The following eSoles case study was featured in a W. P. Carey School's Center for Services Leadership article:
Glen Hinshaw's start-up company, eSoles LLC, is leveraging smart services to improve an age-old technique of fitting and manufacturing custom insoles for athletes. A professional cycler, Hinshaw several years ago developed a foot problem that doctors said could be corrected by orthotics (insoles). "But they wanted to mold my foot for the insoles using plaster casting material," Hinshaw said. "I used that in art class as a kid."
And when Hinshaw got new shoes -- about once every year -- he had to repeat the process all over again, despite the fact that his foot hadn't changed much. So Hinshaw set out to find a better way to mold a person's foot and digitize the record.
He created a system to take an image of his foot, digitize the image, and then send the information to a machine that would cut an insole with the specific arch or curve he needed for the specific sports he was doing. He built a wireless kiosk to take 3D and 2D images of the customer's foot and create an imprint -- which is then saved on the company's website for the customer to access any time.
In that way, eSoles LLC makes fitting insoles easier -- customers can do it at a wide range of locations, from Sam's Club to PGA Tour shops -- and less expensive, because the service is automated. Perhaps most importantly, Hinshaw said, eSoles has leveraged technology to make the insole fitting process better.
"Machines don't run things by themselves, they need humans," said eSoles CEO Glen Hinshaw. He sees a lot of customer interaction, despite the fact that people are getting fitted for their insoles at an unmanned kiosk, not a doctor's office. "We've received lots of customer feedback," he said.
For example, the company developed a microchip that is implanted in the insole which relays information to the web or a handheld device to help athletes improve their performance. After seeing the product, a doctor asked Hinshaw if he could modify the technology to provide heat and pressure information for people with diabetes, who are highly susceptible to blisters. The doctor's suggestion is now a new product in development at eSoles. "It's about the collaboration between humans and technology," said Hinshaw.
http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1839
Smart process of manufacturing a form fitting shoe sole via real human control.
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