2008:094 CIV
M A S T E R ' S T H E S I S
General knock-down solution for natural fibre armchairs
Kenny Kai Fung Cheung Magnus Sundin
Luleå University of Technology MSc Programmes in Engineering
Ergonomic Design and Production Engineering Department of Human Work Sciences
Division of Product Design
2008:094 CIV - ISSN: 1402-1617 - ISRN: LTU-EX--08/094--SE
Foreword
This master’s thesis constitutes the final 20 weeks of the Master of Science programme in Ergonomic Design & Production with concentration on product development at Luleå University of Technology.
This report contains a product development project given as an assignment from IKEA of Sweden to Kenny Kai Fung Cheung and Magnus Sundin. This project lasted during the period of September 2007 to February 2008. As time went by while working with this project at the headquarters of IKEA, sufficient knowledge was obtained in order to complete and present this assignment.
Without all the help given to us, it would not have been possible to finish this project: We would like to thank Kim Lindell, for giving us this interesting project. Many thanks to Emma Dafnäs, Paul Adam and Karin Fälthammar for supervising and giving us useful advices throughout this project. Also big thanks to all the people at IKEA of Sweden that we ran into. They all helped us and answered our many questions in any situations.
We are eternally grateful for having the opportunity to visit Rapexco, the supplier in Nha-Trang, Vietnam.
Wilson Villanueva, Roberto Sobang and John Wallace from the factory gave us all the assistance and help in all manageable way. Thank you for helping us making the prototypes and giving feedback to us. Big thanks also to Johan Thylen and Peter Levenius that helped us during the development process.
Finally, we would like to show large gratitude to Anders Håkansson, our supervisor from the Department of Human Work Sciences at Luleå University of Technology. He has given us all the help we needed in order to finish this report.
Älmhult, February 2008
________________________________ ________________________________
Kenny Kai Fung Cheung Magnus Sundin
Abstract
IKEA is a multinational, home products retailer that sells furniture, accessories, bathrooms and kitchens at retail stores throughout the world. IKEA’s ranges of natural fibre furniture are manufactured in China, Indonesia and Vietnam and then shipped to the rest of the world. Because of the extremely hard com- paction for this kind of products, IKEA wanted to investigate the possibility to make natural fibre more cost effective by making the products knock-down.
This project has been concentrated to find a general technical solution to minimize the transport volume for natural fibre armchairs. The best-seller Agen armchair was used as a reference model. The criterions for a successful solution was that it has to be easy to mass produced to a low cost, using design-orientated construction for the armchair and that the technical solution can be applied on similar armchairs.
The methods chosen and combined together to this thesis are called Sirius masterplan and tools taken from the book; Product Design and Development [7]. An additional method was used in order to fully complete this project, which was a pilot study.
As natural fibre products use living materials, it was not possible to know for sure that all technical solutions could work. Through collaboration with experts of different fields, four concepts were selected for further investigation. Two of these concepts were decided to have prototypes made by Rapexco, a supplier at Nha Trang in Vietnam.
The results from the visit in Nha Trang showed that more variants of the two concepts were interesting for IKEA. Machine woven cloth, called loom was therefore used in one of the prototypes, while the others were made of rattan weave. A total of six different prototypes were made at Rapexco in Nha Trang.
As a final phase of this project, a product meeting was made together with the supervisors and assigner about the prototypes. Discussions about cost, transport, production and material for the concepts were done to erase all uncertainties. As a result of this project, new technical solutions made a transport saving of over 150% for the natural fibre armchair and also opened new possibilities of using machine woven cloth. With correct knock-down solution, optimal saving of transport cost and lower carbon dioxide spill will be possible.
Table of Contents
1.
Introduction 11.1 Backgound 2
1.2 Aim and Purpose 3
1.3 Goal 3
2.
Theory 42.1 Agen armchair 4
2.2 Natural fibres 4
2.2.1 Rattan 6
2.2.2 Bamboo 7
2.2.3 Banana 7
2.2.4 Sea grass 8 2.2.5 Palm leaves 8
2.2.6 Paper 8
2.2.7 Pandanus 9
2.2.8 Willow 9
2.2.9 Water hyacinth 9
2.3 Production 10
2.4 Weaving methods 12
2.5 Packaging & Loading 13 2.5.1 Packaging 13
2.5.2 Pallet 13
2.5.3 Three Layer Logic 14
2.6 IKEA’s policy 17
2.7 IKEA´s risk assessment 18
3.
Method 193.1 Planning 19
3.1.1 Team roles 19 3.1.2 Gantt chart 19 3.1.3 Own regulations 19
3.2 Pilot study 20
3.3 Design space exploration 20 3.3.1 Needfinding 20 3.3.2 Benchmarking 20 3.3.3 Related technology 20
3.4 Roadmap 21
3.4.1 Mission statement 21 3.4.2 Product Characteristic 21 3.5 Concept design & prototyping 22 3.5.1 Concept generation 22 3.5.2 Concept evaluation 22 3.5.3 Concept selection 22
4.
Implementation 234.1 Planning 23
4.1.1 Team roles 24 4.1.2 Gantt chart 24 4.1.3 Own regulations 24
4.2 Pilot Study 25
4..3 Design space exploration 34 4.3.1 Needfinding 34 4.3.2 Benchmarking 35 4.3.3 Related technology 37
4.4 Roadmap 38
4.4.1 Mission statement 38 4.4.2 Product Characteristic 39 4.4 Concept design & prototyping 40 4.4.1 Concept generation 41 4.4.2 Concept evaluation 43 4.4.3 Concept selection 51 4.5 Detail Design & Manufacturing 52 4.5.1 Detailed technical design 52 4.5.2 Prototyping 58
5.
Result 656.
Discussion 687.
Reference 701. Introduction
Natural fibres are living material which can be used within medicine, tools, baskets, decorations and furniture. IKEA uses this material to produce furniture, baskets and various decorations. Natural fibre furniture has been in the IKEA’s range for a time but the company still has problems with its storage and transportation. Due to the construction of and manufacturing methods, rattan furniture is generally not able to knock-down. This fact makes it a challenge to handle in the stores and also contributes to high transportation costs. In many cases the furniture pieces are stackable which makes handling on the shop floor somewhat easier. This was a problem that IKEA wanted to solve and was therefore aiming on developing a technical solution to improve packing volume of the products in order to save transport costs.
