Mike Sanders
Mike Sanders is Senior Director, Fabric Care R&D Innovation Design at Procter & Gamble based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Since joining P&G in 2009, Mike has worked in the front end of innovation integrating deep consumer and category knowledge with emerging cultural trends to create the next generation of laundry products like Tide Evo. Beyond new product innovations, Mike has also led disruption in the laundry services category. Most recently, he was the lead designer responsible for the total consumer experience at Tide Laundromat, from store design to digital branding on and off the machine. This fully automated laundry experience gives consumers a trusted Tide Clean at the touch of a button in as little as 35 minutes. Mike holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design and a Master of Science in Marketing from the University of Cincinnati, the city where he was born and raised.
Monday Dec 7
Joint Cleaning & Floor Care Products Division Program
The Product of 2031 — Reimagining Household & Commercial Products for the Next 5 Years
What will household and commercial products look like five years from now? Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), connected devices, smart packaging, robotics, and digital technologies are transforming how products are developed, purchased, used, and replenished. As appliances become increasingly intelligent and autonomous, these innovations are creating new opportunities and challenges for manufacturers and consumers alike. With the emergence of "physical AI" — robotics and AI-enabled technologies that interact directly with the physical world — the role of the consumer is also evolving. Will consumers continue to use cleaning and floor care products themselves, or will they increasingly rely on autonomous systems to perform these tasks? And as connected devices become the primary users of certain products, how might that change the way companies approach product development and formulation? This session will explore how emerging technologies are shaping the future of household and commercial products, with a particular focus on AI adoption in the cleaning and floor care sectors. Panelists will discuss opportunities for collaboration between appliance manufacturers and consumer product companies to ensure product compatibility, performance, and safe use, as well as the evolving expectations of consumers and regulators. Attendees will gain insights into how these technological advancements could influence the way companies formulate, design, manufacture, package, market, and sell their products.
Speakers:
Jacob Cassady, Director of Government Relations, Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers
Sohrab Haghighat, Co-Founder and CEO, Hestus
Mike Sanders, Senior Director, Fabric Care R&D Innovation Design, Procter & Gamble
Manmit Shrimali, CEO & Founder, Turing Labs