Introduction Here is an iStill Blog post on how we innovate and what strategies and philosophy we apply to help move the distilling industry progress. We'll start with a definition and work our way forward to how innovation is part of our DNA, what the guiding principles are, and how we make sure everyone benefits. Definition Innovation is often used as an empty filler word, without meaningful intent. If we must use the word, here is how we define it, load it with meaning: innovation is significant positive change. It's a result. It's an outcome. It's something you work towards achieving on a project. And most importantly: it entails a positive change by benefiting our existing customer base first and foremost. Ingrained in our DNA Innovation is ingrained in the iStill DNA. Whether it is stainless steel to replace rusty copper, catalysts to treat sulfur problems, liquid management to solve dephlagmator control issues, packing to replace the inefficient, ineffective, and expensive 18th century plate "technology", or automation, robotization, and process control ... it is all iStill innovations. A month does not go buy or we invent new solutions to existing problems. The status-quo is there to be bashed. We feel you are worth our continuous efforts to make things better. This continuous drive has labeled us as "change initiators" and "industry disruptors", and we are proud for that. Not because we innovate and change and disrupt for change's sake, no, because we bring new, refreshing solutions to actual and real problems craft distillers struggle with. Why? Because we feel it is the only way forward if we craft distilling to move forward, to grow into an adult industry, that stands a fair fighting chance against Big Alcohol. Distilling made easy To help us apply our energy, our innovative powers best, we have a guiding principle, that is also our tagline: Distilling made easy. Distilling is a very complex process. Becoming a successful craft distiller is even more complex. We innovate with the goal of making things easier. More under your control. Instead of you being a slave to your (old-tech) still, we want your still to be a tool-kit, helping you out at creating profitable spirits in a reproducible manner. Romantic musings over the noble art of distilling have a place in your dreams maybe, but not in your day-to-day business operation. In that day-to-day business operation the reality is simply this: making a bottle of booze costs money, selling a bottle of booze makes money. So talk where your money is, and we'll help you sort out the spirits production part, okay? Retrofit-ability vs. new sales-ability The reason why "innovation" so often is an empty filler word, is because it sells. You want to have the latest and newest, right? You know what I am talking about: you just bought a new TV, and now they introduce widescreen TV. You upgrade to widescreen, only to learn that there's HD now. And by the time you replaced your TV with a HD-version, guess what? OLED comes out ... Companies often use innovation strategies to drive new sales. As a customer of such a company, you won't end up any happier, but you will end up quite a bit poorer. If you don't see what's going on and how this can bait you, "innovation" applied like this can actually hurt you. We feel that if innovation is about positive change, it should first and foremost be a change for the better for our existing customers. Using innovation as a way to prioritize new customer acquisition would be like leaving the people behind that have bought into our philosophies and technologies earliest. We feel that wouldn't be fair nor just. That's why every innovation we release is retrofittable. Remember the amazing Extractor technology we brought to the market place almost two years ago? Anyone that had purchased a NextGen iStill - say - three years ago, could still order and use one. The same holds true for glass columns, the new Robot 3.0, and new software releases and functionalities like fast aging. In whatever we do, we have our existing customer base at heart. That leads to something we are truly happy about: when you buy an iStill you buy a system that is basically future proof. Any invention we make will fit on your current iStill! By making our innovations retrofit, we make your stills future-proof. By making your stills future-proof, we help make your business future-proof.

Continuous innovation creates new opportunities constantly ...

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