INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION (BM006-3.5-2)

NAME: Ibrahim Anwar

INTAKE CODE: UC2F1305IT

LECTURER NAME: Devika A/P Nadarajah

HAND OUT DATE:

HAND IN DATE: 5th Aug 2013

WORDS: 4909

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ContentsExecutive Summary..................................................4PART 1: PROBLEM DEFINITION.........................................4

Competitor Analysis................................................5Objective Statement................................................7

PART 2 : IDEA GENERATION TECHNIQUES................................72.1 Force fitting trigger..........................................7

2.1.1 Opening......................................................72.1.2 Outcomes.....................................................8

2.1.3 Evaluation...................................................8Mind Mapping:......................................................9

2.2.1 Opening......................................................92.2.2 Outcomes....................................................10

2.2.3 Evaluation..................................................10SCAMPER...........................................................10

2.3.1 Opening.....................................................102.3.2 Outcomes:...................................................11

2.3.3 Evaluation..................................................11PART 3: PRODUCT DESCRIPTION.......................................12

Opening 3.1.......................................................123.2 Illustration(Next Page).......................................12

3.3 Availability for purchase:....................................13Features:.........................................................14

3.4 Function......................................................143.5 Frequency of usage............................................14

3.6 Price:........................................................15Technology:.......................................................15

PART4: MARKET IDENTIFICATION......................................17

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PART 5: IDEA EVALUATION...........................................18Force Field Analysis..............................................18

5.1 Opening.......................................................18FFA Diagram Illustration (Before recommendation):.................18

Recommendation....................................................19FFA diagram (After recommendation):...............................21

Conclusion:.......................................................22Bibliography......................................................23

APPENDICES........................................................24Questionnaire.....................................................24

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Executive SummaryFood is the primary necessity of a human being. No matter

where we are, whatever we are doing, we need food in order to

survive. In many places the food that we get from the

restaurants is very expensive. Although the food maybe good

but many people cannot afford it, or may not like to do

extravagance. Also food in many places Is unhygienic and

unhealthy. If we cook food at home, which is hygienic and

healthy, a third problem arises that is time and energy.

People have to spend a lot of time and energy in order to make

delicious food which takes away their productive time.

We have introduced a food vending machine that is especially

made for home users. It can also be used by other industries,

or areas, like shops, restaurants and offices but our main

target market is households. This vending machine has the

ability to cook food by just adding up the required

ingredients into the machine and pressing a button for a

specific meal, and it will cook the food for you in a few

minutes.

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The machine has a special heating oven, which generates high

temperature in order to make the cooking of the food very

fast. It also has sensors in order to detect the ingredients

from the machine and process the ones that are needed in order

to make the selected dish, so the food is cooked properly and

is delicious.

PART 1: PROBLEM DEFINITIONFood is the primary source of living. Without food we cannot

survive, while without shelter and other necessities we still

can survive. In everything, food and water prove to be the

most important ones. However reports show that the shortage of

good food is found mostly in the developing nations, An

example is Malaysia, a nation which is still in the process of

developing. Although most people are getting their food but

still they do not have access to good food i.e which is

healthy and delicious.

Statistics show that people in Malaysia suffer from many

health conditions because of a lack of hygiene in food. In

Malaysia people make food at home and also eat outside.

Although making food at home is a good practice but many times

cooking food takes a major portion of your day, especially if

you cook for the whole family, which makes you less available

for other available tasks or free time.

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Another big problem is that food is becoming expensive every

single day in Malaysia due to inflation and service/sales

taxes placed on this industry. The vegetables, chicken, meats

etc. are becoming more and more expensive, and if you eat from

a restaurant they will charge you more than double the price.

Since Malaysia is a developing country, almost above 60% of

the population cannot afford proper food at proper timings.

Even If they can afford it, it’s unhealthy and if they cook,

it takes a huge portion of their time which takes away their

productive time. Since Malaysians now prefer to have their

meals outside as compared to eating at their homes, the risk

of diseases have increased because of the food sold in the

stalls. Even the food in proper restaurants does not ensure

proper hygiene.

Competitor AnalysisHere we will compare the product of our competitors with our

company’s product which is Mr.Vendy Food Vending Machine. We

have compared our product with two other companies which make

and sell vending machines. One of them is coke vending machine

which is already known for their vending machines all around

Malaysia. They have extensive amount of machines in a diverse

range of areas. From the Coke vending machines you can buy all

the products/drinks manufactured or produced by Coke such as

Sprite, Coke, Fanta etc. The second competitor we have is

Silkron Vending Solutions which are based in Malaysia as well

as many other countries. They create vending solutions for

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your home/office etc. Their main focus is on the technology of

the vending machines and the different ways in which you can

pay and the huge amounts of options/features you have

available in these vending machines. They also have a

multimedia touch screen in which you see the image for your

products. They offer snacks, sodas etc.

