adjustment reduced the material used for the shelf by two-thirds.”

Smarter storage at a lower price

The style and expression were carried over from the old coat rack, but in the end the updates were so many that it had to become a completely new product: NIPÅSEN. “We managed to make the storage even smarter and more space-saving at a lower price. That feels good, especially as we know that in most parts of the world the hallway is a limited space that needs to hold many things. Making more from less is becoming more and more important – and it’s fun, too!”