Product Description
This project will be a joint venture between Singh Inc. and Goff’s Enterprises. The purpose of the project is to take Goff’s climate curtain technology and apply it to residential homes. The climate curtains will be marketed as window insulators to be used in order to minimize heat loss due to the cold weather and poor sealing capabilities of older windows and homes. Since this product will be made from the same tough vinyl material it will be reusable year after year, unlike other window insulation kits that are one time use only. This will help reduce waste and save the consumer money in the long run because it will be re-usable and it will drive down their heating cost.
Since this product is a derivative of the already existing climate curtain system we will be able to use most of the already existing infrastructure reducing startup cost and waste associated with it. Some changes will be necessary and that is where the other three companies come into play. Lenze’s motion control technology will be used to develop the fully automated manufacturing line in order to make the whole process energy efficient and increase productivity. Datex’s supply chain software will be used to keep track of inventory and manufacturing. Interlake’s automated storage and retrieval system will be used to store the finished product.
Green Aspects of the Joint Venture
The vinyl insulation kits will be made from completely recycled vinyl material whether it is smaller piece left over from the Goff’s curtain wall making operation or purchased recycled material from scrap vinyl companies. Using Lenze’s smaller more energy efficient motors and motion control devices the overall carbon foot print of the manufacturing process will be reduced.
TQM and ISO Focus
Automation of the manufacturing process insures a uniform product every time within set control limits every time. This makes the process predictable and overtime it can be refined to make the product even better. Incremental increases in the quality go a long way to making the product better and cheaper by reducing production costs and making it more efficient, in turn these cost savings add to the profit margin and a portion of the savings can also be passed on to the customer. This will be accomplished by a two-fold approach: one, anyone in the organization can suggest process improvement procedures, whether it is the CEO or the worker on the assembly line. These ideas will then be evaluated and implemented. Two customer surveys will be conducted regularly to insure quality standards. A survey will be inserted into each package and a rebate incentive will offered if the survey is filled out and returned.
Datex’s supply chain software will also help in the management of quality in terms of monitoring production, packaging and shipping of product. This data will be used to see what kind of performance goals to set without compromising quality. The procurement, manufacturing, packaging, warehousing and shipping will not be viewed as separate entities but part of the same process. A delay or deficiency in anyone of these categories can cause major issues in the supply chain. A delay in manufacturing means a decrease in productivity and efficiency goes down. A delay in shipping could result in inadequate warehousing mandating a halt in production, etc. Looking at all these separate stages as whole will insure smooth consistent production.
Brand name quality- The Goff brand has been around for years in the industrial and commercial sector and this venture is open up another market in the residential sector. This means product offered is of high quality and durability.
Features- The mounting and installation hardware will have to be redesigned to residential needs and scaled down to fit in windows. This window insulation kit compared to others is much more robust and offers better sealing and insulation capabilities and will be reusable.
Since this is being adapted to fit residential needs the aesthetics will need to improve compared to industrial needs. New color schemes along with patterns will be added to the product line to fit individual needs. Since it will be part of some one’s home it has to look good and function as intended.
The insulation kits will be offered in standard window sizes with some room for customization. The customer will be able to trim and fit the sealing curtain to their windows.
Video Summaries
Peter Rayson-Intel Enterprise
This particular video is about the aerospace industry and how the product development changed over the years thanks to the technology boom particular in the sector of Computer Aided Design. The digital product development age started with 2D wireframe image files evolving to what we have now with 3D CAD software. This product development was made possible by the advances in computer hardware and software. The digital age greatly helped improve the Product development in the Aerospace industry.
The digital aged helped cut down the amount of time and money it took to develop a new aircraft. The aircraft development time got cut down from 15-20 years to 4-7 years. Technology allowed the engineers to build digital prototypes and share these prototypes with the global project team without having to be in the same room. This greatly cut down on development costs and time by allowing them to vet issues without having to physically build anything. Improving designs before building a physical prototype helped reduce cost and development time.
