Friday, September 25, 2020

CleanFreak Nanotechnology Socio-Technical Plan (completed)

 

Individual Project 5: Final Socio-Technical Plan   

William Krysinski

Colorado Technical University

CS875-2003C-01

Dr. Cynthia Calongne

September 20, 2020


Introduction

Human beings are creatures of habit. Changing those habits takes time and necessity. This necessity can occur during times of crisis, and no situation has been exploited more than Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic transmission of 2020. The US Centers for Disease Contol and Prevention states that diseases like COVID-19 can spread “very easily and sustainably” (CDC, 2020).  Cleaning surfaces to prevent the spread of a virus transmitted to an individual has always been something of a Holy Grail, and now a solution exists that will not cause the typical human to change anything about their daily habits. Forget to wash your hands, no problem. Just witnessed an individual sneeze into their hands and then open the door, still no problem. How is this possible, you may ask? Self-cleaning surfaces that use nanotechnology will continuously attack bacteria and viruses on any surface that uses this technology. We call this product CleanFreak.   

CleanFreak Scope

Viruses like the COVID-19 can stay active on surfaces for hours if not days after being introduced to a surface.  The National Institutes of Health has determined that depending on the type of surface, this virus can remain active for up to four days on stainless steel (NIH, 2020). CleanFreak nanotechnology would work in several ways. First, nanotechnology can be applied to any hard surface, from plastics, wood, metal, and composites. It can be applied during the manufacturing process or applied to the existing surfaces in any home or office setting. Once installed, human cleanliness habits will not be impacted more than the levels of what we expect today. While the results of our technology have been promising, testing still long term testing is needed to prove our technology will continue to kill bacteria and viruses on contact and is safe for consumers. A fundamental limitation is this nanotechnology that it still cannot kill airborne contagions. 

CleanFreak Purpose

Preventing the spread of disease and realizing that humans do not like change is at the heart of our mission statement at Clean Freak. COVID-19 has impacted nearly 30 million people as of September 2020 and had almost 1 million deaths (John Hopkins University, 2020). Karen Rowan (2012) cited a study of US and Brazilians in public places touched a common surface (i.e. subway handrail or ticket machine), and then their faces an average of 3.6 times an hour (Rowan, 2012). This could exacerbate the spread of disease if the surface is not cleaned or even if a person’s hands were just cleaned. CleanFreak takes this into account by killing the virus, thus preventing the spread by contact.       

CleanFreak Supporting Forces

Technological forces are at the core of CleanFreak innovation. Advances in nanotechnology and polymer development have exceeded the imaginations of the entire staff at CleanFreak. Having the ability to apply our product to both existing and newly manufactured products will be a gamechanger.  Economical forces in reducing hospitalizations, time missed from work, and impact on the economy will be witnessed almost immediately during a new pandemic or seasonal virus outbreak.   

CleanFreak Formidable Forces

Since reforming habits is difficult with the human race, educational forces are significant concerns with obtaining complete buy-in with consumers of the world. Young members of society might feel invincibility since viruses and bacteria’s rarely impact them. Unproven technology is a scary proposition for others to accept, as well. One only has to look at advances in technology that caused more health concerns that improving daily life, circa 3-M Teflon coating that caused cancer in individuals. Retooling the manufacturing process and assembly lines will be a challenge for all industries worldwide. 

CleanFreak Forecasting Method 

Individuals will be impacted by all facets of society with the implementation of CleanFreak’s technology. Group decision-making must be effectively utilized at each step of change to introduce the benefits and ease of use for CleanFreak. The Delphi technique will serve a significant role in obtaining buy-in from all impacted by this technology. Questionnaires for subject matter experts in manufacturing, healthcare, economics, government, and sociologist will provide a more profound understanding of how CleanFreak will impact the behavior and the acceptance of the product.  Thrope and Holt (2008) list the benefits of Delphi include can be repeated, SMEs use their expertise to share judgments, and researchers control the information path. The results of the survey will help to drive the direction of the leadership at CleanFreak. Preventing without changing is our goal at CleanFreak, and our product is poised to change the world without even knowing change is occurring.

 

Application for Trust using the ABCD Model


Figure 1: ABCD Trust Model (Blanchard, Olmstead, and Lawrence, 2013)

Note: This figure demonstrates the trust model implemented for CleanFreak’s manufacturing and consumer process to gain and maintain trust. From “Trust Works!: Four Keys to Building Lasting Relationships” by K. Blanchard, C. Olmstead, and M. Lawrence. Copyright 2013 by Harper Collins Publishing.

 

To address the importance of trust for CleanFreak, our consumers, and our producer partners, we will adopt the ABCD model of giving and earning trust. Ability to demonstrate competency is the first quadrant represented in this model. Transparency and demonstrating expertise at the highest level will set the baseline in developing trust. Believing in our mission and spotlighting our core values daily will expose them to our customer base. Once ability and believability have been achieved, CleanFreak will begin connecting with our customers by implementing communication strategies, listening to feedback, and caring for our employees and customers on an intimate level. Finally, we will continually improve our dependability by maintaining integrity, transparency, respect, and follow-through. This model will be a continuous loop designed for rapid change and satisfaction for every stakeholder.

 

CleanFreak Analytical Plan

Hypotheses

Increase buy-in and implementation at each the manufacturing facility, and the viral infection will decrease from surface contact.

