Matco RevelX Automotive Toolbox

Redefining the Automotive Toolbox with Technology Integration

CHALLENGE: Update the automotive toolbox to meet the growing needs of technology, and the demand for modularity and customization.

SERVICES: Insights, Design, Engineering, Prototyping, Commercialization

“That’s a sweet box.”
“I need to get one of those!”
“Those are bad a–.”
“Well hello beautiful!”

How do you get seasoned auto mechanics to gush like teenagers on social media about an automotive toolbox? By asking them what they want, then giving them more than they ever imagined, in both form and function.

We have a longstanding relationship with Matco Tools, which is why they came to us with their biggest industrial design product challenge to date: re-inventing the professional-grade toolbox and delivering excitement for modern mechanics.

We started in the field, meeting with mechanics working in different types of shops, for auto repair, bodywork, and painting. We watched them work. We asked them to show us what they liked and disliked about their current boxes. We noted the ways they had modified their boxes for convenience. We observed how the boxes fit (or didn’t) in the work area.

Customer Insights Define Features

These field visits gave us ideas for concepts that Matco’s team helped us refine into functioning automotive toolbox prototypes for more formal focus groups. From these, we produced quantitative studies showing which new features would be most popular with and useful to mechanics. These product innovations included:
• Back wall for hanging tools
• Pneumatic and power storage
• Technology integration for laptop or tablet
• Sturdy slide-out work surfaces
• Drawers within drawers
• Built-in lighting

Matco toolboxes have always been the best-built toolboxes—you can stand in the drawers—but we found ways to add even more welds. We also figured out how to hide them for a sleeker appearance. Matco invested in a new manufacturing system at its Jamestown, N.Y. plant, including a robotic welder, which made it possible to avoid visible welds on the front of the box.

A new toolbox is a major investment; many mechanics save and shop around for years. In some ways, it’s akin to buying a new car, and we wanted to give them the same excitement by putting as much emphasis on styling as we did on ease of use and durability. There are more beveled surfaces and chamfers on the corners that sport the brand logo and lend the box a high-quality, vault-like appearance. The casters’ automotive-inspired wheels have chrome hubcaps.

Product Innovations Deliver Excitement for Mechanics
Designing for manufacturing was a massive undertaking, with NS and Matco working closely on steel bending techniques, tooling, endcaps, the strongest casters on the market, and countless other details. All the effort paid off when the Revel and Revel X were released to rave reviews from customers.

Learn more about this project in our blog post: Disrupt Yourself Before Someone Else Does