DuPont's Packaging Advisor

In 1987, DuPont started selling barrier resins used in plastic food containers. To establish its new product, it needed a way to get potential customers to try it out. DuPont developed a system called the Packaging Advisor, which helps the customer evaluate alternative materials, determine the quantities required to meet performance requirements, and estimate material costs.

The Packaging Advisor runs on a personal computer and replaces traditional marketing communication techniques to inform both customers and field sales staff about new and existing products. It was developed through rapid prototyping, with an initial version shown to users after three months and numerous refinements made over the next five months before deployment. It takes into account important features of the customer's product such as length of shelf life, temperatures it will encounter, sterilization methods used, oxygen tolerance during shelf life, humidity inside and outside the package, and pertinent Federal Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. Management believes that 30 percent of DuPont's resin sales in the following year were attributable to accounts where Packaging Advisor helped open the door. DuPont believes this is the first expert system designed as a keystone in a new product's marketing communications strategy.

Questions:

1. Use the WCA framework to organize your understanding of this case and to identify important topics that are not mentioned.

2. Explain where this system fits in the value chain.

3. Could similar systems be applied to gain competitive advantage in other markets? If so, identify some of the products in those markets. If not, explain why not.

Source: Topolski, Alvin S., and Douglas K. Reece. "Packaging Advisor: An Expert System for Rigid Plastic Food Package Design." In Herbert Schorr and Alain Rappaport, Proceedings of the First Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence. Menlo Park, Calif.: American Association for Artificial Intelligence, 1989, pp. 72-77.

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