The study applies the five phases of Design Thinking developed by d.schools to address handloom-related problems found in India’s Uttarakhand area.
Authors
Ashutosh Samadhiya, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India; Jindal Global Business School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Rajat Agrawal, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India.
Summary
There are few products where the contribution of innovation is very high while few remain on the sideline, such as handloom machines used by weavers for various local textile making. This study aims to improve the handloom machine with the help of the d.schools philosophy of Design Thinking (DT).
The study applies the five phases of DT developed by d.schools to address handloom-related problems found in India’s Uttarakhand area.
This article uses a case study to illustrate the whole process of putting these five phases into practice. The results imply that DT may be used in traditional goods like handlooms. It also helped researchers understand how quickly weavers adopted the new loom.
Additionally, it led to enhanced output quality, higher productivity, and improved ergonomics. The protocol of such practical studies and the use of DT in traditional goods like handlooms will be better understood by researchers with the aid of this publication.
The practical application of such research will also address the problems facing rural regions, where innovation and technology serve as a hindrance to their development.
Published in: Technology in Society
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