Coke Vending Machines

Silkron Vending solutions

Provides Sodas and Drinks for the brand Coke

Provides Customisedvending solutions

Uniqueness 1. It provides you with all the coke brands and they are freshand full of gas as the coke manufacturers themselves stock up thesemachines. It ensures 100% quality as compared to supermarkets which may not be selling genuine coke brand drinks.

2. It is cheaper

1. Customised Vending solutions

2. Has a very unique interface if you compare itin the vendingmachines market. A digital touchscreen interface unlike most vending machines. It’slike a computer’s or a mobile’s interface.

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than the coke drinks bought from the supermarkets becauseIt is provideddirectly by the manufacturers.

Technology 1. Vendors that are connected to the internet can report sales, inventory and service issuesto Coca cola refreshments in real time. It drasticallyimproves services and minimized costs

2. Cashless gateway: Can pay with credit cards, debit cards etc.

1. These vending machines have eye-catching graphics expertly designed to attract customers

2. It has a remote monitoring system that helps you to monitor the sales of your machine without visiting the location

Limitation 1. It only provides coke products. No other products

1. Since this machine is using state ofthe art technology, itis extremely expensive and most people cannot buy it.Only big companies can afford this

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machine.

Objective StatementSo the product that our company wants to introduce and

innovate is a Food Vending Machine. It is a machine that makes

different types of food for you in just minutes. You just have

to put the ingredients in the ingredients box and the machine

will store it in an internal fridge where it keeps all the

materials for the foods. The machine for now includes around

upto 7-10 dishes that it can make.The main objective to make

this machine is to achieve a breakthrough in the food

industry, providing people cheap and quick service, while

saving the labour that they have to go through. It will

benefit the mass population of the country in a very positive

and productive way.

PART 2 : IDEA GENERATION TECHNIQUES

2.1 Force fitting trigger

2.1.1 Opening In the force fitting trigger one has to select 3 pictures of 3

different objects. The pictures can be random. Then we have to

think of a few words to relate to each picture. Then we have

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to pick out a few outcomes of the 3 pictures by adding one

word for each picture to come up with new ideas.

Tires Black WoodGood design Cotton Curved RectangleGreen Comfortable GroceryTransport Casual Easy to CarrySeat Jeans lightweight

2.1.2 OutcomesOutcome 1: Good design + Cotton + Curved rectangle

Outcome 2: Seat + Comfortable + Wood

Outcome 3: Transport + Black + Lightweight

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Outcome 4: Green + Jeans + Easy to Carry

2.1.3 EvaluationAfter a thorough examination and consideration i have

concluded that the best combination of outcome would be

Outcome 3. This is because the machine should have such weight

and shape that it is able to be transported from one place to

another. Most Vending machines are black in color, so I would

like to go with the general trend, since people are used to

it. The machine should be lightweight as it may need to be

transported to people’s homes.

The advantage of force fitting trigger is that it is very easy

to come up with ideas that link with the random pictures. A

ton of new useful ideas can be created with the words that

describes those pictures/visuals.

Since the pictures are chosen at random and not related to the

product, the ideas generated can sometimes be far-fetched.

Mind Mapping:

2.2.1 OpeningA Mind map is a diagram used represent ideas, thoughts,

visions, images, plans linked together in order to create a

brainstorming map which helps students clarify ideas. It is a

diagram to visually outline information.

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Illustration

2.2.2 OutcomesOutcome 1: Plastic + Children + Provides Heat + Low

Outcome 2: Acrylic powder coating + Teenagers + provides

utensils + high

Outcome 3: Steel + All + Mixes ingredients to make a recipe +

Medium

2.2.3 Evaluation I will choose the 3rd Outcome because to me it is the most

suitable one. First of all the vending machine is made of

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steel, which means it will be strong and durable and then it

is for all sorts of age groups. It mixes the ingredients to

make different recipes, that is you will get the meal/dish you

want. Above all the price category is medium as it cannot be

low because the technology used is advanced, i think medium

cost is an achievement.

The good thing about Mind mapping is that the user can easily

brainstorm many different ideas and link and connect them

together. It helps to clear the head and put all the ideas on

paper to arrange them and implement. Also because Mind maps

are visual and portray relations between key words, they are

much easier to remember than straight line notes.

