Chances are that you, the reader, have been working from home during this pandemic. Working from home has been more common than ever before and is predicted to stay. However, chairs have not adapted yet: office chairs are complicated and bulky products. They are designed to be adjustable to multiple users, but are not the best solution for working in a nicely styled living room. This design project aims to develop a stylish chair that fits the home working environment while offering a personal, comfortable fit.

This design process is driven by the opportunities and limitations of digital manufacturing. The benefits of 3D printing seem promising, but can be time consuming and costly. This project focuses on realistically applying the manufacturing techniques for this scenario and for the start-up client. During an extensive ideation process, it was explored how to manufacture the seat by printing, how to add comfort, how to make it sturdy, stylish, and most importantly: how to do this in a manner that can be adjusted to the dimensions of the user.

This resulted in Coopi, a chair design that combines the strengths of robotic 3D printing with the benefits of a manual upholstery process. This, to avoid long and expensive printing times. Coopi is designed to showcase a bold, open and trendy character that fits in modern home workspaces while visually communicating the combination of manufacturing processes.

Thetford needs to improve their efficiency to generate more output, make space on their full factory floor for new products and decrease their human dependency at their absorption refrigerator plant in Etten-Leur. The market becomes more competitive and that is why Thetford choose to change its strategy from customer intimacy towards product leadership. This strategy is focused on generating new revolutionary products like iNDUS. The existing product portfolio does not alter much though while the output increased the past year and is not going to decline the coming years while new products are introduced. So how is Thetford going to generate more output with less people on reduced floor space?

In 2018 a feasibility study was done to explore the possibility of eliminating one big manufacturing step. The project was called ‘one-step foaming’ because the manufacturing route was designed to contain two foaming steps for isolating the fridge and could be shortened to just one foaming step. One-step foaming could fulfill the strategic needs of Thetford because of the necessary changes in the manufacturing route and design: one big foaming machine less and less assembly steps. The study was successful, but the design was not feasible for mass-production yet. A next step should be taken to further improve the manufacturing route and design.

This project tended to improve one-step foaming up to a level that would increase the output by at least 20% while reducing the necessary floor space by at least 20%. The method chosen to achieve this was by applying a DFMA study on both the present product and a product of a competitor. The lessons learnt would generate a design where the value of the work of production workers would be highest. Meaning: no use of materials or handling that would not add any value to the external customer. The customer is not going to pay more for this internal manufacturing change and that is why the project should result in a cost neutral business case while also generating the same customer experience.

The result is one concept, chosen from 3, that has an output increase of probably 57% with the same amount of workers, floor space reduction of 42% and cost price reduction compared to the new expected encasement of €11,83 with an investment of €250.000. These numbers are calculated only for the implementation of one-step foaming on the 140L fridge line (the beaker or N4140) and not the tabletop or the larger fridges. The assumption made is that new encasement regulation will be introduced resulting in a big change Thetford. The encasement regulation means that Thetford needs to change their cheap and light-weight cardboard encasement with heavy sheet metal encasement. When one-step foaming will be introduced on the 140L fridge line it will allow for usage of the automatic line 2nd step machine to foam other fridges as well.

The next step after this project is to validate the concepts by making a prototype. The project shows a high potential for Thetford to remain competitive on both the present and new product portfolio while not needing to move to another plant. Validation makes the promises of one-step foaming more realistic. Another important lesson for Thetford from this project is to rethink their level op operational excellence. In the past efficient production and high output were not important but they are now. Thetford is already started improving by implementing automation but it could do more in the sense of DFA and active automation. There is still high potential improvement to increase the level of operational excellence for Thetford and one-step foaming shows this.

Although biocomposites have been around for some years now, their use is still far from mainstream. Yet, the material properties of biocomposites and their current applications show a lot of potential for more sustainable, lightweight and structural applications in many industries. Long fibre biocomposites show good specific properties and offer unique benefits like high vibration damping. Furthermore, they have a significantly lower environmental impact than aluminium and synthetic composites. This project was commissioned by NPSP, a company with over 20 years of experience in the biocomposite industry. They experience a rising interest in biocomposites in recent years, but large scale applications are still rare. This project aimed to explore the potential of long fibre biocomposite applications in the mobility and transport industry. These industries feel the need to become more sustainable and the characteristics of long fibre biocomposites show other potential benefits. After initial material research was performed, nine weeks of project acquisition followed. Six companies participated in a short track of a maximum of two meetings to explore biocomposite potential for their corporation. The results of this process are analysed to obtain insights into what boundaries and opportunities companies see in biocomposites. From the results can be concluded that interest in biocomposites is present in these industries. The potential benefits of saving weight and opting for a more sustainable material are acknowledged by most companies. The main boundaries currently preventing companies to apply biocomposites are the high perceived risk of applying the material, high costs, a challenging end of life scenario and lack of more ‘off the shelf’ semi-manufactured biocomposite products. The current position of biocomposites can be referred to as the so-called ‘chasm’ in the technology adoption lifecycle (figure 1). At this point, an innovation is accepted in a few small niche markets but needs the acceptance of more mature companies and industries to grow or even survive. Assumed at the start of this project was that larger scale applications would lead biocomposites across the chasm. So after ten weeks of project acquisition, one case was selected to continue with in the second phase of the project. The process of this project showed that material innovation is a slow process. Reaching a collaboration and develop a biocomposite application in a half year project proved to be optimistic. Since the selected case showed slow progress, more effort could be spent on improving the credibility of biocomposites at NPSP and evaluating new material development opportunities. These efforts led to the development of a website proposal, a new sample set and three development opportunities to enable widespread adoption of long fibre biocomposites.