This challenge has been given out as a master’s thesis to Magnus Sundin and Kai Fung Cheung. These two students are studying Master of Science in Ergonomic Design & Production Engineering with concentration on Product development at Luleå University of Technology (LTU). The project has been given out by IKEA of Sweden. The main work has been placed at Älmhult, Småland during a 20 weeks period from September 2007 to February 2008.
Introduction
1
Figur 1: Front view, IKEA of Sweden in Älmhult
1.1 Background
IKEA is a multinational, home products retailer that sells low price furniture, accessories, bathrooms and kitchens at retail stores throughout the world. It became famous because the customers have to assemble many of the products themselves. IKEA was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden which is owned by a Dutch-registered foundation controlled by the Kamprad family. IKEA’s initials stand for the founder’s name (Ingvar Kamprad), the farm where he grew up (Elmtaryd) and his home vil- lage (Agunnaryd). The company distributes its products through its retail outlets. The world’s first IKEA store was opened in Älmhult at year 1958. Today the chain has about 258 stores in 35 different countries. The website of IKEA contains around 12,000 products and is the closest representation of the entire IKEA range. In 2005 it was reported over 275 million visitors to the company’s website.
IKEA furniture is well known for its modern, utilitarian design. Many of IKEA’s furniture are designed to be assembled by the costumer rather than being sold pre-assembled. IKEA claims this allow them to reduce costs and use of packaging by not shipping air; the volume of a bookcase, for example, is considerably less if it is shipped unassembled rather than assembled. The flat-pack method also allows easier transport via public transport from the store to a customer’s home for assembly. Although IKEA household products and furniture are designed in Sweden, they are mostly manufactured in developing countries to lower costs. Very little production is actually taken place in Sweden.
IKEA of Sweden (IOS), seen in figure 1, which is sometimes called “heart of IKEA”, is responsible for the production development, purchasing co-ordination, commercials and distribution for the whole IKEA range. Within IOS there are 10 different Business Areas (BA), each driving their business within a specific product segment and create their part of the home furnishing offer (Sleeping & Storing, Lighting, Children’s IKEA, etc.) Each product development project is a team process in which product developers and designers work closely with technical, environmental, quality and purchasing experts. This project was placed on Business Area 50 (BA50) which involves oasis and seasonal products. Seasonal are decoration products (candles, candlesticks, lamps, vases, etc.) which offer different prod-
ucts depending on the season. Oasis has “all year round” products like plants, furniture and decorations.
Introduction
2
1.2 Aim and Purpose
Many of the natural fibre products at IKEA today lack good knock-down methods. This makes storage of these products uneconomical and there are also risks of damaging the arm chairs during
transportation.
The aim of this master’s thesis is, together with supervision from IKEA and LTU, to examine the pos- sibilities to minimize packing volume of natural fibre armchairs without negatively affecting the qual- ity, costs and production time.
To further facilitate the project, some regulations were made out that had to be followed during the whole project time:
• The report will be written in English.
• A logbook will be shown to the supervisors as status report.
• The main work will be done at the headquarters of IKEA of Sweden in Älmhult.
1.3 Goal
The goal is to develop and present a technical solution within given time schedule on how to minimize and minimize the packing volume of natural fibre armchairs that will please the assigner and supervisors from both IKEA and LTU.
Introduction
3
Theory
4
2. Theory
In order to have full understandings in how, what and why this project was done, there are important facts that must be told before mentioning the development work.
MATERIAL:
Frames: Bamboo or Unpeeled Rattan diameter 28-30mm, Water based clear lacquered.
Back seat supports: Bamboo or Unpeeled rattan diameter 16-18 mm, Water based clear lacquered.
Side seat supports: Bamboo or Unpeeled rattan diameter 14-16 mm, Water based clear lacquered.
Weaving material: Peeled rattan diameter 3 mm, Water based clear lacquered.
Binding material: Rattan peel, 5 mm wide, 1.5 mm thick, Water based clear lacquered.
Total dimension tolerance: ± 7 mm maximum for total height, width, length, depth
520 170
580
305 430
595
785 (Height) 400
125 430
140
595 600 (Width)
595 (Depth)
2.1 Agen armchair
Agen armchair was used in this project as a reference product in order to develop and improve the technical solutions and the design. Below are the information used during the product development.
MATERIAL:
Frames: Bamboo or Unpeeled Rattan diameter 28-30mm, Water based clear lacquered.
Back seat supports: Bamboo or Unpeeled rattan diameter 16-18 mm, Water based clear lacquered.
Side seat supports: Bamboo or Unpeeled rattan diameter 14-16 mm, Water based clear lacquered.
Weaving material: Peeled rattan diameter 3 mm, Water based clear lacquered.
Binding material: Rattan peel, 5 mm wide, 1.5 mm thick, Water based clear lacquered.
Total dimension tolerance: ± 7 mm maximum for total height, width, length, depth
315
485
Figure 2: Measurements of Agen
Figure 3: Reinforcement under the seat
The armchairs are protected with corrugated card board single face to cover the edges which has risk to scratch each other when stacked. A unit load is a multipack containing 3x5 pieces of Agen armchairs. 5 pieces bundles are stacked onto each other and 3 of these bundles are stacked once more so 15 pieces of armchairs fills up to the top of con- tainer, see figure 4. PP straps are used for fixation of the stacks. The dimensions for a unit load are 1200x610x230[mm]
Agen armchair are tested with the Möbelfakta seating test for indoor use. The frame must pass climate chamber test. All the tests must be done and approved before production starts, and to be tested and passed once every year during production.
The production time is calculated to be around 8 hrs to produce a whole Agen armchair.
The original Agen is in the low price segment within IKEA’s product range. The selling price is 279 SEK at the IKEA stores but will differ depending on the country.
The annual sale was approximatly 600 000 pieces worldwide at 2006.
Figure 4: Five pieces bundles are stacked in three to get 15 pieces in one unit load
Introduction
5
520
2.2 Natural fibres
Natural fibres that IKEA uses are rattan, bamboo, banana, sea grass, palm leaves, water hyacinth and pandanus, willow and paper.
2.2.1 Rattan
The rattan plant, shown in figure 5, is the most used material of natural fibres within IKEA. This is because of its solid, flexible and very bendable rattan stem.
It can be made into cane or wicker in furniture and baskets, but also serves another purpose as source of food and medicine. There is around 600 rattan species around the world and it varies in colour and flexibility. Rattans can grow with one single or multiple stems and it can reach to over 100 meters in length and 10 centimetres in diameter.