Mind maps offer a self-explanatory demonstration of evidence

and structure to only those people who were involved in the

formation of a mind map. This is because meaning and signs

used are taken inside the Mind Mapping group and members

develop a shared understanding. As a result of this, keywords,

relationships and organisations that represent sense for their

creator do not necessarily mean anything to someone who did

not take part in the Mind map creation.

SCAMPER

2.3.1 OpeningThis is a technique that simply requires you to ask a

checklist of questions based on 7 questions or things. SCAMPER

is an abbreviation for Substitute, Combine, Adopt, Modify, Put

to Another Use, Eliminate and Reverse. So we create a table

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and we relate our product to these functions and how these

functions can be implemented to our product. We list those

things in front of each function. It is shown Below:

S Metal, Copper, Plastic, Glass

C Coffee maker, Drink mixer and dispenser

A Coffee Vending machines, Drinks Vending Machines

M Not applicable

P Restaurants, Hotels, Resorts, Public Places

E Make it limited to one type of food only. Eliminate

Variety

R Toy Vending Machine, Gumball Vending Machine, Sweets

Vending Machine

2.3.2 Outcomes:Outcome 1: Plastic + Coffee Maker + Coffee Vending Machine +

Hotels + One type of food + Toy vending machine

Outcome 2: Glass + Drinks mixer and dispenser + Drinks Vending

Machine + Hotels + one type of food + Toy Vending Machine

Outcome 3: Metal + Coffee Maker + Coffee Vending Machine +

Resorts + Toy Vending Machine

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2.3.3 EvaluationAfter carefully analyzing all the outcomes from this technique

I have reached the conclusion the Outcome 1 is the best one.

This is because since this machine can also serve as a Coffee

Vending machine the material used should be plastic as it is

an insulator of heat. In Hotels , Coffee is a high preference

for the customers whether in the coffee shop or in the room. I

have figured out that this machine could be made much simpler

and efficient if we could eliminate variety and keep to one

type of meal or dish. However the exact reverse i have found

for this machine is a Toy Vending Machine.

The advantage for SCAMPER is that by using this method, people

can be spurred into generating new ideas, simply by evaluating

an existing one. They can generate new ideas from an existing

idea.

But For this method to be successful, the atmosphere has to be

right. The individuals who are breeding ideas should be in the

right kind of environment to influence creativity and promote

new ideas. SCAMPER process is also known to encourage

creativity among the children. This process has largely been

proven to promote constructive problem-solving abilities in

children by engaging their minds to think around the obstacles

in order to overcome them.

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PART 3: PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Opening 3.1 This is a food vending machine. Although there are many other

vending machines but it’s uniqueness lies in the fact that in

unlike other vending machines we have to put in ingredients of

the food instead of coins or currency notes in order to get

what we want. It makes food, unlike most vending machines

which makes drinks, candy’s etc. It also has a refrigerator

which can store raw ingredients (chicken, vegetables etc.) and

a storage compartment where it stores ingredients which are to

be stored at normal temperature., so you don’t have to put in

the ingredients every time you want to make something in the

vending machine. Another good thing about this is that it

automatically mixes the ingredients of the dish/meal you want

to make and even if some ingredients are missing, a low siren

will be initiated and tell you that the ingredients are less,

if you want to make with less ingredients it will make it for

you, otherwise you can add up more ingredients by opening the

box. It also asks for the confirmation of the order in normal

situations, on the display screen and you can respond by

pressing the ‘Yes’ or the ‘No’ button.

3.2 Illustration(Next Page)

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3.3 Availability for purchase:The first launch for this product will be in Malaysia. Since

the initial target market is Malaysia. The product will be

introduced by first being launched in the significant areas of

Malaysia, namely Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi, Kota

Damansara,, Putrajaya In order to see the response of the

people as there are more rich people in these cities who will

be willing to pay the money for this kind of machine. After

that it will be set to launch in the smaller state’s of

Malaysia. Although there would be less people willing to pay

the money for the machine in those less developed areas, but a

huge shortage of good food in those areas will encourage the

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Meal names

Displayscreen

Meal selection

Small refrigerator to

Power button

The area where your actual food will be

NOYES

Storage compartment fordifferent sauces, spices

people there to buy the machine. A few people can share one

machine in order to save money.

Features:Refrigeration System: This vending machine has a small

refrigerator. It stores and keeps cool all the vegetables,

fruits, chicken, beef, meat etc. i.e things that are needed to

make certain types of food. An example is you, order a Bar-B-

Que chicken Pizza , so the cheese, the chicken pieces will be

already in the refrigerator and once you order that Pizza, it

is made in such a way that the recipe for each kind of

dish/food is already programmed in the machine, so it will

automatically drop in all the materials and the the exact

quantity into the machine and it will start processing and

making the dish at a high temperature.