With the emerging demand for energy-efficient products, the composite material has become a point of attraction for many product manufacturers. Furthermore, with its high strength to weight ratio, long life span, low maintenance and design flexibility, composite materials offer tailored properties by choosing an appropriate combination of reinforcement and matrix material. Being one of the leading users of composite material, the Netherlands is a global player in the field of design, automation, material development and sustainability in the field of high-grade-reinforced plastic.

Recycling of the decommissioned composite material remains underdeveloped research. The current shredding and inefficient recycling result in the loss of material property, struggling to find its scalable application in the market. However, the composite material has a longer life than its entire product, resulting in premature decommissioning of the material due to constant development in the product design. One way around this problem is repurposing. Therefore, there is a need to look for an alternative approach.

Repurposing aims to keep the material alive by utilising its shape and remaining potential in serving an additional product life with a different application. However, the concept of repurposing is undiscovered in the field of composite material.

This graduation thesis aims to create a set of guidelines for industrial designers and companies, guiding them to efficiently utilise the composite material’s value with the practice of scalable repurposing.

Further to industrialise and streamline the repurposing practice, there is a need for product lifecycle management, assisting repurposing industrial designers and companies with the set of prerequisite information.

By case study of repurposing an aircraft galley made from the glass fibre reinforced plastic into a bicycle cart for kids, various operations, including disassembly, dismantling and re-manufacturing, were executed to gain a closer look into the repurposing. In addition, different stakeholders’ roles in repurposing were identified by conducting interviews with various actors involved in the composite industry. With the help of the theoretical and practical insights gathered during the exploratory phase, the PLM framework and guidelines were formulated focusing on scalable repurposing of the composite material.

A revised set of guidelines was proposed by evaluating the draft guidelines through an interview with the repurposing company and a co-creation session involving various stakeholders, education experts and industrial designers. Based on the evaluation, it can be concluded that the guidelines can serve as a base for implementing the repurposing practice, where the industrial designer can connect the detached stakeholder and guide the implementation of composite repurposing.

However, to make these guidelines well qualified for all the composite products from different sectors, a wide range of case studies should be conducted. Although these guidelines are formulated to support industrial designers to impact repurposing positively, further work is needed to conduct a business model, real case scenario, and policy management to look into the guidelines’ pertinency.

This graduation project explores the influence that the mobihub -a physical space in the neighbourhood that facilitates and promotes shared transport- can have on the neighbourhood. This has been done by making multiple exploratory designs for different locations. The insights from these studies have been combined into a design manual for the implementation and design of a mobihub.

The graduation project assignment was to design a strategy for a concept for HARMAN Automotive's partnership with Bang & Olufsen and Ford Motor Company. By means of the design-driven innovation method (Verganti, 2009, 2016), a product-service system was created.

The principles of compliant mechanisms have been available to engineering students, students of mechanical engineering. Designers or design students had very little understanding of the principles behind making compliant things(Appendix B- Interviews).

Through the course of this project, the relevance of compliant products to designers has been outlined. The basic general principles have been outlined and an introductory workshop experience has been curated using a worksheet as a tool to guide designers in their learning journey and in helping them design their first-ever compliant thing. The concept has been validated on two occasions with two user groups, one on the university level and the other on a professional level.

With the emergence of 3D printing as a manufacturing technology for the prototyping needs of a designer, the FDM 3D printing technology is used in attaining the results of the workshop.

To direct the project, the values of two stakeholders were considered. First, the IDE Academy, TUDelft. Second a mock business entity, Borderless Quadrant. Through these values, the mechanics of the workshop such as experiential learning, conversational learning have been shaped.

The methodological approach of the project is based on the double diamond approach and has - explore, define, develop and deliver phases.

During the exploration phase of the project, literature research coupled with interviews with subject matter experts was conducted. The challenges faced by product developers while designing compliant products were outlined. The current delivery of the IDE academy workshop was observed and points for improvement were noted down.

The literature research aided in formulating the basics of designing with the flexibility of products.

Going into the define phase of the project a vision was formulated i.e “The vision is to encourage play and exploration in the learning journey to get to simple, functional, tangible outcomes”.

Based on this vision, a co-creation workshop was set up with a small group of designers. The learnings from this were translated as guidelines for designers. The next step was to validate these guidelines through a workshop for design students that was organized by the IDE academy. For this workshop, the complexity was to deal with the higher number of participants and time. In providing the participants with a consistent learning experience, worksheets based on the guidelines were made. The workshop was successful in introducing this new concept to designers, contextualizing the relevance of designing with flexibility for them, and helping them autonomously achieve results on the topic. The next step was to validate it with professional designers and so the workshop was conducted in a design studio. After the workshop inputs were welcomed in making it more valuable to designers in actually being able to take this skill and apply it to their design practice.

Lastly, future directions are discussed and the possibility of a business is discussed.

This thesis describes the development of a new electronic mixing valve for
Quooker B.V., manufacturer of instant boiling water dispensing systems. A
mixing valve is able to control the blending of different liquids to ensure a
predetermined outcome. By integrating electronics into a mixing valve and
turning it into a mechanic product the user will be able to better control
and monitor the temperature, flow rate and volume of dispensed water.
Furthermore, a new electronic mixing valve is a foundational piece for future
innovations. During the project an initial research has been carried out. Findings of this research have been used in the design of three concepts, which were built
and tested. The best concept has been further embodied. Through testing,
simulations and research a viable and feasible product has been created
with the aid of Computer Aided Design (CAD). The final result of the thesis is
a simplified prototype and an assessment proposal for further development,
as well as a realistic electronic mixing valve concept for Quooker B.V.