IKEA produces rattan products within Vietnam, China and Indonesia. Most of them are handmade and be- cause of that, plus its different origins will make the products vary significantly in appearance. Both the rattan skin and the inner part of the rattan cane can be used in products. The quality can vary greatly depend- ing on its origin, which makes some rattan more flex- ible than others. Quality makes it fluctuate in ease to colour, oil or lacquer the rattan material. Best rattan fibre is found in Indonesia but because of price, less good rattan quality are chosen to cheaper products.
The rattan material is sensitive to radiation and damp which can cause it to crack [1].
Figure 5: Rattan plant
Introduction
6
2.2.2 Bamboo
Bamboo can be found in the tropical, subtropical and temperate regions of all continents except Europe and western Asia. There are more then 1000 bamboo species in the world but most types are found in the tropics. In tropical Asia and America grows the giant bamboos, see figure 6. Some of them can be up to 30 meters high depending on species and location. The stem can be used whole or made into frames for furniture. Bamboos can also be split up and weaved into baskets or rugs. Bamboos vary greatly in diameter and appearance; from 0.5 to 20 centimetres and appear in green, yellow, brown and black. Most bamboos are hollow while others have such thick walls that they are almost solid.
The so called solid bamboo is more stiff then rattan and is very hard to bend. It can only be bend some degree before it will crack. It is possible to slice up the bamboo in order to bend it more, before joining the slices with glue so it will become bamboo laminate. Rattan and bamboo are often confused with one another, but rattan canes are always solid. Bamboo are cheaper then rattan. The bamboo material is sensitive to radiation or heat and can cause it to crack. It is not recommended to paint bamboo products as they are lacquer treated and it
will not stick to the material [1]. Figure 6: Bamboo forest
2.2.3 Banana
Banana trees, see figure 7, grow in the tropics and subtropics. These plants are of 2-9 metres high and differ in characteristics. Edible bananas do not have seeds and are regenerated by vegetative growth.
When the plant has produced fruits that trunk dies, which is then suitable of being cut down.
These trunks are then split into long pieces (10 cen- timetres x1.5 metres) and dried in sun. Banana fibres are twisted before it can be woven into furni- ture. The banana material is sensitive to radiation or heat, which may cause it to crack. It is not recommended to paint banana products as they are lac- quer treated and it will not stick to the material. Oil should not be used either [1].
Figure 7: Banana tree
Theory
7
2.2.4 Sea grass
IKEA uses sea grass that grows in Viet- nam, China and Indonesia. Despite its name, it does not grow under water but is planted along rivers and coastlines, in wet locations that are occasionally flooded.
Sea grass, see figure 8, can survive getting flooded by fresh water and some species can even tolerate mixture of seawater. The sea grass is cut two or three times per year when reached a height of one-two metres.
It can be used to weave rugs and handcraft products like bags and bowls, all of which can be made by hand, machines and looms.
Sea grass is not very sensitive to damp.
This is one of the natural fibres which can be used outdoors under roof. It is also not possible to coloure or paint sea grass be- cause of its low absorption ability [1].
Figure 8: Cyperaceae seagrass
2.2.5 Palm leaves
IKEA uses mostly palm trees from the Corypha group, seen in figure 9, which grows from tropical Asia to Australia. It can be up to 30-40 years old before the palm flowers and produces fruits. After the fruits have ripened the whole tree dies. The leaves are continually cut from the fond, allowing the tree to continue to grow. The leaves are mostly used to weave baskets and placemats while the ribs of the leaves can be used as spokes in woven baskets.
Palm products are less damp sensitive compared to sea grass and rattan, so it can be cleaned with damp cloth. Most Corypha palm leaves are untreated as it is naturally glossy, so paint
can not stick onto the material [1].
Figure 9: Corypha palm trees
2.2.6 Paper
From all the natural fibre mentioned above, paper is the only natural fibre material which is 100%
machine made. This material is very flexible and can be twisted and produced into many different shapes and colour. Treated paper can be somewhat water resistant but it is not recommended to use it outdoors [1].
Theory
8
2.2.9 Water hyacinth
Figure 12 show the Water hyacinth that is an aquatic floating weed that grows in the tropics and subtrop- ics. It lives in fresh water lakes, ponds, ditches and slow moving streams. The plant is normally float- ing but can set roots in more shallow water. IKEA products of water hyacinth are made in Vietnam.
The stems with attached leaves are one-two centimetres in diameter and about 60 centimetres in length when they get harvested. Dried up stems can then be hand-woven into products like placemats and baskets, but can not be made into furniture according to IKEA [1].
2.2.7 Pandanus
There are around 700 species of Pandanus growing in West Africa, the Indian Ocean Islands, south and south-east Asia, southern China, Japan, Australia and the
Pacific. Leaves of Pandanus, showed in figure 10, are made into strips that are used to weave products such as place- mats and bags. IKEA produces panda- nus products in Indonesia [1].
Figure 10: Panadus tree
2.2.8 Willow
Willow is grown in north-east of China in places, like Qingdao. Willow, seen in figure 11, can be boiled in wa- ter in order to enhance the density and by that improve the strength of the material. The more it is boiled togeth- er with its skin, the darker and stronger it gets. Still, rattan usually has better strength than willow but is more expensive. Willow can be coloured when peeled [1].
Figure 11: Willow tree
Figure 12: Water hyacinth
Theory
9
2.3 Production
Some of the raw materials used in natural fibre armchairs are found in the tropics and subtropics. All rattans used in IKEA are harvested and collected in the wild forest which involves walking in the forest in search for mature and usable canes. The canes are carried or dragged to temporary collecting sites waiting for a truck to transport the bundles to factories or sales sites. Figure 13 below gives an overview over the processing of rattan at the factory [2].
Boiling* Drying Storing Transport
Storing
*The rattan is boiled in palm oil to kill funguses and any insects that are hiding under the bark. The boiling process is also used to control the density and the characteristic of the material.
Figure 13: The first processing steps for the rattan at the factory
There are many types of products made of rattan and many are handmade. The large-diameter canes of rattan are often used to make frames and the thinner are used for weaving. Figure 14 below gives an overview of to the manufacturing process of Agen armchair used as a reference for this project [2].
Material preparation Storing
Framing
Weaving wickers
Suface preparation
Surface
treatment Packagning Storing Transport
Boiling* Drying Storing Transport
Storing
Figure 14: Overview of to the manufacturing process of Agen armchair
Explanations and guidelines for manufacturing activities are;
Storing:
The materials are stacked in a certain way to get it dry and ventilated.