Small, Compact, Mobility and Usability: It will not be a huge

vending machine like others. Because this is a product that

people can keep at their homes and use, so it needs to be

carry able etc. The machine is lightweight and the design is

sleek. It also has wheels underneath in order to make the

moving of the machine easy. It can be dragged from one place

to another. The design is also attractive and the usage of the

machine is simple. Even the children can operate it.

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3.4 FunctionThe main function of this product is to make/cook good food in

a very less time without human intervention. Just with the

press of a few buttons your food will be served in the

delivery tray on the bottom of the machine. This product makes

7-10 selected meals which are already programmed in the

machine. In future the plan is to increase the variety of the

foods and recipe’s available.

3.5 Frequency of usage Having a delicious meal outside in a restaurant maybe

entertaining and enjoyable, still it costs you a lot. You

cannot have your daily meals, like three times a day outside

in a restaurant. On the other hand making food at home is a

tedious task itself. It takes someone who can be really

responsible to make and provide food to the whole family, Most

of the time, the mother or the maids who are heavily paid. So

this product will be used on a daily basis by the people who

have bought this product as food is a necessity and people

will prefer making good food with less cost and in a very less

time. Although the initial cost of this product may be a

little bit higher but it will be covered in the long run and

benefits will exceed the cost.

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3.6 Price: The price of the product we have kept is as low as we could make. The prices of our competitors are much

higher than the price of our product. That is the reason why

the technology and the variety of food we offer may seem

limited. Since our target market are the people who use this

machines at their homes and benefit from it, we have to make

the cost and the price somehow low. Because mostly vending

machines are not used for personal use and instead put on

different public places and it is meant to earn profits for

its owners. The coke vending machine would cost around RM

9000. While our second competitors Silkron Vending solutions

have machines starting from around RM 23,500, because the

technology they have used is remarkable high-tech and is

extremely expensive in cost. The vending machines are equipped

with extremely advanced technology. In comparison our prices

are much lower ranging in between RM 3000-3500. The reason

being for such a difference is that our product is half the

size of a normal vending machine. We have used plastic in

most of the body of the machine which is cheaper than metal,

copper and steel. The quality and strength of the body is also

not that much strong as of a normal vending machine, because

they are meant to be used in public places while our product

is meant for using at home so the body of a little less

quality can withstand in a home environment.

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Technology: The main function our vending machine is to cook food all by

itself just with the use of ingredients put inside a small

fridge/refrigerator which is a part of our food vending

machine. That refrigerator is used for storing the materials

so that we do not have to put materials every time we want to

make something using the vending machine. We have to put an

enough quantity of ingredients in the refrigerator and the

right ingredients that are required to make the specific dish.

The fridge has different compartments to store different

materials, like it has a section for round vegetables like

onions or tomatoes, then it has sections for long vegetables

like carrots and white radish etc. It also has compartments

for meat, chicken etc. The machine has a sensor to detect the

kind of vegetable, meat, toppings it wants. This is the

remarkable function that this machine has. Each dish has a

predetermined recipe and if there is enough ingredients and

the right amounts it will extract those ingredients such as

vegetables, meat, chicken and cut them according to the needs

of the machine by the use of a cutter/knife placed inside the

tools section of the machine. Even if it does not have all the

available materials it can still make the desired dish with

what it has available in the fridge. After cutting all the

ingredients would be mixed and then heated at a high

temperature. After being cooked a food tray will come up on

which the selected dish will be served to the user.

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Our product is creative and innovative in away that firstly we

are providing vending services for home, usually the target

market for companies providing vending solutions focus their

market in offices, buildings, supermarkets and other public

areas. The cost is also such that people earning a normal

income can buy it. The great thing about it you can also share

it with someone else also. Just put the ingredients for your

desired meal/dish and you will get the prepared dish in a few

minutes. The big difference between this and other vending

machines is that it does not use money, coins, cash or credit

card in order to give you the desired object. All it requires

is the ingredients and it will cook the food for you. So it is

very cheap and beneficial in the long run. Also the food will

be healthy because the recipes specified in the software for

the machine are ‘healthy recipes’.

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PART4: MARKET IDENTIFICATION

GenderThis vending machine wouldbe usable by all the genders. No specific gender is targeted.

Age group

Only children under 8 are not allowed to use it because they may not know the operation of the machine. They may do something wrong, and sinceit is an electrical device, mis- operation mayresult in harmful consequences. This machineis for anyone who is educated to use it. We give a user’s manual and our technical team will assist you on how to use it when you set up initially.

