from concept to the market - how long?

[HowardH]

Since the Kapex is a completely new tool to the Festool product line (at least I think it is, AFAIK) I wonder how long this incubation period took from conception to birth, so to speak?  From the initial idea, to drawings, to a non-working prototype to a working prototype, back to the engineers for more refinement, etc.  A year, two years, longer?  Dyson says it took him 5000 tries to get his vacuum right.  How many iterations of the Kapex were there before they got it right, or at least close to getting it right?  Just curious.  Would love to see what the initial design looked like.  They must have a lot of Euro's tied up in this thing. 

 

[Spike]

This can really only be answered by Festool Germany correctly or top officials at Festool USA. However I worked for a power tool manufacturer and speed to market varied according to vendor supply, raw materials, testing, the list goes on. But I saw some tools realized within 18 months. 

 

[dltflt]

My guess would be anywhere from 12 - 24 months.  That is just from my personal experience of designing a new product from scratch and getting it into production.