Material preparation: (peeling, splitting, debarking)
Use cut outs as by-products as much as possible and the rest as fuel in the boiling process.
Framing:
It is often men’s work to build the frames. The material used as frame can vary depending on avail- ability of material. Bamboo or rattan is heated up to be bent with help of fixtures. After that it will be assembled together with white nails and screws.
Theory
10
Weaving wickers:
It is mainly the women that are doing the weaving parts. Rattan core is used as weaving material which is fastened into the frames with staples. It takes approximate eight hours to produce one complete armchair, from framing to weaving.
Surface preparation:
Uncut surfaces are burned off and manually sanded.
Surface treatment:
One coat of waterborne lacquer is used to improve the finish.
Packaging:
There are 15 Agen armchairs in one stack today. The stacks are standing directly on the floor of the container without using pallets.
Storing:
Dry and ventilated.
Transport:
The five weeks long transport in containers has to be dry and ventilated. The ventilation is important because of damp and fumigation of methyl bromide before ship off.
Theory
11
2.4 Weaving methods
There are a huge number of weaving styles (pictures of weaving samples can be seen in appendix A).
Natural fibre materials are divided into sub-styles as [3]:
• Plain weave (the most common style)
• Binding
• Fish bone
• Zig Zag
• Hexagonal weave
• Jacquard
• Bird nest weave
There are a couple of terms needed in order to further define the different weaving styles and type of material [3]:
• Material in wraps and weft, see figure 15.
• Colour of material
• Diameter of material, called D in figure 15.
• Number of wraps and spokes
• Treatment of material e.g. twisted, braided
The price for production depends on [3]:
• The diameter of woven materials
• Species of the woven material
• Weaving technique
• Treatment of material
• Number of wraps
• Shape and type of the product
• Length of the raw material used for weaving
• Width and thickness of the finished woven material
Figure 15: Weaving method
Wraps
Wefts D
Theory
12
2.5 Packaging & Loading
IKEA has their own specific regulations on packaging. Efficient packaging and loading is considered to be one of the more cost critical part of the product, as transportation is very expensive. As IKEA al- ways has an ambition to lower the costs, makes this chapter important for the whole project. Below are common descriptions from IKEA’s Package Design Manual [4] and Three Layer Logic -guide [5].
2.5.1 Packaging
The role of packaging in customer communication:
The tasks of the packaging are to:
• Protect the product
• Make product-handling easier
• Support self-selection and self-service for customers
• Promote sales
• Strengthen IKEA’s profile Packages sold in the showroom
• Show as much of the product as possible - in the first instance by always testing some forms of open packaging. More open packaging constructions make it easier for visitors in the store to discover the full diversity of products.
Language neutral packaging
• The company has a language strategy that requires all the relevant IKEA languages to be used when written communication is necessary. For this reason, they endeavour to make packages
“language-neutral”. This is why it is important to avoid written information on packaging wherever possible. Instead, try to communicate with symbols, figures and illustrations.
Reinforce the IKEA identity
• Creating a characteristic appearance - both by means of the graphic design of the packages and by the way in which how to pack the products - helps to communicate a clear and consistent IKEA identity to the customers.
2.5.2 Pallet
The cargo-cost for IKEA is very high. IKEA calculated a costs of around 50 EUR to transport one cubic meter from Asia to Europe. Because of that, their products are designed according to the pallet mea- surements and always kept in mind during the whole development process. Products found at suppliers are often redesigned to fit optimal on a pallet. See appendix B for pallet dimensions.
It is important for products produced in Asia to follow the measurements applied for an Asian, ocean pallet. It is also important that as little overhang as possible is loaded on the sides, in order to fit in three pallets on the container width. Overhang in length should of course also be avoided as it lowers the chances for optimal loading. This follows the “three layer logic” IKEA document which is shown below.
Theory
13
2.5.3 Three Layer Logic
The idea of multi-layer loading is to optimize the utilization of the transport units, see figure 16. According to the unit load concept with a maximum height of 1000 mm per unit load gives a total height of 2000 mm when stacking two unit loads in a container. The empty space on top of the goods is approximately 390 mm. The goal is to fill up the container as much as possible and at the same time making the unloading of the container simple. The three layer concept is how, in an organised way, to construct the:
• Top-filling
• Side-filling
• Length-filling
The construction of ultimate filling already starts when constructing the product itself.
Figure 16: Three layer loading
Theory
14
Top-filling
• Needed space on top of the load must be at least 50 mm, measured when loading the container, see figure 17. The goods will be compressed during transportation and from
experience the space will be between 50-100 mm. This is depending of goods type and route etc, when unloading the container at receiver. The space is needed for the forklift driver to lift and move the goods without any risk for damages.
Figure 17: Minimum space required for unloading the goods
Theory
15
Length-filling
• Main reason for length-filling is to prevent moving of goods during transportation.
Less movement equals to less transport damages.
• Second reason is to utilize the transport volume.
• All length-filling should be done at the end of the loading activity, but not as the last row closest to the door.
It should be done as second last row. Reason for this is the risk of injuring goods or people when opening the container-doors and loose multi-packs falling out. Last row should contain unit loads, where the risk is minimal for falling down.
Container dimensions
Below, in table 1, are inner dimensions of a 20 and 40 feet container. These dimensions are useful in order to follow the “three layer logic” and also to know how many armchairs that can fit inside a container.
Type
Container 20 feet Dry Van Container 40 fett Dry Van
Inside length (mm) 5 895
12 029
Inside height (mm) 2 392
2 392
Inside volume (m ) 33
68
Qty load (760x1140)
30
60
Payload weight (kg) 28 200
26 700
3
Table 1: Measurements of different containers
Theory
16
2.6 IKEA’s policy
IKEA’s vision is “to create a better everyday life for the many people”. How? Through their business idea that is “to offer a wide range of well designed, functional home furnishing products at price so low that as many people as possible can afford them”. At the same time, IKEA has certain policies and principles for keeping a high moral within the company [6].
IKEA has a huge responsibility when it comes to human rights and environmental issues, because of its huge global operation in both developing and industrialized countries. IKEA supports for example the rights of children and does not accept child labour. Everything they produce is based on UN conventions:
• UN conventions on the right of the child
• ILO Conventions 138, the minimum age convention.
• ILO Convention 182, on the worse forms of child labour.
