Design focus: Industrial design, aesthetics produce easier-sell products

Today's current trends in plastic design to give products smooth, edgy, metallic looks, color changes at different angles, and soft-touch thermoplastic elastomers overmolded onto rigid substrates could give way to the next design trend, which will combine hard and soft looks, such as brushed aluminum with wood, rather than haptic-derived looks, he says.

"[Some] custom molders are considering a material that can be applied through an electrostatic powder coating process," says Rosato. "Using this process, metal products such as housewares, plumbing, and door handles can be `plated'' with plastics rather than chrome."

Top processors, he contends, are placing as much attention today on aesthetics as product function. ID is helping them add value to a product that may have become a commodity. Another future trend he points to, and one Gérard Krotkine, VP APO E&E appliances at polymer producer Basell (Hoofddorp, Netherlands) confirmed is coming (May 2005 MPW), is polymer grades that allow engineering hardness or softness of the same material in selected regions of an application, thereby avoiding assembly or two-shot molding.

The future of materials used for products, such as eyeglasses, could also see some changes. "While cellulosics have unique properties [oil and perspiration resistance] and the flexibility for an accurate and adjustable fit in eyeglasses, copolyester, both chemical resistant and clear, will be suitable for both frames and lenses" which could be molded as one unit in the future, he says.

Rosato says many molders are looking toward North America as the hotspot for plastic products design because of the abundance of designs available there. "Domestic producers have started indulging in niche marketing by producing smaller quantities of variations of the same products, which are customized to appeal to the unique preferences of different identifiable markets," he says. Other reasons for this variety in the same product are that time-to-market and product life cycles are both shrinking.

Thomas Reiner, managing director of packaging consultants Berndt & Partner (Berlin, Germany) warns that although the market wants variety, technology (the inability to run on existing packaging machines, limitations of shelf space in stores, inability of automatic dispensing machines to handle new designs) can often get in the way of change. "If technology becomes the motor for change, we shall reach disaster much faster," he quips.

By accepting change in packaging design, he says Nabisco, for example, has been able to increase its market share of a well-worn snack product: Oreo cookies. In 1970 the company had a single form of packaging; today it offers 35 different ones from flow wrap to paper/plastics cylinders. "We''ve found that consumers spend more time with the packaging than with the actual product," Reiner says, so design is key.

Frost & Sullivan''s Rosato sees an increase in the use of simultaneous engineering in ID. "Design for excellence (DFx) methods such as design for manufacturability and assembly are becoming prevalent as new variables including design for recycling and decorating are being added to the overall process," he says. Rosato''s research of more than 100 plastics design-related trends is published as "Plastics Design-Emerging Technology and Trends." RC

Asia does design

Against the backdrop of China''s continued emergence as a manufacturing powerhouse, it was long assumed the country would go from simply making products to designing them as well. The change is underway, and like many shifts in the region, it''s happening rapidly.

Names can definitely be deceiving. On paper, design and contract manufacturer Titoma (Tai Pei, Taiwan), might look to be a wholly local firm, dominated by Taiwanese nationals, its director of industrial design, Wei Kong, among them. In reality, the name Titoma is simply a shortened version of "time-to-market," and Kong, who''s half Chinese, admits to being "fully Westernized" in his thinking, evident in his native English, livened with a hint of Australian accent.

The other principal at Titoma, Case Engelen, who founded the firm, is actually Dutch, working in Tai Pei for some time as the head of a Dutch firm''s local office. With half the staff Western and half local, the only thing at Titoma that is homogenous is its clientele, which hails completely from the West.

While China, in particular, and Asia in general, have certainly progressed in both industrial and product design, going from 12 universities with industrial design departments in 1990 to more than 300 departments and 900 tracks by 2002, a long path remains. If design does occur in China for Western brands, it''s often in mixed environs like those at Titoma, with a Westerner watching over the product as a project manager. However, for some industries, especially within electronics, Chinese companies tackle many Western-bound products from concept to store shelf. Bob Johnson, Pacific technical manager at the GE Advanced Materials technical center in Shanghai, says a shift over the last six or seven years means many familiar Western brands now have Eastern roots.

