Project Apollo Resource Recombination
Build emergency solutions by recombining components already within reach
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
Project Apollo begins by placing the urgent problem and all available resources in view at the same time. Rather than designing an ideal product from scratch, the team inventories existing components, manufacturing capabilities, suppliers, and expertise, then asks what workable system can be assembled from them. Ford used this logic when healthcare workers lacked protective equipment. The company combined familiar automotive and power-tool components to create powered respirator hoods, including a truck blower and portable batteries. The design also reflected bleak but realistic constraints: field hospitals might lack reliable electricity, so equipment needed battery or pneumatic power. The method accelerates crisis innovation by favoring tested, available parts and functional deployment over elegance.
Origin
Extracted from Masters in Business through Liz Hoffman's account of Ford's pandemic-era Project Apollo.
Core principles
- 01Start with the urgent function rather than an ideal product.
- 02Inventory components that already exist at scale.
- 03Recombine proven parts to reduce development and sourcing time.
- 04Design for the actual constraints of the emergency environment.
- 05Accept practical adequacy when perfect solutions cannot arrive in time.
How to run it
- 1
Define the emergency function
Specify the outcome that must be delivered and the conditions in which it must work. Remove desirable but nonessential features.
Pro tip Frame the challenge as a function, not as a request to reproduce an unavailable product.
Watch out An ambiguous problem statement encourages unfocused experimentation.
- 2
Inventory what is available
Gather existing parts, materials, tooling, suppliers, and specialist knowledge. Include resources from unrelated product lines that perform similar functions.
Pro tip Bring physical components or precise specifications into the same working session.
Watch out Do not limit the inventory to parts normally used in the target industry.
- 3
Recombine proven components
Match component capabilities to the required functions and assemble the simplest viable architecture. Prefer reliable, mass-produced parts over bespoke designs.
Pro tip Look for functional analogies such as vehicle blowers providing airflow.
Watch out Component familiarity does not eliminate the need to validate the combined system.
- 4
Design for field constraints
Test assumptions about power, space, training, maintenance, and supply availability. Adapt the design to the worst credible operating environment.
Pro tip Ask what infrastructure may be missing at the point of use.
Watch out A technically sound product can fail if it depends on unavailable infrastructure.
- 5
Validate and scale
Confirm safety, performance, and manufacturability, then shift viable designs into production. Continue improving the design without delaying urgently needed deployment.
Pro tip Run validation and production-planning workstreams in parallel where safety permits.
Watch out Urgency must not become an excuse to bypass essential safety checks.
In the wild
Ford responded to shortages affecting healthcare workers by developing powered hoods that cleaned incoming air. Its Project Apollo team used components including a truck blower and portable power-tool batteries, allowing the equipment to operate where mains electricity might be unavailable.
→ The company produced practical protective equipment from components it already understood and could source.
A food distributor loses access to its normal industrial temperature monitors after a supply disruption. Engineers combine commodity sensors, existing warehouse Wi-Fi hardware, and battery packs already stocked for handheld scanners, then add a simple alerting service.
→ The distributor restores temperature monitoring without waiting for specialized replacement hardware.
Common mistakes
Trying to recreate the ideal product
Starting from the normal product specification can preserve requirements that are irrelevant during the emergency and slow delivery.
Ignoring deployment conditions
A design dependent on stable electricity, specialist maintenance, or scarce consumables may fail at the point of need.
Assuming familiar parts guarantee safety
Components proven separately still require testing when combined into a new system, especially for medical or protective uses.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for manufacturers and crisis teams with existing components, engineering talent, and production capacity.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for products where improvised component combinations cannot satisfy essential safety or regulatory requirements.
From the transcript
“They called it Project Apollo because you remember that scene in Apollo third right that they dump everything they have on the table and say,…”
“you have to find things that run on battery packs or pneumatic power.”
From the episode
Liz Hoffman on the Pandemic Stories Impacting Markets
Liz Hoffman