To really prevent child labour and maintaining good working environment within suppliers and the IKEA group, the company have dialogues with experts and non-governmental organisations such as:
• UNICEF (United Nation Children’s Fund)
• ILO (United Nations Labour International Organisation)
• CWC (the Concerned for the Working Children)
• UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)
• CREDA (Centre for Rural Education and Development Action)
• WHO (World Health Organisation)
To follow up and supervise, the co-workers of IKEA regularly visit their suppliers. They also engage independent external auditing companies to make random, unannounced inspections. Despite this a 100 percent guarantee is never possible.
Theory
17
2.7 IKEA´s method for product risk assessment
IKEA have their own method to identify and evaluate risks and hazards on their products. It is used on both new products and changes on existing products. The methods are followed by these five steps:
1. Hazard indication: It is a brainstorm meeting who should cover all possible situations where a hazard could be present and how likely it is to occur.
2. Risk evolution: To be done for determinate if action is required to reduce the risk.
3. Risk assessment: When all the facts have been established, the next step for the risk assessment group is to determine if the risk level is acceptable or if any actions are required.
4. Action: There are three steps of actions, depending how difficult the hazard is to remove.
a. Remove hazard by changing the design. If not possible - b. Protect against hazard. If not possible -
c. Warn/inform user about the hazard.
5. Follow-up of action: Following the implantation of a risk-reducing action, a new risk evaluation must be made to determine the present status.
Theory
18
3. Method
There are a great number of different product development methods which can be used during a project such as this. The methods chosen to this project are called Sirius masterplan and tools taken from the book, Product Design and Development [7], which were combined together.
Sirius masterplan is developed mainly for Mechanical Engineering at Luleå University of Technology from the main course; Creative Product Development, also called Sirius [8]. The Sirius masterplan is a tool to clarify the structure for all the phases throughout a product development process, from planning to finished product. It tells about the important steps to a successful project, see appendix C.
In order to improve the conditions for completing this project an extra step was set up, called a pilot study.
3.1 Planning
In the beginning of a project common goals should be set up to keep away from misunderstand- ings and conflicts between project members, but also to avoid weak expectations/goals. In this phase a Gantt chart will be made where various milestones and deadlines corresponding to the completion of each phase. To delegate and clarify the project, the team also gets divided into areas of responsibility.
It is important to be aware that planning is a continuous activity.
3.1.1 Team roles
In order to prevent misunderstandings and unnecessary work, it is important to clarify the areas of responsibility for each team member.
3.1.2 Gantt chart
A Gantt chart is a popular type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. The Gantt chart illus- trates the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project.
3.1.3 Own regulations
Specific custom-made regulations are set up within the group which makes the work easier and smoother.
Method
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3.2 Pilot study
A pilot study is a precursor to a full-scale study used to check if all operational parameters are ok. A pilot study can refer to many types of experiments and tests, but generally the goal of study is to replicate the full scale study, but only on a smaller scale. Often in engineering applications, pilot experiments are used to sell the product, and provide quantitative proof that the system has potential to succeed on the larger (full) scale. The aim of a pilot study for a project is to gain sufficient knowledge and information in order to guarantee qualitative work throughout a project.
3.3 Design space exploration
This is an information gathering phase. Studies about the competitors, related technology and stake holders’ opinion are done in order to design and develop a product that suits the market. Pilot studies can also be used in order to increase sufficient knowledge within current topic.
3.3.1 Needfinding
The goal of this activity is to inform the development team to understand the customers’ needs. One guide line is to carefully translate the needs of characteristic as “what” and not “how”. To avoid loss of information, state the need in the same level of details as the raw data. There are many ways to find customer needs, for example interviews, polls, studying costumers on place and asking experts from the specific field. It is important not to be too specific but to describe the need characteristic in a general way. As an example, a car can transport a person from A to B, not describing that a car have four wheels and an engine and so on.
3.3.2 Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the study of existing products with functionality similar to that developing product or to sub-problems on which the team is focused on. Benchmarking can reveal existing concepts that has been implemented to solve a particular problem, as well as information on the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors. Benchmarking remains “detective work”, an easy way to benchmark is trough internet or to examine competitors’ products. Companies compare measurements, performance and design. This is to have a clear sight on what already exist on the market today.
3.3.3 Related technology
By studying other products with related technology it can increase chances on finding solutions to its problem. To study other similar products or with similar characteristics, it increases the knowledge about its technology, pros and cons, but also creates inspiration. Studying related technology also makes the own product more prepared for competition in the market. Some of the methods used are: Check out patent databases, do market research, visit technology fairs and expos.
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3.4 Roadmap
At this stage the project gets narrowed by determining how the product should be made, what mate- rial and what characteristics it should possess. Below are steps which will bring the product into more character. Those steps fall under a stage called Mission statement and Product characteristic, see appendix C.
3.4.1 Mission statement
• Product description
This should be done in one sentence. The description includes the key customer benefit of the product but avoids implying a specific product concept.
• Key business goal
Key business goals are goals for time, cost and quality.
• Primary market
There may be several target markets for a product. It is the market that the product primary intends to.
• Secondary market
The secondary market is other companies and customers who can be interested of the product.
• Assumptions and delimitations
Carefully make constraints which works as a guide to the development effort.
• Stake holders
This is all the groups of people who are affected by the products success or failure.
3.4.2 Product Characteristic
Customer need is a general outline for what the product should fulfil. It translates the “language of the customer/user” to “the language of the engineer”. “What can it do” are questions which are put up here, rather then “how can it do it”. By putting up demands, wishes and needs, a precise definition of the product characteristics are set, which makes it possible to proceed with the concept design phase.
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3.5 Concept design & prototyping
This is the most creative phase in the chain of product development. The sub-problems will to be solved and together into concepts. These will then be evaluated and sorted. One or more concept(s) will get selected for further development and testing.
3.5.1 Concept generation
A product concept is an approximate description of the technology, working principles and form of the product. There are many ways to generate concepts. One way is to have brainstorming meetings. Under these meetings there are certain rules which must be followed. It is important that every participant already have the problem clearly defined. It is forbidden to give criticism during the meeting. Usually the main problem is divided into sub-problems that are put into the matrix of ideas. From the matrix, the solutions to the sub-problems, those that the group members find best, are picked out and made into concepts [7].
3.5.2 Concept evaluation
The generated concepts will during this next step be evaluated. This is when the range of concepts gets narrowed down and is closely intertwined into the next step, concept selection. The concepts from the concept generation are evaluated through rating and weighting. The scores are later multiplied in a matrix.
If necessary the concepts with the highest scores are then evaluated against each other [7].
