2010 Contest Winners

Winning Entry

Entry: Contest Winner – Premier Calendar Kiosk

Designer: Shawn Davis

Company: Calendar Club of Canada

Description: This retail kiosk design is one of our highest performing calendar stores. What makes this kiosk so unique is the ability to hold approximately 1,000 individual titles with a total capacity of over 5,000 calendars in a 10’ x 20’ footprint. Balancing a high end look within a compressed square footage, while increasing product density has allowed us to gain access into some of the most aesthetically demanding and high volume Shopping Centres in Canada.

How SolidWorks helped: SolidWorks helped to maintain our design intent especially with the integrated rendering capabilities.

Design Time Saved: 35% – 45%

Product Quality Improvement: Reduced errors by 25%

Design Cost Saving: 30% Cost savings

Design tools: SolidWorks Professional, DriveWorks Professional

Runner-up

Entry: Military Lightweight Headset

Designer: Richard Coulson

Company: Aequus Global Solutions Inc.

Description: Lightweight Headset for Tactical Military and Law Enforcement with Quad-Mic 360 Degree Active Listening and Active Noise Reduction with 4 Speaker System – Submersible (1m 31min, IP67) Behind-the-head and LH & RH booms for left/right shooters.

How SolidWorks helped: Due the requirements to make the headset as small as possible it was imperative that the Industrial Design, the Mechanical Design, and the Electrical Engineering design team work in a cohesive group using the benefits of all aspects of SolidWorks.

Initial Renderings from SolidWorks were used to satisfy the initial sales and marketing efforts to various military tactical groups.  Initial mechanical and electrical design layouts were key to all members of the team; from design, to suppliers, to the end manufacturer’s understanding of what was required. SolidWorks has always been the best and universal tool to convey all requirements to team members from Canada to the United States and China.

Design Time Saved: 6 months

Product Quality Improvement: 60%

Design Cost Saving: $25,000 +

Design tools: SolidWorks, PhotoView 360

Runner-up

Entry: Loft Kitchen Environment

Designer: Erwin Nevado

Company: Griffith In-store and Umbrella Cabinetry

Description: The Loft kitchen environment was designed for a trade show to showcase current trends in kitchen design. With the increase in loft dwellings, the Umbrella team designed a unique environment that transformed itself into a functional kitchen.

At first glance, when the door containing the flat screen is closed, the environment looks like an entertainment wall unit and blends with the surround of a one floor loft apartment. However, when the kitchen is required, sliding doors reveal kitchen appliances and cookware. The kitchen hid tables and chairs that could be placed against other furniture to create a small eating area or an office. Sliding doors exposed kitchen utensils, sinks, cupboards, and hid a small fridge. When the kitchen is not in use the environment appears as everyday furniture of a loft apartment blending in with common furniture to create a seamless decor. Every part of the kitchen was being utilized for storage since space was limited. The design was a test in form, function and aesthetics.

How SolidWorks helped: SolidWorks allowed us to see the entire environment with materials and its functioning components at a glance. SolidWorks managed the components that nested into each other such as the table and chairs that fit inside the island counter. We were able to establish flow of traffic within our small space of 10 feet x 20 feet exhibit space. Most importantly, it made production of the components quicker since time was of the essence for this project. Guess work was eliminated and production was successful in meeting the timeline for the assembly at the show.

Design Time Saved: 2 weeks

Product Quality Improvement: Reduced errors by 20%

Design Cost Saving: 30%

Design tools: SolidWorks Professional, PhotoView 360

Runner-up

Entry: LT-1650 LHD (Load Haul Dump)

Designer: Joanne Penney

Company: Mining Technologies International

Description: The LT-1650 is an 11 cubic yard LHD, 42 feet long and 10 1/2 feet wide with a lifting capacity of 36000 pounds. This LHD is a monster of a machine. Built tough to withstand extreme conditions yet capable of entering small areas due to the 64 deg double articulated frames.  It has a fully loaded rops/fops cab, electric controls and is complete with air conditioning and heat.  It has an over sized fuel tank for longer shift durations plus many more options.  This LHD stands above the rest.

How SolidWorks helped: SolidWorks helped to make this project a success. It allowed all major frames to be FEA tested. This brought potential problem areas to light and were dealt with accordingly. Frames were more accurately designed eliminating fitting problems during fabrication and assembly of the unit.  With SolidWorks I was able to request vendor models of purchased components and place these into the design. Allowing for more accurate design of mounts, piping, routing of hydraulic hosing and adding hardware. All of which will reduce assembly time greatly.

