Adrienne's blog

Calculator iterations

 

solidworks renders of different calculator shapes and components. The second image is the possible final solution with a few adjustments.

Fun at Semi Permanent

Semi Permanent day 1

Adept Visit

Adept_logo_img

Adept website

Adept is a company, located in the centre of Auckland, New Zealand, that is considered the leading plastics processing company in New Zealand. It was founded by Murray Fenton in 1969, who developed one of Adept’s most successful products, the Beef Clip, soon after establishing the company.

Plastic

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They use injection moulding machinery to create new and develop innovative products for the healthcare and meat industries. What differentiates them from most other plastic product manufacturers is the innovation and research that goes into each product.  They chose to keep in communication with their clients all the way through and beyond the manufacture of the product. By maintaining this relationship Adept creates products that are unique to the clients and can find out the smaller details on how a products actually work when in use as well as understand individual preferences.
However Adept’s success not only comes from the innovation in their products but also the close communication that they have with their technicians and engineers. By having the manufacturing facilities downstairs from the design department, they can design while understanding the limitations in the tooling and manufacture.

The manufacturing side of Adept’s company is made up of two different stages, the development of the tooling (unless they are purchased from outside companies) and the injection moulding process.  After the product has been designed and a CAD model made it is sent downstairs to the engineers who create the tooling necessary to create the product. The tools are made from a lump of steel that is CNC cut to create the negative shape of the product; other machining tools used are the spark eroder and the wire cutter (which can also be used to create the tooling).

After the tool is made it is sent to the manufacturing department. This department is a large warehouse that is filled with robotic machinery and people, who process millions of plastic products each day. Even with the millions of products they manufacture Adept is still conscious of the safety and standards that are required for each product, they can track and trace any products that are made so that if anything is faulty it can be recalled or fixed quickly and efficiently.

Some products that Adept has created over the years have been the Neo Zoline ENT products, Sterile Otology kits and instruments, the internationally recognised Beef Clip and the lamb clip. Adept’s Mark Powell has also won the Life Award in 2009 for a product that assists the blind in moving around public spaces easily.

References:

http://meat.adept.co.nz/
http://www.newriver.co.nz/images/w165/articles/Plastic.jpg
http://pdm.adept.co.nz/images/design/adept_logo_img.gif
http://live.isitesoftware.co.nz/adeptMeat/images/Lamb%20Products/Adept-Lamb-Clip-Lrg.jpg
http://www.lifehealthcare.com.au/media/696955/neozolinekit_238x156.jpg

studio progress at the moment

Interesting website

Here is a link to a web page with some intersting lighting ideas.  lights

Methven Visit

Methven_logo3

Methven Website

Methven is a company in New Zealand that designs and manufactures tap ware, and most fixtures in the bathroom. The company differentiates itself from its competitors by being distinctive in their design as well as understanding the experience behind the product before they manufacture it. The actual manufacturing of Methven products all happens in the New Zealand branch, this allows them to maintain their IP on their design without the difficulty of maintaining several factories at any one time. They design the products and thoroughly test them before they are even put into production.

Methven’s current aims are to improve the shower experience and to create products that last, are environmentally safe and efficient to use. The company is design led, where quality wins over quantity. At the moment the Methven brand (the product with the Methven label) is aimed at the higher market, those who want quality. They target the plumbing industry mainly as they are usually the ones to install the fixtures, so Methven has the aesthetic, function and assembly in mind when they design their tap ware. The company likes to keep well informed in the positives and negatives of their products, talking to their customers about how they could inprove a design and make it easier for them ( the customer) the use or install. 

 

Their current range includes the satin jet and Fast Flow, which has in mind that New Zealand has mains pressure as well as unequal water pressure. The satinjet is a system designed to make the water spray finer and could potentially save money if installed correctly. There is also the twin lever tap which is designed to be energy efficient, as cold and hot water are controlled separately. 

ImageHero

In production the taps go through many manufacturing processes. The first is a sand casting, using a glue and sand mixture. This is made in the reverse form of the tap to create the empty cavity for the water. The taps are then cast using dezincified brass in an automated forge system. Once this is done the taps are left to cool, then trimmed of any excess material, which gets reused. They are then placed in a rumbling machine, which used shotgun pellets to roughly smooth the surface of the taps and to knock out the sand casting from the inside. After that they are then drilled, and threads are placed on the parts required, as well as being sanded and polished before moving on to be plated in nickel and chrome, using electrolysis.  They also go through a series of chemical and non chemical dips before being set aside for testing and distribution.

References:

http://www.reece.com.au/new/images/brochures/methvenmaia.jpg

http://selector.com/files/images/42013-129x98.jpg

http://www.ecostoredirect.co.nz/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1200x/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/f/i/file_3_1.jpg

http://nzexplorer.co.nz/images/product_ads/methven_logo3.jpg

http://www.methven.com/yk-images/8d11ad209e21ac32b3674db2dc2e6c61/hero/tech-banner-satinejt.jpg

Sustainable Solidworks

LCA Solidworks programme

This is a link to a  video introducing the new LCA type programme made by solidworks. It is called Solidworks Sustainability.

Tutorial Exercises

How to seal the packaging to maintain Freshness?

Heat Sealer

A possible solution to this issue of sealing.


Film that can be used during the steam process
Breathable
Breathable heat sealed film

Graphic design and Storyboarding

Finding Lady - The art of storyboarding

This is a video on the art of storyboardign and how it can be used to tell a story in a visual way , instead of a lot of writing.

Alo is currently working on our storyboards for our premium fish packaging.and carey has done some concepts around the graphics on the package.and I'm working on a solidworks video/animation. It's a bit slow, but only my first attempt.

Assembly of fish box