3.5.3 Concept selection
There are different methods to choose among concepts. The methods of interest in this project are the following [7]:
• Intuition: The concept is chosen by its feel. Explicit criteria of trade-offs are not used. The concept just seems better.
• Decision matrices: The team rates each concept against prespecified selection criteria, which may be weighted.
• Pros and cons: The team lists the strengths and weaknesses of each concept and makes a choice based upon group opinion.
• Prototype and test: The organisation builds and tests prototypes of each concept, making a selection based upon test data.
• Product champion: An influential member of the product development team chooses a concept based on personal preferences.
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4. Implementation
4.1 Planning
The planning was constantly updated throughout this project as new things came and others got finished during the development. One of the reasons was because the assignment given out was not described in detail from the beginning, so the project became clearer as time went by. Some of the chapters from the beginning was completed faster then expected which also led to changes in planning. How the planning was done was up to the project members to decided, but it was decided that the status report needed to be updated for the supervisors from both LTU and IKEA twice a month, in form of a logbook. For this project, a taylor-made Sirius masterplan was developed to have a clear overview for the important working steps, see figure 18. Added to this masterplan was a pilot study that was asked to be done from the supervisors of IKEA Of Sweden. As the project ended up at prototyping, the two steps after, including; Pre-launch and Product launch were therefore skipped.
Figure 18: Our version of Sirius master plan which also contains the pilot study
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Sirius Masterplan
1. Planning Gantt Chart
Team roles
Own regulations
3. Design Space Exploratation
4. Roadmap
5. Concept Design & Prototyping
Concept generation Concept evaluation Concept selection Mission statement Product characteristic Needfinding
Benchmarking Related technology 2. Pilot Study
6. Detail Design
& Manufacturing Detailed technical design Prototyping
4.1.1 Team roles
As the project members worked very close together, specific team roles were not decided in the beginning. Different tasks were split out at given time to the project workers when individual work was needed. The main work and tasks were discussed during the beginning of each week in order to know; “who will do what”? Some important areas of responsibilities were later discovered necessary to have:
• One responsible for the editing of the report.
• One responsible for primary contact with people outside BA50.
• One responsible for editing the logbook and sending it to the supervisors.
• One responsible for the figures, tables and the layout of the report.
4.1.2 Gantt chart
The main parts of the planning were printed into a Gantt chart, which were five subheadings that could be found in the Sirius masterplan. In the Gantt chart there were important dates of presentations, vacations and other milestones. This scheme was not followed blindly but rather to be used to have a general view over the whole project and so that nothing would get missed or confused with, see appendix D.
4.1.3 Own regulations
To further facilitate the project, some regulations were made out to be followed during the whole project:
• The report will be written in English.
• A logbook will be shown to the supervisors as status report.
• The main work will be done at the headquarters of IKEA of Sweden in Älmhult.
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Figure 19: Crazy Weave
Wraps Weft
Supporting spoke
Figure 20: Wraps and weft on room divider
“Crazy Weave”
4.2 Pilot Study
The pilot study includes two mini projects for room dividers. Before the assignment, both products had already been developed and prototypes were already made. One is called Gransel and the other one never got an official name in the range but within IKEA Of Sweden was called Crazy Weaving. These room dividers were made in China. Both had similar problems, but at the same time they had different ex- pressions and construction solutions. The goal of this pilot study was therefore to develop a solution which can be applicable for both room dividers without changing there unique design too much.
Problems of Crazy Weave
Crazy Weave, seen in figure 19, is made of rattan core and has a circular frame made from cylinder metal pipes that are woven over by rattan. It is important that the shape and design will remain un- changed; it still has to be big, airy and express lightness. The light expression of the Crazy Weave is because it has supporting metal spokes, painted in natural rattan colour, which are discreetly woven together with the rattan. The rattan core is also sparsely woven into a pattern called “Crazy Weaving”.
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This supporting spoke, marked as green in figure 20, is to support, stretch out and straighten the weft (horizontal weave marked as yellow), and together with wraps (vertical weave marked as red) it cre- ates a grid for the Crazy Weave to tangle and twist around in order to create a pattern shown in figure 19. The frame-diameter was 1800 mm which was impossible to fit into an Asian pallet, which is used to transport to Europe.
The main problems for Crazy Weave were:
• 1800mm in diameter without knock-down function made this product too big. This made transportation and handling of the product problematic.
• It had stability problems, because of its thin legs.
• The insertion for the legs was not optimal.
• Too complicated leg-construction created production problems.
Problems of Gransel
Gransel is a room divider and it has a tighter fibre weave than Crazy Weave. Its design has two substantial rods that runs vertically through the centre, see figure 21, and it was already foldable at the centre because the room divider was woven into two separate frames. The main problems for Gransel were:
• It had stability problems, because of its thin legs.
• It had a knock-down function with the help of two hinges, which was unnecessary as collapsible propert- ies were not desirable.
• The poor knock-down solution made the whole product instable.
• The insert for the legs was not optimal.
• Too complicated construction created problems during production.
Figure 21: Gransel
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Solutions for Crazy Weaving Framework Solution 1
The first solution proposal was to divide the framework vertically in the middle into two halves, letting the Crazy Weave get woven over the two frames halves. When it is time for the customer to unfold and connect the two frame halves, it is meant that the Crazy Weave will be flexible enough to fold out.This allows the Crazy Weave to be woven over the whole room divider, which by then can keep to the initial design, see figure 22. During packaging the two frame halves will be folded together in the middle, giving the room divider a width half its size while at least double its thickness, see figure 23.
Figure 22: Woven over the gap
How much the rattan fibre can bend depends very much on the quality it has. The radius for how much it can bend will give the distance X between the two frame halves. With better quality means smaller bending radius which allows the two frame halves to come closer to each other, hence the distance X will decrease.Good qual- ity also showed that Crazy Weave fibre can be flexible over a long time with- out showing any bending marks. By using better quality rattan (which means higher price), the product itself will not only become better but also allow more stacking on pallet as the bending radius becomes smaller. This will low- er transport cost for each room divider and by that also lowering the cost for the whole product.
Figure 23: Folded room divider
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Framework Solution 2
Another alternative, if the Crazy Weaving can not be folded as told in solution 1; The two frame halves can be separately woven in order to save the bending of the rattan between the frame halves.
This will change the design a bit more, but will have better packing volume as a distance between the frame halves can be minimal, see figure 24.
