Well I would think someone working in product development would poll your user base to assess the width and breadth of their concerns and suggestions for improvements and then, being as they ARE the product development arm, come up with some solutions to address those concerns that take safety and use of their current or available production capabilities into account. Something the end user has little knowledge of.
On what do you base your claim of 'expensive improvements'? The easiest way to find out what the market will bear is to ask them or listen when they speak as is happening right here in this thread on a Festool operated site, so not tucked away in some dark corner of the web where they have to go looking for it. If Festool wants to improve their products all they need do is monitor this site and glean dozens of suggestions or first hand accounts or solutions or problems and use those as the basis for making improvements. Peter took a step in that direction by flagging the thread for Tyler and FestoolUSA, a good move I think.
If you expect end users who have issues or suggestions with your products to solve all the development problems for you so you can make and sell them I think you owe them something for their product development efforts.
And herein lies one of the issues YOU are telling someone in Product Development what YOU
think THEIR job is (or should be). Are you in a Product Development role?
A person in Product Development can certainly poll people about what they want in a product. That's certainly a means of collecting data. However, it's not a particularly effective way to collect
quality data.
What people say they want, and what they actually want or need, are often quite different. This isn't apparent until you observe people using products in actual work environments performing real work. Ignore what they say, and watch what they DO. Then you arrive at insights to the problem.
With regards to "expensive" - You could probably go to some electronics store and pick up a package of white LED's for a quarter or less each. But that's not the end of the story. Think about it from the company's perspective.
If I decided to "Add an LED", what specifications are needed for the LED's? I have to source them somewhere. LED's require electrical input within certain specifications. Where will I source the power output for the LED input? Most likely a circuit in the device. Does the current board have the capability or capacity to provide the correct power output? If not, I need to source a new board. Will the new board fit within the device footprint? If not, I need to increase the device footprint.
Once I solve the power and board requirements, where will I mount the LED? In the case, most likely. Can the mold for the case be modified to hold the new LED? If not, I need to have a new mold made. While I'm at it, will the case design handle any extra heat from the LED? If not, I need to redesign the venting in the case.
Does adding an LED create any regulatory issues with regards to lighting, strobe effects, etc. that will become a legal risk?
Lots of resources required for what seems like a simple "Add LED's" request. And so it goes...
Meanwhile, observations and interview data revealed that end users were performing work in poorly lit conditions with outdated prescription eyewear. They blamed the lack of visibility on the tool, rather than improving working conditions.
You can't make this stuff up.