The evolution of project management also greatly improved product development. Successful communication with the project team coupled with the being able to properly breakdown the work into smaller manageable work packages greatly improved product development. The reduction in cost and time is not only good for the company but also the world, the less energy you spend making something the more environmentally friendly it is. Not mention the new technology allows for designing more energy efficient aircrafts. The processing power of computers has increased immensely over the years allowing for more complex but energy efficient designs.
ProcModelCase-Japan Cake
The thing that stood out most to me about the food preparation was the care the preparers took for health and safety. The people handling the food wore gloves and some even wore face masks. The person making the cake was very efficient with the use of frosting. The egg making apparatus was the most interesting and innovative part of the video. The omelet making machine was very efficient with each pass it would roll up the omelets that were cooked while pouring the next batch behind it. The speed of the egg making process also makes it very efficient.
The part of the video were the girls are shredding cabbage and making the cabbage egg item was interesting because compared to the rest of the food preparation they weren’t very health and safety conscious. The girls were pushing the cabbage into a metal shopper by hand without any safety devices in place and one was smoking at the same time and when it comes to food that is safety hazard.
RAMPF-Robotic Sealing
This video demonstrates how the gaskets are made for fuse boxes for cars. The process is fully automated using robotic arms and computers to control the injection of the gasket material in to the groves on the fuse box covering. Thanks to the automation it is continuous one step process because the gasket material is injected into the groves while it is still in the liquid phase. The material cures when it comes into contact with the atmosphere. This makes the process more efficient and precise because if it was done manually it would take much longer to do and it would be two-step process. The gasket would have to be made separately using molds and then installed manual by a worker. By automating it they eliminated the need for a two-step process thus reducing the cost to make the gasket which translates to a cheaper more reliable product.
Since the design of the fuse box calls for an uneven grove manually fitting the gasket would be a painstaking effort and also less reliable. Allowing the gasket material to set after it is already in the grove makes for a much better seal. The robotic arm also doesn’t fatigue like a worker would it is more reliable and the performance stays the same from the 1st gasket to the millionth. Also the machine can run for 24 hours unlike the worker. Shift changes and down time can lead to a decrease in performance.
Sams Tours
This video is about a tourism company run by Sam Scott in Palau. He started the company with one boat his step father gave him and he has turned into one of the best Eco-Tours company in Palau. The company focuses on Eco-tourism to protect the environment and reduce the impact on islands wild life and sea life. Sam’s tours works closely with different conservation organization to protect the environment of Palau and its surrounding rock islands. This is crucial important for a company whose business is based on showing people the beauty of the islands. Nobody wants to tour dirty, polluted islands and seas. So it isn’t just a good thing they’re doing for the environment its good for their business as well.
Also they are passing along their commitment to the environment to tourists coming from all over the world. This shows them that preserving nature is important and beneficial to everybody. This video shows me how much beauty there is in the world and in nature and that we should do our best to protect it. The smaller the carbon foot print of any business the better it is for the world. This company is a good example of businesses that are Eco-minded and successful.
Us-MobileResearch-Robots
This video demonstrates robots and their ability assist the soldiers in the field. One robot was particularly designed to look underneath cars to check for explosives and other contraband. The robot as stated in the video is mechanically overdesigned in order to overcome unforeseen circumstances in the field. It has three wheels that each have their own spate motor and processors so they can function independently of the other and the wheels have a 360 degrees of freedom to allow for maneuvering in any direction and circumstances as possible. The second robot is designed for rugged use so it can be dropped and abused without sustaining damage.
Both robots are designed for plug and play options meaning they can carry different payloads. They can be outfitted with any number of arms from something as simple as a camera to chemical detecting probes. These robots are designed to get soldiers out of harm’s way and do a job that in the past was done by them personally. They can be adopted to inspect IED’s with putting the inspector in hams way. The possibilities are endless for these robots and that is why they are over designed, so they can be adapted to any function.
This video demonstrates how important it is to design something that is robust and adaptable. This can help when designing automation systems for manufacturing. It is important to design them to be durable in order to minimize breakdowns which can effect production.