Design Time Saved: Time saved in design was approx. 6-8 weeks while providing a more detailed design with fewer errors.

Product Quality Improvement: Product Quality was greatly improved.  So far design errors have been reduced by 50% while assembly time should be reduced by 10% – 20% as well.

Design Cost Saving: On this project alone we lowered costs by over 25%.

Design tools: SolidWorks Simulation Professional, PhotoView 360

Runner-up

Entry: Visor Step Can

Designer: David Quan

Company: Umbra LLC

Description: The Visor step can is a 6L bathroom trash can. Its narrow profile allows convenient positioning next to fixtures, in cabinets, and beside counters. When the pedal is engaged, the visor lid rotates back into the dome of the lid- a superior function to traditional swing or lift lids, as the lid does not take up additional opening space, nor interfere with the contents of the can. The can itself has a leak proof inner bucket for cleanliness and ease of use. There are 4 rubber feet to provide grip and keep the can from slipping on tiled floors.

How SolidWorks helped: SolidWorks was critical in the development of the Visor can project.

To increase speed to market, we were able to design, test and validate the mechanical and structural engineering of the mechanism. Knowing how much the lid opened in relation to the force and throw of the pedal, eliminated any guesswork and future revision. Components such as the two coil springs and sheet metal pedal were engineered in SolidWorks which otherwise would have been guesswork and a series of sample revisions.

The Industrial Design of the can shell in SolidWorks meant we could sculpt a form and evaluate materials, finishes, as well as aesthetics, in real time. Both engineering and industrial design happened at the same time. For our customers, it allowed us to gain their insights into the project, incorporating feedback before our commitment to tooling. Overall SolidWorks saved Umbra money, time, frustration, and rework, strengthening our reputation and brand.

Design Time Saved: The project from concept to tooling, took 5 months. In comparison to previous projects, we estimate the time saved could be as much as 3 fold! From a possible 12-15 month development to 5 month actual timeframe. (i.e. the project took 30-40% of the time we thought was possible)

Product Quality Improvement: We eliminated all errors that we had anticipated e.g. the force of the coil spring, pressure on pedal to open the lid, range of motion, as well as part fit and interference between components. Also, we were able to predict, and improve visual quality of surfaces using various analysis tools. First shots from tool were error free, and in steel safe condition.

Design Cost Saving: Our costs for the project totaled 75k. In previous project, rework and redevelopment costs have been as much as 50% of the project cost which by calculation would be a potential savings of $30k.

Design tools: SolidWorks Premium , PhotoView 360

Runner-up

Entry: ASI ROSEbud

Designer: Alissa van Overbeeke

Company: ASI Group

Description: ASI has designed and built ROSEbud, a small scale Remotely Operated Submersible Excavator (ROSE), capable of performing tunnel and pipeline inspections and cleaning tasks. The system is designed to operate in high flow conditions at depths up to 30m. The robust bottom crawler is also designed to be extremely compact, capable of being deployed through a manhole, while maintaining excellent drive torque for uncertain excavating conditions. The system is driven by eight chain driven wheels powered by two hydraulic motors.

To dislodge thick layers of sediment, a 30cm wide auger, mounted on a pivoting carriage, can be raised 20cm off the ground.  Sediment and sold particles up to 4.5cm in diameter are discharged to the surface by an on-board sludge pump through a 5cm discharge hose. The vehicle is equipped with two variable intensity LED lights to illuminate the area of inspection for the main high resolution low light colour bullet camera which provides the pilot with video. Navigational sonar provides real-time positional data even when visibility is poor.

How SolidWorks helped: One of the main elements of this design project is utilizing “off the shelf” components such as pumps, motors, solenoid control boards, etc, to provide a solution that satisfies all of the design requirements.  SolidWorks allows our design team to configure all necessary components together while maintaining the required capability of deployment through a 24″ manhole.  Changing a component or exploring other avenues of design is made easy with SolidWorks, saving time and money.

Design Time Saved: 40%

Product Quality Improvement: 50%

Design Cost Saving: 30%

Design Cost Saving: Our costs for the project totaled 75k. In previous project, rework and redevelopment costs have been as much as 50% of the project cost which by calculation would be a potential savings of $30k.

Design tools: SolidWorks Premium