Tuesday, 8th of November 2011 - Submission

Submission of the folio is due today.

The submission will include:

Blog Links
Project Brief
Product Specification Report
Bill of materials
Unit Costing Sheet
Technical Drawings
A2 presentation boards

All of these files will also be present on a CD submission with inclusions of all of the relevant movies from initial concept, proof of concepts, final prototype, round table discussion presentation, and the final Levi-Mate scenario movie.

Thank you to Marianella, Tim and Yasu for your valuable input into our designs, their processes and our new interactive knowledge.

Thursday, 3rd of November 2011 - Bill of Materials

Now that the costing has been completed the Bill of Materials can be constructed to give a better idea of parts and their materials and overall costs and weights. 

Bill of Materials: Levi-Mate

A bill of materials is a standard in all design and is an essential part of every design process.

Thursday, 3rd of November 2011 - Product costs

As can be seen from the brief it is expected that a 70% profit is required in selling the Levi-Mate. After successful prototyping, 100 units will be produced to be sold at one store as a trial production. If these sales go well unit production will jump to 50 000 units which the following costing is based on:

Product Costing Sheet

The above sheet (adapted from Tim Williams upload to DNB303 Manufacturing Technology: Unit Costing Sheet example) shows approximate costings for the Levi-Mate. It uses an overhead rate of $0.57. Note must be taken that a lot of these figures were guesses based off of the QUT unit DNB303 Manufacturing Technology, especially in terms of tooling costs etc. Assuming approximations are correct, the Levi-mate will cost $17.36/unit to manufacture.

Material costs were based on Stienwall Incorporated pricing for polymers (2006). This was more to get an accurate comparison between the material prices rather than prices that may be from different suppliers that have a competitive pricing scheme rather than an internal comparison scheme.

Based on the profit aims the product will then distribute to retail for approx $57.85/unit + GST. This in opinion is too much considering the target market. An aim to produce and distribute to retail at under $50 is an aim that may well be quite easily achievable considering some of the materials (Acrylic-Styrene-Acrylonitrile) costs being very high. If these costs were reduced the price of the Levi-Mate will reduce substantially as well.

Tuesday, 1st of November 2011 - Technical Drawings

Presentations found some interesting ideas come through from the other groups: from diving watches to clubbing watches and interactive radios to housemate intrusion systems. We as a group have learnt a lot about creative ways of interaction and how we can apply these to our design products. However the work must continue..

Technical drawings of the Levi-Mate must be produced:

Technical Drawing: Gas Release Mechanism Assembly

Technical Drawing: Levi-Mate Assembly

Technical Drawing: Magnetic Support Stand

Technical Drawing: Base Housing

Technical Drawing: Base

Technical Drawing: Battery Cover

Technical Drawing: Butane Tank

Technical Drawing: Heat Fan

Technical Drawing: Gas Release Housing

Technical Drawing: Gas Release Lever

Technical Drawing: PCB

Technical Drawing: Gas Release Wedge

Technical Drawing: Flame Dial

Technical Drawing: Servo Motor Arm

Technical Drawing: Battery Connection

Technical Drawing: Gas Release Valve

Technical Drawing: Servo Motor Drive

Technical Drawing: Servo Motor

Technical Drawing: Servo Motor Wheel

Technical Drawing: Transparent Casing 

Technical drawings give us an essential detail into the product that allows us to see how it is going to be manufactured and how it can be assembled. With revisions the parts can be refined to a level in which manufacturing can take place - however there are costs involved with manufacturing a product...