Figure 24: Woven as two halves
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Metal collar
To prevent the rattan weave from slipping out of its position at the frame tube ends, stopping devices have been installed. These are intended to be made out of metal collar, see figure 26.
Supporting spokes
The vertical supporting spokes are put on the same distance from each other as the warp in order to melt in better. As the five millimetres vertical, supporting spokes are very long there could be a risk that the tension from the weft will bend it. To avoid this problem, three millimetres horizontal metal spokes were applied into the weaving frame for support, see figure 25.
Figure 25: Horizontal and vertical supporting spokes
Figure 26: Metal collar to prevent the weave from slipping out
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Figure 27: Double plug solution for room dividers
Connecting the two frames with each other was easily solved by us- ing double sided plastic plugs that are pushed into the cylinder pipes of the frame halves, like building up a tent. 20 mm of the frame tube ends will remain straight in order for the connector plugs to fit in, see figure 27. These plugs were chosen as con- nection solution because it made the weaving work easier and at the same time holds a simple construction for the frame. This connecting solution is easy for customer to assemble as it does not require any tools at all.
It also gets utilized in more then one place. Same plug connecting principle has been used before by IKEA on a bookshelf product called Niklas.
It was told that this solution works fine.
Solution for connection
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Solution for supporting legs
The legs on Crazy Weave was a prob- lem for the production as there where holes for screws to fit in. This made it hard for weavers to weave rattan around the screw holes without cov- ering it. It is now simplified by mak- ing a radius at the connecting end of the leg, see figure 28, so it will stay in right position when connected. At the same time, with tighter fitting between frame and leg, no screws will be required. This improves the production by eliminating the complicated screw holes. Because of less production steps; shorter produc- tion time can be possible. The legs get held in place by friction between the connecting tubes of the frame and leg.
If the welding of the legs is not strong enough for its task, an extra brace has been designed to support the leg tubes with the connecting tube, see appendix E. This prevents the weld to crack. The whole leg will be woven over with natural fibre so no metal parts or weld will be visible.
Figure 28: Leg connecting solution for room divider
Paws for supporting legs
In order to enhance the floor grip for the room dividers, plastic pad paws were inserted at the end of each leg tubes. This will increase friction be- tween the room divider and the floor and by that lowering the risk of un- wanted movement. These plastic pads were chosen from IKEA’s component stock. In order to avoid marks on the floor white paws will be used.
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Packaging and loading for Crazy Weave
The Crazy Weave room divider has been reduced in size from 1800 mm to 1700 mm in diameter in order to fit on a long pallet with the dimension W760xL2000[mm]. The product will be stacked upright on the long pallet with a height below 900 mm, which is the maximum recommended height in order to have an optimal top-filling load, see chapter, Theory – Packaging & Loading. This height was taken into ac- count when the Crazy Weave that are connected between the two frames are bend with a radius that will stick out from the side, see figure 23.
Each packing unit for the room divider was estimated to be 60 mm in thickness (includes two frames, Crazy Weave and additional space), see the magnified part in figure 29. When packed into an Asian pallet with the width 760 mm, it can fit about 12 pieces (760/60 = 12 pieces), see figure 29.
IKEA estimates that it costs about 50 EUR to transport each cubic meter from Asia to Europe. The dimensions for an Asian long pallet is W760xL2000 mm, and with the room dividers loaded on, the volume taken is 1.52 m3 (760*2000*1000 mm). That means that the loaded pallet costs 76 EUR to transport and with 12 pieces of room dividers on each pallet; one Crazy Weave room divider will cost 6.33 EUR to transport from Asia to Europe.
For solution 2 the Crazy Weave is individually woven into each frame half and by that, thinner packages are able to be loaded into the pallet. Calculations say; each product unit with thickness 50 mm has a transport cost of 5.4 EUR.
Figure 29: Loading on an Asian pallet and a Close-up of a room divider unit
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Solution for Gransel
Same solution shown previous has been implied for Gransel room divider. The difference is the size of the cylinder frame which is 1400 mm in diameter. Gransel has also a much more distinct separa- tion between the two frame halves, which means two completely separated weave on each framework.
Packaging the Gransel room divider is not optimal as the length of the product will overhang on the pallets length. An Asian full pallet is W760xL1140 [mm], while the Gransel is 1400 mm in length. In order to keep the design somewhat intact and also with the approval of IKEA, no further work concerning knock-down has been applied to this product.
Packaging and loading for Gransel
Almost same calculation can be implemented for Gransel about transport cost. A loaded full pallet from Asia with overhang has a volume of W760xL1400xH800 [mm] => 0.8512 m3.
This will have a pallet transportation cost of 42.56 EUR and with each packing unit of thickness 54 mm (same as Crazy Weave solution 2), it will cost 3.04 EUR to transport each Gransel room divider.
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4.3 Design space exploration
The information gathering phase started up with a pilot study where all the phases, including results were presented. A proper design space exploration was made afterwards for the actual given assignment.
4.3.1 Needfinding
For this project, needfinding was done differently compared to the old-fashionable way – asking the customers and users. As IKEA already has a clear view on the customer-need and it is also considered irrelevant for this technical solution to be asked to the customers, no further interview or poll was made during this project. Needfinding was instead done by asking the supervisors from IKEA about the needs for the technical solution:
• The armchair should be made mainly of natural fibre.
• Possibility to mass-produce the product.
• Keep the price as low as possible to attract more buyers.
• In order to lower transport costs; improve packing volume.
• In order to improve packing volume; make a knock-down solution.
• This knock-down solution can also be implemented into other natural fibre armchairs from IKEA’s range.
As the project went on, more “needs” were discovered. The discovery was made with the help of people within IKEA’s company. Meetings with experts within diffrent fields, both from Sweden and Asia, were made. Staffs from the IKEA store were also asked questions about how the product was transported into the stores. Consultations with technicians and experts from different fields were made. A trip to Nha Trang in Vietnam was done in order to get sufficient information about natural fibre and Agen. Techni- cal description about Agen armchair was found from IKEA’s database.
By doing all these steps, important discoveries were found:
• From the staff at the stores – biocide that is used for the natural fibre must be ventilated away before shipping.
• As a rule of thumb for quality – rattan must at least be able to bend around the index finger without cracking.
• Natural fibre can vary widely in flexibility and strength, this because of its quality.
• Metal is in general more expensive then natural fibre.
• Closed packages for natural fibre products are not recommended because of the mould risk.
• Agen today is 100% handmade in Asia.