Purchasing Power

Current price range is RM 3000-3500. Prices may go up if any more addition offeatures and change of materials to a better quality is implemented in the future

OccupationNo specific occupation. For all the people who want to use this device

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for their homes.

Country

Since this machine has Predefined Dish recipes and does not makes all kinds of food, so it is targeted for countries which eat that food. So inorder to make it more accessible, we have included Fast food (Pizza,burger, Fries), Italian, Malay, Pakistani and Indian dishes. Since we are based in Malaysia so we have included Malay food also.

PART 5: IDEA EVALUATION

Force Field Analysis

5.1 Opening Force Field Analysis (FFA) is a technique for listing,

discussing, and assessing the numerous forces for and against

a projected change. When a change is planned, FFA helps you

look at the wider picture by investigating all the forces

influencing the change and weighing the pros and cons. By

knowing the pros and cons you can develop strategies that

helps you to reduce the influence of the opposing forces and

make strong the supporting factors.

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FFA Diagram Illustration (Before recommendation):+2 -5

+4

-3-3

+4 -1

+3

-2

+2 -2 -2

Supporting Fac

Supporting Factors: + 2 + 4 + 4 + 3 + 2 = 15

Restricting Factors: (-5) + (-3) + (-1) + (-2) + (-2)

= -13

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Food VendingMachine

It has some popular dishes and recipes. No need to order from

Delicious food. Recipes are made by the best chefs of the

Time saving. Since noneed to cook. More

Overall money saving at food.

This vending machine is very cheap comparedto other vending

Still expensive for a home user. The time it will taketo cover up the initial

Number of dishes is still limited, although it has some popular dishes.

There may be less social interactions as people are getting the delicious food at home without pay much for it

Maintenance costs may be

The material is of slightly poor quality.

Total: +2

Recommendationa. Although there are 5 weaknesses of the product that

we have identified, we will discuss the two of the

weaknesses which can be improved within the shortest

period of time and with ease as compared to other

weaknesses. This will have a positive affect on the

product’s implementation and it’s use will become

much more better.

1. First weakness is that the number of dishes are

limited. What we need to do is program the device in

a way that it is able to make more variety of

recipes and dishes.

2. The material is although lightweight but it is of

poor quality. There is a chance of breakage, if

mishandled it can break much easily as compared to

other vending machines. Also the machine cannot cook

continuously for hours because of the poor quality

of the material, it needs a rest. What we can do is,

since we have used plastic in this product, we can

replace it with steel. Steel is much better at

withstanding heavy processes going on in the

machine, and we can carry it with ease also without

the fear that the machine will break.

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b. There are 5 strengths we have mentioned above which

are the reasons and motivational factors for the

fact that this product will perform well in the

market and we should go on to introduce it. However

we will discuss two of them and discuss on how to

improve even more on them in order to increase our

product’s performance. The two strengths we would

give recommendations about are time-saving and money

saving.

1. Although we are already saving money as to the

fact that we can cook Restaurant like meals at

home with just the cost of the ingredients it

needs. We can make it even more better by

programming the machine in such a way that it

consumes the ingredients in an even more efficient

way, not sacrificing the taste, but only

minimizing it to the degree of avoiding any

wastage.

2. We already are saving time when we are using this

machine. We can do even more better by installing

a processor that is much faster than the present

one. Suppose it take 7-10 minutes to make a

certain type of dish, if we install the

processor , it may only take 3-4 minutes to make

the whole dish.

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FFA diagram (After recommendation):

+2 -5

+4 -1

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Food Vending

It has some popular dishes and recipes. Noneed to order from

Delicious food. Recipesare made by the best chefs of the world

Still expensive for a home user. The time it will take to cover up

There may be less socialinteractions as people are getting the delicious food at home

+5-2

+4 -2

+2

+2

Supporting Factors: +2 + 4 + 5 + 4 + 2 = 17

Restricting Factors: (-5) + (-1) + (-2) = -8

Total: +9

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Food Vending

Time saving. Since no need to cook. More productive time

Overall money saving at food.

This vending machine is very cheap compared to other vending machines

Conclusion:This product is believed to be highly useful for the home

users. It will result in long term cost savings on food for

the household and make delicious food, that is much better

than the restaurants. This product in Malaysia will be highly

successful as people living here eat a variety of foods, and

this machine offers a little bit of variety. It offers malay,

Italian, fast food etc. The limitation of this machine is that

It makes around 10 recipes only. But we are working to improve

upon this limitation in the future and we believe that after

the release of this product in the market, there would be

great demand and our customers will be satisfied with it.

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trigger

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Silkron, 2013. Silkron Technologies. [Online]

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[Accessed 28 July 2013].

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APPENDICES

Questionnaire

(Next Page)

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