"A lot of U.S.-branded consumer electronics are fully designed and executed in Asia by Asian design teams," Johnson says. "A U.S. team may have a say in the final look and feel, but the specification of material components and design are really being driven over here by the contract manufacturers."

For its part, Titoma hopes to attract those who need such full-service assistance, doing turnkey design and development for 20% of its clients, and acting as a project manager for the rest, sourcing within its established network of suppliers.

"Our overseas clients would come to us for design and engineering," Kong says "and after that was over, they were pretty much left to their own devices. But they wanted full service."

While the company maintains two presses and a small tool shop, it isn''t looking to expand beyond that, which does differentiate it from contract manufacturers looking to be all things to all customers. "There''s already too many factories out there," Kong says, "some good, some not so good. Our strategy is that we source the right factory for each project."

GE''s Johnson says variations on Titoma''s model are becoming more prevalent. "Contract manufacturers have moved more aggressively to go vertical," Johnson says. "In-China-for-China products are more and more designed by Chinese industrial designers. There are some ID [industrial design] houses-Western houses-but they do work here mainly for the export business."

Robert Butterfield, VP of design for ID firm Fitch, works as a consultant for GE out of its Pittsfield, MA headquarters, and has also seen the increased vertical integration. "It''s very common to see industrial design bundled," Butterfield says. "As a matter of fact, there aren''t too many contract manufacturers that don''t offer it now. That''s definitely a change."

Blue-sky horizon

In terms of conceptual product design, sometimes called "blue sky," Kong says progress in China is coming, but at a slower pace. He has seen many industrial design firms attempt to set up large offices in the region, and watched most fail. The primary culprit being customers shopping around on different jobs, making it difficult for the firms to establish a reliable client base and the steady work it brings.

Other barriers are cultural and structural within the society. Kong says the creativity of many designers who begin their careers as kids stripping down household appliances can be hindered in a society that for some time has promoted conformity. On a structural basis, Kong says many students who end up in design may not do so of their own volition. The most promising students are often pushed to be doctors or lawyers. Students who don''t make those cuts can be pigeonholed into design, versus coming to it by personal passion.

Still, Kong sees progress, with the long-established local design capabilities built up by Western companies being joined by design resources among Chinese brands like appliance giant Haier or mobile phone power Bird. Emergence of local design talent for both Chinese national companies and Western ones will be important for reasons Kong illustrates. "I work with a network of experienced designers," Kong says, "and the reason, very simply, is if I need to design a product for somewhere in the middle of the U.S., I''m not going to talk to my guy in France."

That fact will become more obvious to Western firms that try to win business in the country, especially when they come to realize that it is composed of as many as 30 distinct markets with nine different economic zones and 23 provinces inhabited by 55 minority groups.

"Right now, Motorola''s director for design for China in Beijing is Taiwanese," Kong says. "Maybe in five years it will be a mainland China guy. You definitely need that local knowledge."

Analyzing that local knowledge will likely become more scientific as well. Johnson says focus groups, which have become a valuable conduit for market information at U.S. industrial design houses, are not as commonly applied in China, where a variation of test marketing is more prevalent along with other unconventional means that only make economic sense in China.

"It''s not unusual for a mobile phone manufacturer in China, for China, to make three or four different models and put them out through distribution to see which one sells as a way of gauging market acceptance," Johnson says.

Discerning the wants and the needs of a populace with growing levels of disposable income (it''s gone up 40% in the last year on a per capita basis by some accounts) could become a very lucrative competitive advantage. Design, too, could offer a chance to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

"As we''ve seen in the U.S. and Europe," Johnson says, "as consumer preferences become more sophisticated, the need for design as a differentiation tool in a crowded marketplace becomes more and more necessary."

As have the country''s manufacturing abilities, those design skills are rapidly advancing. "I think in five to 10 years, China will be an industrial design powerhouse just as America and Europe are today," Butterfield says. "They are currently very sophisticated, and really the only thing they''re waiting on is the growth of their internal economy." TD

Design: In-house or outsourced?

