Mega Factories

Mega Factories

IKEA has about 300 stores in 36 countries. It also includes 42 distribution centers and around 100 suppliers. These "mega factories" were create to keep up with the incredibly high demand of consumers across the world. Their chipboard products are the most produced and consumed good in IKEA. They have factories dedicated to producing a single type of product such as dressers. The amount of material they use in each of these facilities is hard to grasp and the production machines are equally as crazy. After visiting IKEA in Kansas City, I was able to see that a majority of their products are made out of chipboard that came from these facilities.

Waste= Food

Waste= Food

In the movie Waste= Food, companies like Rohner Textile, Nike and Herman Miller give us hope in a world where environmental waste is second to consumer goods.  We have already gotten a glimpse into Asia's horrible waste problem in The Electronic Wasteland but the facts presented in this film adds more to the shameful, wasteful material society we live in. Luckily, these companies have taken charge of environmental issues and hope to expand awareness to minimize waste in the future.

Rohner Textiles re-formulated there dyes after they realized the harm they were causing. Their dyes are non completely non-toxic and actually clean the water. They also decided to give their textile waste to farmers by forming it into felt that can be used for crops. These solutions benefit the the environment as well as the company and their image.

Nike aims to eliminate all of their waste by 2020. This is huge for a company of this size. Their new philosophy is that they design to dis-assemble. This allows them to reuse a majority of materials from old shoes that are recycled. They have also developed a new line of shoes that is completely reusable. Although it lacks aesthetic qualities at the moment, it is a major step in protecting our environment.

Herman Miller also decided to take part in the environmental push. Like Nike, they decided to focus on easy dis-assembly and replacement parts. They also changed their product facility to be environmentally friendly. They use natural light and air flow to reduce their production costs and keep their facility green.

This was an inspiring documentary and it was nice to see that some people are doing to the right thing for the environment. They showed us that there are great solutions that can be implemented into even the largest manufacturers in the world.

Chapter 3: Design and Designing

Chapter 3: Design and Designing

Chapter 3 gave us insight on the design process organization. It talked about ideation, iteration, and design details. This process is what we have been using for all of our projects in industrial design and seems pretty straight forward. The chapter also went into detail about the importance of inspiration in design and having resources we can use to benefit our own design products. I really want to start taking advantage of my resources here at the University of Kansas. I have heard many times that the Spencer Museum library has awesome design and architectural resources free for us to use but I have only been there once this year. I have also heard this advice from many speakers at hallmark symposium including the last industrial designer Vivian Beer who messes with many different materials and processes. 

El Dorado

El Dorado Inc. Field Trip

This was an extremely brief field trip and we received very little information about their technologies. Though the lecture about being on time was completely unnecessary, he did give some good advice about what we should be doing as current design students. 

Who they are: Hybrid architecture in KC, MO. Their design + build philosophy means that el dorado acts as both the architect and the general contractor.

Products: Commercial, residential, civic, institutional, public art and industrial studios

Markets: Offices, art projects, architectural commissions, charity work

Materials: Concrete, composite ( building insulations), wood, electrical systems, plaster, cement, ceramic, tile, metals, plastics.

Forming Technology: Testing prototypes downstairs

Cutting Technology: Hot wire cutter for cutting foam, circle saw, band saw

Joining Technology: Rivets, nails, bolts

Finishing Technology: Sanding

Hallmark

Hallmark Field Trip

The Hallmark manufacturing plant was also located in Lawrence. This place was massive as I had expected. I have driven by the facility many times and have always wondered what their process was like and if we would ever visit them. Luckily we got to for our final field trip this semester.

Who they are: Greeting card manufacturing facility

Products: Greeting cards and envelopes

Markets: Retail

Materials: Paper, Ink, wood, rubber, flitter, clay-coated boxes

Forming Technology: Machine Folding, laser cut card press, melting, screen printing

Cutting Technology: Die cutting and laser cutting

Joining Technology: adhesive, stamps

Finishing Technology: Foil, puff print, flitter, glow in the dark, digital printing, tinting, silkscreen

Berry Plastics

Berry Plastics Field Trip

Berry Plastics was one of the largest manufacturing facilities we have seen this semester. They are conveniently located in Lawrence, Kansas. It was really cool seeing major companies such as Mcdonalds on their production line. A lot about this place reminded me of our Huhtamaki trip. 

Who they are: Berry Plastics is provides innovated packaging and protection solutions.

Products: Packaging, protection solutions, tapes, adhesives

Markets: household, personal care, beverage, food, healthcare

Materials: Plastics such as high density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene 

Forming Technology: Sheeting, Injection molding, thermoforming

Cutting Technology: Die cut, punch, 

Joining Technology: Molds

Finishing Technology: Labeling, Ink press labeling

Dimensional Innovations

Dimensional Innovations Field Trip

This company was the exact type of environment I had always imagined for an industrial designer. It is also the same type of environment I would wish to work in in the future. They were very professional but also friendly and relaxed. I really like their "idea factory" where we could get a sense of the type of products they have worked on and also see how they develop their ideas for products. Their sister company Shields Caseworks had some awesome products that really caught my eye as well. 

Who they are: DI is a design and fabrication studio whose factory, design development and marketing branches are all in the same building. They are based out of Kansas City. The company is composed of 6 disciplines: Brand, Design, Technology, Build, Launch, and Innovation.

What they do: Their umbrella of work encompasses theater and stadium development, branding, and product design among other things. 

Products & Services: Theaters, stadiums, businesses/brands, branding, product design, fabrication 

Markets: Colleges, stadiums, theaters, various businesses

Forming Technologies:SolidWorks, BrakeBender, 3D printing, general fabrication forming tools

Cutting Technologies: CNC router, High precision CNC, Shear, Laser cutter

Joining Technologies:Welding, Bolts

Finishing Technoloogies: Lighting options, texture, paint