Kearney PERLab (Product Excellence Renewal Lab)

Access to memory is no longer random. Chipmakers are racing to produce HBM (high-bandwidth memory), a critical type of advanced memory used in AI systems. But that shift is also reallocating scarce factory capacity toward the highest-value uses of memory. Smartphones, PCs, cars, medical devices, appliances, industrial equipment, and telecom networks all depend on memory too. When supply is tight, it goes to whoever can pay the most. That leaves product leaders with real decisions: Which products get protected? Which get simplified? Which launches get pushed? In our latest article, we explore why today’s memory shortage requires a structural reallocation of scarce supply toward the highest-value uses of memory: https://bit.ly/4fnpbd1 Authors: Bharat Kapoor, Kushal Fernandes, Drew DeLong, Vishesh Parnerkar, Anthony Viviano, Sathiyanarayanan Chandran, and Suman J S

Some words show up in every presentation. But ask three teams what they mean … and you’ll get three different answers. Here’s a clearer way to define them—and how they work together. Dive deeper into the smart product architecture dividend: https://bit.ly/41KEN2n

A strong example of how sustainability is becoming embedded directly into product architecture and engineering decisions, rather than treated as a separate reporting or compliance layer.   Kearney PERLab (Product Excellence Renewal Lab) is proud to support this collaboration with the National Academy for the Environment in KSA, helping advance capabilities across sustainable product design, localization, and certification aligned to Vision 2030.   What makes this important is the broader shift it represents: 1. Sustainability moving upstream into core product development practices 2. Smart product architecture enabling better material, manufacturing, and life cycle decisions earlier 3. Localization strategies increasingly tied to resilient, future-ready engineering capability 4. National platforms emerging that connect industry, talent development, and applied engineering execution The future of sustainable industry will be shaped less by isolated initiatives and more by how sustainability is built into the operating model of product development itself.

Packaging used to be simple: protect the product. Keep costs low. Ship it out. Not anymore. Companies are dealing with the EU's latest packaging and packaging waste regulation, rising costs, and consumers who expect more—all at the same time. What does that mean for packaging innovation? Consumer behavior? The choices companies need to make before 2030? Beatrice Lansbergen and Ronald D. Sasine get into all of it in our latest Innovation Unpacked episode. One thing worth hearing: if you're treating 2030 as the starting line, you're already behind. Figure out where you're exposed and where innovation can actually help. Give it a listen today: https://bit.ly/49wt9wb

Your biggest business challenges—cost, complexity, growth—often trace back to your products and how they're made. We help you rethink that. See how: https://bit.ly/4cJ5rxx

As sustainability becomes more embedded in everyday business, the biggest shift is showing up in how products are designed and used. For Mo Chatterji, that means building products to be repairable and upgradeable—not just to reduce waste, but to unlock new value through refurbishment, resale, and service. Circularity isn’t a trade-off between business and sustainability. It’s where the two meet. A perspective worth carrying forward beyond Earth Day.

Smart product architecture is not a technical program. It is a way of designing a business that grows without accumulating friction. See it in action and learn more: https://bit.ly/41KEN2n

When most people think about sustainable design, the product or service comes to mind first. Gerhard Seizer thinks about the ecosystem surrounding it. It's a perspective he's watched evolve in real time. A few years back, he saw the industry focused on compliance. Today, it's focused on identifying new, scalable business models within sustainability. And tomorrow, he believes CircX (circular experience) will become the defining driver of sustainable product and service business. And the human experience across stakeholder interactions within sustainable ecosystems is where the real opportunity lives. It's that constant forward momentum—observing emerging trends, spotting opportunities, witnessing sustainable impact in action—that keeps him inspired.

Big ideas. Real-world solutions. We’re back from #QuirksChicago 2026, one of the largest marketing research and consumer insights events, where Minesh Parikh joined Eric Dolan on stage to discuss how Kearney brings real-time consumer insights into strategy. Here are three takeaways Minesh shared with us: 1. From AI-moderated conversations and digital twins to synthetic consumer testing and AI-powered ethnographies, AI is reshaping how insights are generated. The question for leaders now is: how do we use it responsibly and strategically? 2. The real risk is not acting on what you know. Most companies are not short on insights. They’re short on action. Leading companies turn data into decisions, from segmentation to AI personas to better leadership choices. 3. The role of insights is moving closer to the CEO. The most impactful insights leaders are building intrapreneurial mindsets, driving AI adoption from the middle out, and positioning themselves as strategic partners, not just researchers.

This Earth Day, Max Merklinger challenges us to ask: are we moving in the right direction? “If you start running in the wrong direction, you’ll never reach the finish line.” For Max, sustainability isn’t separate from economic success. It's what enables it. Long-term prosperity simply isn’t possible without protecting both people and the planet. Without them, there is no economy to sustain. That’s why the shift we’re seeing matters. Beyond regulation, businesses are beginning to recognize the real opportunity in sustainable, circular approaches. These approaches help build resilience in the face of material scarcity, supply chain disruption, and climate impact. And this is exactly where PERLab steps in, helping organizations rethink product design from the start. Because getting those early decisions right is one of the most powerful levers to shape a future that works for people, planet, and profit.