Innovation and differentiation. Those two things are the key to keeping U.S. processors alive in today''s fast-paced global supplier race, says Brian Jones, president and CEO of Nypro.

"I don''t believe there''s much of a future in shoot-and-ship molding anymore," Jones told one audience. "That''s all going to China. To be successful we need to be pioneers in innovation. The number-one goal of molders needs to be to help their customers innovate and bring products to market sooner."

Nypro specifically targeted design as a competitive strategy, and to realize this goal the company purchased an interest in Radius Product Development, a product design and development company in Clinton, MA. Radius is a joint venture owned by its managers and Nypro. Over the past two years, Jones notes in a recent interview, Nypro has significantly "ramped up" its product design capabilities with offices now in Chicago, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, and Beijing. Most recently, Nypro established a separate design group just for packaging called Union Street Brand Packaging, located at the company''s headquarters.

"We''re ramping up the whole front end of innovation, allowing us to participate in markets where we''ve not been a major player and to enhance our position with existing customers," Jones adds.

One Nypro project that''s received a lot of press lately is the new Motorola mobile phone designed specifically for young Chinese women. Radius Product Development teamed with Motorola''s designers to perfect the design. Motorola needed a partner that could complement its wireless handset technologies with a compelling aesthetic design that would appeal to this specific demographic.

In fact, Jones notes, one of the lead designers for Radius was a young woman who had grown up in China. The results were an industrial design that incorporated characteristics the target market wanted, packaged in a mechanical design that was highly efficient to manufacture.

The next step included Nypro''s Asian toolmaking, molding, painting, and supply chain services rapidly engaging to transform the design into finished product, ensuring they could capitalize on being first to the marketplace and set the new design standard.

The Tech Group (Scottsdale, AZ) is taking a bit of a different tack, using a combination of in-house engineering expertise and outsourced product design and development, working in concert with its customers'' new-product development teams. Eric Resnick, VP of engineering for The Tech Group, explains that typically, by the time the firm becomes involved with the project, either it or the OEM has already selected a design house.

"But, they recognize that much of the design aesthetic doesn''t necessarily relate to manufacturability, which is our primary concern," says Resnick. "We''ve taken the stand-borrowing somewhat from BASF-that we don''t make the product design, we make the product design better."

The Tech Group''s philosophy takes "can this part be molded?" to a higher level by asking "can we make this product more robust?" explains Resnick. With 90% of a product''s costs locked into the design, manufacturing typically has to work around all which is locked in. "It then becomes critical to figure out how to make the entire manufacturing process more robust, to increase productivity, and reduce costs to manufacture," he adds. "That''s our focus."

Outsourcing much of the product design and development gives The Tech Group greater flexibility in the types of services it can provide for customers. Currently, the firm works with a number of design houses chosen selectively for their specific expertise, whether it be prototyping, testing, or product development, to complement the company''s two in-house designers, and its manufacturing engineers. Although it is looking to increase its staff in the area of product design, Resnick says the firm is in no hurry as there are many qualified design houses.

Generally, The Tech Group, which focuses on two primary markets-medical and consumer products-doesn''t do market research or product testing, and looks closely at product liability if it does agree to some limited product testing for select customers at their request. Resnick points out that The Tech Group is very selective in the products the company goes after when it becomes involved in design.

"At the end of the day, our role is to get the product into manufacturing in collaborative efforts of an entire team including the OEM and their design authority, the tooling engineer, the materials person, and one of our manufacturing engineers, and, if required, one of our automation engineers to look at the best way to assemble the product."

An example of the efficacy of this collaborative effort can be found in customer Bionix Medical Technologies (Toledo, OH), which received a Medical Design Excellence Award for its Lighted Ear Curette at the MD&M show in New York in June (the show is produced by MPW''s parent company, Canon Communications LLC). Josh Noble of Bionix, the lead designer for the product, worked closely with Tech Group''s Julie Pajot, sustaining engineer. These two represented the design team and would get input as needed from others in each company.

