Research Snapshot: Underground Pipe Locators for Utilities

Picture
In addition to our analytical marketing skills, clients also value the ability to see and interpret for themselves the unfiltered comments discovered during research efforts with both existing and potential customers. Product developers and engineering managers often find new insights – little nuggets of qualitative gold – in our reports.

​Here's one example from the more than 250 projects we’ve done in technical B2B markets.
Operator and foreman from two different water utilities regarding issues related to development of underground pipe locators. (Context: mini focus group at trade show in 2003.)
Martin Technical Research: [Shows illustration of proposed new underground pipe locator…] “We have some ideas here on a new display. How do you feel about an LCD display?”

2nd End User: “How’s the cold gonna affect it?”

1st End User: “That’s my first question. A lot of times you’ll open up that box and you have to go three or four hundred yards and it’s snowing. You’ll throw the locator in the box and forget to fasten it tight and the next day you pull it out and it’s a block of ice.”

2nd End User: “Waterproofing and coldness are real big factors for us.”

MTR: “Do you do a lot of locating in the snow?”

2nd End User: “Oh yeah, the unit is okay in the snow. Most of the damage comes from storing it poorly or forgetting to latch the box and leaving it in the truck. The box isn’t real watertight.”

1st End User: “Or you’ll close the box on those wires off the transmitter and then you can’t get a good signal.”

MTR: “Would it help if the wires were coiled?”

1st End User: “Yeah that would help, it’s kind of like our tapping machine. They always sell you a case where you can never fit all the parts back in after you use it for awhile.”

MTR: “If they made a larger case that was gasketed for weather would you pay extra for it?”

1st End User: “Yes, definitely.”

MTR: “Back to the LCD display… most of your concerns seem to be around cold weather?”

2nd End User: “Any kind of liquid crystal display, including my fish finder, has a hard time in the cold. So that would be a concern.”

MTR: “Outside of cold weather, any other concerns?”

1st End User: “Simple is better. Make it so you don’t have to shift your eyes a whole lot.”

2nd End User: “The tones are real important, too.”

1st End User: “The depth is real important also, because a lot of times it will bleed off onto the gas line and I can click on depth and if it’s 36 inches I know I’ve trailed off the main. I don’t trust the depth, but it helps.”

2nd End User: “I won’t hand out depth readings either, but it’s real helpful in locating.”

MTR: “How about a locator that reads depth continuously?”

2nd End User: “That would be nice.”

1st End User: “I’d like that.”

MTR: “How would that help in your work?”

2nd End User: “You’d know if you jumped up to another utility. It would help speed things along by letting the man know right away he left the water line.”

1st End User: “Yeah, especially around the service lines where they stack everything, rather than stopping and pushing depth he’d get an immediate warning.”

MTR: [Shows design drawings…] “Any preferences on toggles or switches?”

1st End User: [Pointing to jack on top] “This rusts. I have to clean it with gun cleaner. If it was off to the side, it might be better.”

2nd End User: “I’d like to see a battery indicator, rather than a push-button, some kind of constant indication that tells me my battery is low.”

MTR: “The switches themselves, you both marked here [on a survey sheet] that you like the membrane switches?”

1st End User: “If it makes it more weather resistant it’s fine, just put some kind of indication on it like a light.”