GE’s FirstBuild celebrates breakout first year

FirstBuild speeds eight products to market in 12 months

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — With one year in the rearview mirror, FirstBuild takes lessons learned  to plan for what is shaping up to be an even more exciting second year.

GE’s FirstBuild is a global co-creation community that harnesses the brainpower of the maker movement to change the way major home appliances are conceived, designed and manufactured. A physical state-of-the-art microfactory on the University of Louisville campus, and international online forum, FirstBuild speeds products from mind to market by enabling customization through small batch production, without the costs and risks of traditional mass manufacturing.

Year One Highlights of GE’s FirstBuild:

• Global online co-creation community members—over 7,500—from all over the world worked together to create the next great thing in appliances. Products like the Paragon Induction Cooktop, ChillHub Refrigerator and Opal Nugget Ice Maker resulted from this innovative collaboration. Check out www.firstbuild.com to explore the 24 active projects in the works.
• Microfactory in Louisville started producing microkitchens and the Easy-Load Double Ovens, among other products, in small batch production. Products that start at FirstBuild can scale up to large-scale production in GE’s factories across the country. This new model reduces the cost and risk of product development and enables fast market validation, so products make it to market faster.
• University of Louisville (UofL) students working with FirstBuild on 32 capstone projects—giving them access to state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment and real–life experiences unavailable in a classroom setting and facilitated well over 100 personal projects created by local makers, startups and entrepreneurs—developing a new model of successful public/private partnerships.  The microfactory site in UofL’s Belknap campus saw over 3,000 people visiting or working in its lab spaces.
• Marketing strategy created multiple platforms to interface with consumers—selling products directly to consumers and sharing active projects through www.firstbuild.com, at its Louisville maker space, or via crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo.

FirstBuild’s second year promises to be more exciting than the first. Current projects include a built-in home pizza oven and technology to allow for coffee roasting in a traditional oven.

“Our partnership with FirstBuild has exceeded our expectations,” University of Louisville President James Ramsey said. “Students are learning in a high-tech, innovative environment in which they are capable of designing and producing concepts and products that will flourish in the 21st Century marketplace.”

The opening of FirstBuild has also boosted Louisville’s reputation as a hot spot for entrepreneurial activity. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said, “The breakthrough work at FirstBuild is a great example of the kinds of big things that effective partnerships between the City of Louisville and industry leaders like GE can deliver.”