This lean team of two primary designers, with Bionix''s Sue Brangham as project coordinator, gave them the flexibility they needed to do the creative work without getting bogged down making decisions by committee. It also helped speed up Bionix''s time-to-market requirements.

"I went with the initial geometry for the curette, then Tech would look at it and tell me what would work and what needed tweaking to make it easier to manufacture," Noble explains of the collaboration. "We were doing some manual processes and it was becoming a bottleneck, so we asked Tech about automation. They looked at it and were able to automate the manufacturing process to make the whole of it more efficient and cost effective for the high volumes we needed." CG

Assembly advantage

In terms of product design, getting it right in Asia may actually be different from getting it right in the West. Titoma promotes what it calls Design for Asian Manufacture (DFAM), a concept it''s actually trademarked that entails designing a product to take advantage of the unique cost benefits that droves of low-cost labor can afford a part.

In the West, as wages increased, and often to compete with Asia, designers sought methods to replace labor-intensive assembly features likes screws, using snap-fits instead. The snap-fits usually require a more complex, costly tool (undercuts, etc.), and they also necessitated a robust molding process due to tight tolerances. In DFAM, removal of flash or screwing or gluing together housings, for example, is back in the designer''s arsenal, offering clients'' designs the option of exploiting the labor advantage that beckoned many brand owners in the first place.

Color me China

Opened in October 2003, GE''s $64 million technology center in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Zone (Shanghai) continues rapid growth as a resource for companies hoping to make an impact in the Chinese market in any of GE''s businesses, increasing from 500 employees to more than 1200. Bob Johnson, who works in the center as GE''s Pacific technical manager, says 200 of those employees work in the Advanced Materials segment, with many directly employed in the company''s specially targeted coloring offerings for China, dubbed the "China Palette" and part of GEAM''s Visualfx molded-in colors. The palette''s eight effects are geared toward China''s cultural values and include styles like porcelain, opalucent (tranluscent shades of jade), and pearlescent (translucent earth tones in the manner of a pearl).

Johnson says the materials have taken off, and in the last six months GE has added capacity and people, including an industrial designer tasked with consulting on color choice to meet Chinese consumer preference. Johnson says the facility has between 400 and 500 customers coming through a year, and has been successful enough that GE is planning one for Japan, and is discussing opening several more in the region, although Johnson could not offer details.

Building a better Igloo

When Igloo Products Corp. (Katy, TX) wanted a redesign of its Ice Cube Marine cooler, an entire team of people was involved, including engineers and designers from Igloo, material supplier GLS Corp. (McHenry, IL), and Stellar Plastics, a moldmaker and processor in San Marcos, TX.

Although Igloo''s Ice Cube brand, introduced in 2003, has been a highly successful product, Marq Sanchez, product manager for Igloo, saw that it was already time to update the line. One feature Igloo''s team chose to enhance was the cooler''s handles, making them more comfortable for carrying, and adding color to the all-white finish. Igloo also wanted a durable and UV resistant finish, with a logo placement on the handles.

Igloo partnered with GLS Corp. because of that company''s expertise in TPE. Elements like overmolding adhesion and the ability to fine-tune the Shore A softness to the polypropylene substrate were important. And since the part required a detailed overmolded cutaway section in a deep-blue, almost black, finished color (molded with a very smooth finish "hand") the TPE''s properties were very important to the outcome. Igloo chose a Kraton/E G7705-9001-01 material.

For the mold and processing, Stellar Plastics was tabbed for its ability to go from art-to-part. The company''s moldmaking division, Stellar Mold & Tool Inc. (Galesville, WI), created CAD design models, engineered the mold, and cut complex mold shapes. Because Stellar was involved early in the design phase, it was able to identify manufacturing issues up front.

The logo cutout design for the handle proved tricky. The TPE had a tendency to slip or roll, so mechanically anchoring the overmolded section to the handle proved critical.

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