• The material used comes from a huge number of different suppliers in China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
• Agen is produced from many different suppliers in China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
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4.3.2 Benchmarking
Benchmarking was a long process throughout the project. In the early start, information was gathered from internet, IKEA’s own database and old theses from LTU. First step was to come across information about related knock-down solutions and natural fibre materials. Rattan furniture’s biggest competitor is the teak furniture. After further searching at different patent offices and websites, a technical solution was found about an armchair with half knock-down properties, found on the internet [9], see figure 30:
According to the description from the homesite [9]
“A knock-down rattan chair formed by a separate and nestable preformed seat-member and a nestable preformed back-member which includes a back rest and arm rests. The circular base of the back member is dimensioned to snugly encompass the upper circular frame of the seat member in abutting relation with each other “.
Figure 30: A knock-down solution for rattan armchair
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The latter solution presented above is not very unique and many other companies have before made similar knock-down concepts, as IKEA is one of them. The reason for this is because of its appreci- ated simple geometry compared to Agen armchair, see figure 32. To gain further understanding for the current product, a couple of Agen armchairs were brought into the project. These were taken into pieces in order to see different knock- down possibilities. After these steps, a couple of concepts were generated and have been used during the project in progress.
There are several other knock-down solutions and one of them was found on internet [10]. This chair mixes banana weave with wooden frames. The seat, backrest and front can be taken apart for better packing ability. As shown in figure 31, this product can easily fit into a flat box.
Figure 31: A knock-down solution for rattan chair
Figure 32: Agen
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One of the technical problems intended to be solved was how to connect the frames and legs to each other. It was already known that a related technology exists with tents; solutions were studied about joint techniques from different pipe manufacturers, see figure 33.
4.3.3 Related technology
In order to save money and time for the production, it was recommended to use existing technology and parts that was already being used within IKEA. It was therefore desirable to look into IKEA’s component catalogue in search of useful joints and locking techniques. Also by asking technicians from IOS, sufficient information was given out about the different technologies.
Otherwise, most of the technical solutions of the products were custom-made for each different prob- lem, without using related technology.
Figure 33: Different ways to interlock pipes
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4.4 Roadmap
4.4.1 Mission statement
• Product description
o A general technical solution to minimize packing volume that can be implemented on different natural fibre armchairs, using the design of AGEN armchair as a reference product for design and development.
• Key business goal
o Lower or unchanged final price of the new product o Lower transport cost
o Improve construction solution that IKEA can implement o Manage the quality tests from IKEA
• Primary market
o After a long discussion with the supervisors it was agreed that the market was not possible to define, as the technical solution can be implemented on many different armchairs that belong to different markets
• Secondary market
o Not possible to define, same reason as primary market
• Assumptions and delimitations o The projects length is limited to 20 weeks o The report will be written in English
o The main part of the work will be placed at the headquarters of IKEA of Sweden in Älmhult o At least one prototype will be made at the end of this project
o Presentation of this project will be held at IKEA of Sweden and Luleå University of Technology
• Stake holders o The project members
o Luleå University of Technology
o IKEA
o IKEA’s Costumers
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4.4.2 Product Characteristic
In order to decide which properties the product should possess, a Specification of Requirements was made, see appendix F. A list of different requirements and wishes for the new natural fibre armchair was put up, concerning production and properties of the product.
When the Specification of Requirements was done, a table of wishes formed like a tree was made, see appendix G. This Objective tree shows the most important properties chosen from the wishes of Specification of Requirements. The subjects were then discussed and compared with each other, which showed that transport, design, manufacturing and final assembly are the most important wishes, with the most important mentioned first.
The main issue for this product was about transport cost which made transport the highest priority in the table. In second place came design, as it was very important that the technical solutions will not harm the design of the armchair. It was finally decided that a simple and inexpensive manufacturing is more important then a simple final assembly for the customer. A simple assembly for the customer could mean that no tools are required and that it is self-instructed. As it is very common that the products within IKEA require tools and reading instructions, which makes final assembly lowest in priority. The branches of the objective tree are relevant issues taken from the Specification of Requirements. These four areas were evaluated with each other in order to see the importance of each part in the second offshoot, see table 2.
Important areas
Transport Manufacuring Assembly Design
Transport Manufacuring Assembly Design Sum Weight
1
1
1
1
2 2 2
2 2
0 0 0
0
0 0
7
1
2 3
5 16
7/16 3/16 1/16 5/16 16/16
Table 2: Weighting of areas
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For transport, see table 3, it was decided that both optimal pallet conform and less packing volume are equally important. This is because they are very much dependent on each other.
Transport Less packing volume Optimal pallet conform
Sum Weight
1
1
4
2/4 2/4 4/4
Less packing volume Optimal pallet conform
1
1
22 Table 3: Weighting of transport
Assembly
No tools required Clarity and simplicity
Sum Weight
1
1 0 2
1 3 4
1/4 3/4 4/4
No tools required Clarity and simplicity
Manufacturing
Few parts Easy produced parts
Sum Weight
1
1 0 2
1 3 4
1/4 3/4 4/4
Few parts Easy produced parts
In table 4, “easy produced parts” is more important than few parts, as few but complicated parts can be more costly.
Table 4: Weighting of manufacturing
Table 5: Weighting of final assembly
In the last table, Weighting of final assembly; it is more important that the customer can easily under- stand how to assemble the product, even when tools are required. No tools required, is therefore not as important as Clarity and simplicity, as a complicated assembly takes time and generates frustration for the customer. After multiplying the wishes with its own weighting of area, it was possible to attain the total weight for each wish and by that have a greater view over the relationships.
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4.4 Concept design & prototyping
4.4.1 Concept generation
During start-up of the concept generation, discussions around an original Agen chair were done.
Quickly two sub problems were discovered that had to be solved in order to have possible knock-down solutions: How can the Agen chair have a clean and efficient division, and in what way can that save the packing volume optimally?
From these sub-problems more underlying problems were generated out. Brainstorming was of high priority for the project and it required many hours of struggle in order to solve each sub and underlying problem. With all the ideas generated, a Matrix of Ideas was made. Very much like a map, this helped the project members to have a clear view over the generated ideas, see Appendix H.
Concept 1
The first concept has a four piece division, see figure 34. During the development of different joints and stability, more problems came out; each joint in different place was unique and needed individual brainstorming for each part. The problems discussed were about strength, material and durability.
As the loose parts are woven separately, it is important to have good form-durability to have simple customer assembly.
Figure 34: Concept 1 knock-down solution
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