FAMNIG - turning a problem into a lovable toy

Several years ago, we had to recall a line of children's toys while they were still in production. These soft toys had eyes that were in danger of falling off. Fortunately, we discovered this possibility far before an actual problem occurred.

But by stopping production, another problem was created. The toys were produced at a factory in India with 600 employees. Suddenly, 600 people had no work to do. So we sent Anna Evferlund, one of our designers, to the factory to see what could be done.

Anna looked at the factory and materials on hand. Working with the supplier, she developed a completely new series of products. After 14 days, she came back to Sweden with FAMNIG, a wonderful cushion with arms. It was an immediate hit with the IKEA people - and with our customers as well.

This is a good example of how we are always trying to turn bad situations into good opportunities using the ideas of our suppliers and the energy within IKEA. FAMNIG has been a tremendous success. But the best part is that those 600 employees in India were not enough to keep up with the ever-increasing demand, so more and more people were employed at the factory.