Objective

KPI

Measurement

Frequency

Segment

Brand Awareness

Social media registration

Web signup

Monthly

Consumer
Commercial Government

Customer Acquisitions

Sales based on all channels

New/Returning Sales

Daily

Consumer
Commercial Government

Brand Loyalty

Positive Comments
Sales increase by segment

Like vs. dislike
Sales by Segment

Daily

Consumer
Commercial Government

Implementation

Type and number of surfaces installed

Installation

Weekly

Consumer
Commercial Government

            Our goal is to have CleanFreak technology installed in all new manufacturing lines by 2050 and applied to all existing surfaces by 2040. Our analytical plan will need to include tracking worldwide usage and installation growth month over month. The hypothesis is the faster we can obtain buy-in and change manufacturing techniques to incorporate CleanFreak, the number of illnesses and deaths related to viral infection due to surface contact will be significantly decreased. We will be focused on implementing our product worldwide, increasing brand awareness, customer acquisitions, and improve brand loyalty.   

CleanFreak Anticipated Results

At first, CleanFreak will be reviled as too good to be true. There will be no way that a product can control disease on every surface with little interaction by an individual. Subject Matter Experts trusted celebrities, social media campaigns, organizations such as the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control would provide the buy-in needed to earn the trust.

Changing social norms will be the most significant benefit of the CleanFreak product. While our mission statement is geared towards preventing the spread of disease and realizing that humans do not like change, making change look seamless will be the key to the success of our product line. Having faith in knowing that one is being protected from potentially deadly diseases without harmful chemicals and embedded in every human-made surface will be essential for our success.

Starting with the protection of the most vulnerable population will be our highest priority. Implementing CleanFreak at children day-care, elderly care, and public schools will be the first areas we would test. Proving our product does work with an initial goal of decreasing virus transmission via surface contact by seventy-five percent or higher. Once proven, we will continue the rollout of CleanFreak into more sectors of daily life with a goal of saturation of CleanFreak within the next two decades.   

Conclusion on CleanFreak

The goal of the CleanFreak nanotechnology is simple. Infusion into every product or surface that a human might come in contact with daily. Removing the human factor of forgetting a surface might be infected is the ultimate goal. However, a fantastic product is only half of gaining the approval of the world community. Addressing concerns that plaque the consumer, working with manufacturers to integrate our product into future production floors, and finally integrating our nanotechnology into every surface that has been produced and is still in service today is our main focus.

The difficulty will exist in several areas to have this product meet our goal of total surface infusion. First, invoking trust with the everyday consumer that this product will do exactly what we promise. From poor manufacturing processes to reliability in the products, to the medical profession, trust is eroding everywhere for the typical consumer. Khullar (2018) stated that distrust in the medical profession had eroded more than fifty percent in the last thirty years to a staggering thirty-four percent of Americans that believe in the care they receive from the medical industry. So trust is the most crucial aspect that CleanFreak will have to address to gain buy-in from the consumers of the world.

Impacting the manufacturing processes, training manufacturing personnel, and re-tooling assembly lines to incorporate the CleanFreak product are the next exciting challenges we will have to overcome. Minimizing impact to the operations lines while keeping costs low will be the priority when working with manufacturing organizations. Creating free training for front-line workers in every language will be needed to ensure consistency in the application of CleanFreak. Finally, working with our manufacturing partners to help envelop any cost that may make it difficult to include CleanFreak in their products.

CleanFreak will partner with the experts in the fields of healthcare, social media, government, manufacturing, distribution, and any other stakeholders that will allow CleanFreak to earn trust, maintain safety and keep virus transmission via surface contact to as close to zero percent as possible.  

Potential Areas of Future Research at CleanFreak

Future research will be needed to monitor the effectiveness of future and past infectious diseases. Understanding how CleanFreak will respond to past, current, and future diseases that live on surfaces will be vital in keeping disease levels minimum.  

Effectiveness over time of the ability of CleanFreak to maintain disease control. How will CleanFreak hold up over time, continuous interactions with human skin, and impacting the integrity of the surface CleanFreak was applied.

Health concerns with the chemical makeup and application techniques of CleanFreak. For years to come, does CleanFreak have any negative impacts on the health of those that come into interaction? At what frequency is it consider risky to maintain contact with CleanFreak?

Is self-application of CleanFreak to the skin for just-in-time disease control possible?  While this contradicts our mission statement of removing the human element, we know there will be a necessity for a just-in-time application for CleanFreak. How will this be developed, and will it be as effective as the upcoming application model of CleanFreak.

 

 


 

 

References

 

Blanchard, K., Olmstead, C., & Lawrence, M. (2013). Trust Works!: Four Keys to Building

Lasting Relationships. Harper Collins.

CDC. (2020, March 17). Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) - Transmission. Retrieved

September 6, 2020, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-covid-spreads.html

John Hopkins University. (2020). Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Retrieved

September 6, 2020, from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center website: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Khullar, D. (2018, January 23). Do You Trust the Medical Profession? The New York Times.

Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/upshot/do-you-trust-the-medical-profession.html

National Institutes of Health. (2020, March 17). New coronavirus stable for hours on surfaces.

Retrieved September 6, 2020, from National Institutes of Health (NIH) website: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces

Thorpe, R., & Holt, R. (2008). The SAGE dictionary of qualitative management research (Vols.

1-0). London, : SAGE Publications Ltd doi: 10.4135/9780857020109





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CleanFreak Nanotechnology Socio-Technical Plan (completed)

  Individual Project 5: Final Socio-Technical Plan    William Krysinski Colorado Technical University CS875-2003C-01 Dr. Cynthia Calongne ...