(Name of Author)
Measurement Box
Introduction
Ideas Happen Limited is a company that deals with promotional products as a way of advertising companies through brand promotion. These products are usually imprinted with the logo of the companies or tag lines and are mostly in the form of gifts, prizes, awards and incentives. Promotional products have become a very popular marketing strategy today, with many companies opting for this type of advertising. The industry has grown in leaps and bounds surpassing newspaper, radio, the internet and outdoor advertising. The major advantages of this kind of publicity are that it cannot be quickly discarded as print advertising, and they create continuous awareness of a brand without any repetitive costs making it cheaper than the other forms of advertising. The promotional products also increase customer loyalty, endorse goodwill, encourage involvement in social awareness events and provide significant sales incentives. Surveys have shown that about 40% of people will remember the brand’s name instantly for around six months with 31% of people using the products. To remain relevant in the industry, Ideas Happen Limited has to design high-quality products utilizing the least possible budget. This is because companies are not willing to spend a lot on promotional items, yet they require high standard since the products are associated with them.
The purpose of the project is to design a unique promotional product that will stand out, deliver long lasting impact, conform to the company’s mission and maximize the available resources. To achieve this, a thorough and extensive market research has to be done in line with the company’s objectives to come up with the most efficient strategy. The target group should be identified based on their psychographic, demographic and geographic categories and the find the most relevant event that the group will be attending. The best design of a promotional product should be chosen that the target group will appreciate and the marketing goals achieved. A plan should then be devised to ensure that the product reaches the highest number of the target group individuals as possible, and the distribution is done effectively.
Design Concepts
There were three considered ideas; all based on the notion of creating a product with multiple purposes that could benefit furniture and home appliances buyers. The first was a screwdriver on one side, and fork on the other joined to form one object. The second was a retractable screwdriver with a wide hollow base to hold other equipment and the last one a retractable tape measure with a pencil and notepad attached.
Screwdriver and Fork
This idea was not picked because of the following factors. Eating items need to be regularly cleaned to prevent the accumulation of germs that could otherwise cause diseases. Screwdrivers get into contact with screws and other various dirty environments. This means that germs could move from the screwdriver to the fork making eating with the device unhygienic. The only way to solve this issue is through thorough cleaning after the screwdriver has been used and before using the fork. To make this possible, stainless steel would have to be used to make the screwdriver to prevent rust from occurring which is much more expensive than the traditional tough steel normally used in to build screwdrivers. Another factor is that it is not safe to work with tools that are pointed on both sides as they might slip and cause injuries to the user or others. The last factor to consider is, the item does not paint the global picture the company would like to have. This is because IKEA stores are found in many countries around the world with the vast population some of the countries like India not familiar with the use of forks as eating equipment. Also, the tool is gender biased in that it is more male oriented.
Retractable Screwdriver with Screw Holder
This item was designed to be portable and to hold screws and other little equipment. The product would have been cheap to manufacture but had a few limitations in its design. The base for screws had no lid making its portability function absolutely useless as screws would fall when carried. The other limitation is that the base was too wide, and it would have been uncomfortable to use. This tool is also male oriented just like the previous one.
Retractable Tape Measure with Pencil and Notepad (Measure Box)
This is a hand-operated retractable tape measure with a notebook and pencil for easy and convenient measurement recording. The approximate dimensions of the measure box are 11 cm by 11 cm by 3.7 cm that makes it highly portable. The advantages of the measurement box include; it is not gender biased and is a universal tool accepted all over the world. The other advantage associated with it is that it is self-assembled by the end users, so the users might decide to separate the tape measure from the book depending on their needs. For these reasons, this was the concept that was chosen.
Product Specification
The measurement box is made up of 13 different components with every part made of ABS plastic apart from the tape that is made of fiberglass, the pencil made of wood, the screws, and the notebook. ABS is made of the blend of Acrylonitrile, Butadiene and Styrene and is an amorphous thermoplastic copolymer making it easy to injection mold. Injection molding is the most used production process to manufacture plastic parts with a variety of products varying in size, application, and complexity fabricated using this process. The process requires a mold, raw plastic material, and a mold. The plastic is placed in the injection molding machine where it is melted and injected into the mold and left to cool solidifying into the final part.
Injection molding is used since it is the most efficient method in the fabrication of thin walled-plastic housings 48 cm by 77 cm that the measurement box falls within. The method is also used in prototyping and low volume productions. Expected protomolds tolerances are +/- 0.08 mm + 0.005 mm/mm that are normally achieved with the wall thickness varying depending on the material. The recommended wall thickness of ABS is 1.143 - 3.3556 mm, this is to prevent issues like warpage and sink marks.
The advantages of injection molding are; the process can form complex shapes with good dimensional accuracy, fine details and excellent surface finishing. This is because ABS is an amorphous plastic with uniform shrinkage properties in flow and traverse-to-flow directions making it possible to estimate accurately and maintain the mold shrinkage. This makes it easier to keep uniformity over a broad range of processes and achieve precise dimensions. The other advantages include low labor cost and high production rates because the fact that the time-consuming and costly tooling process usually involved in custom engineering process is eliminated.
The disadvantages of this method are that it is only limited to thin-walled applications since evidence of sink marks are readily seen in ABS plastic injection molds. Another disadvantage associated with the method is the possibility of long lead times as there are five processes namely; clamping, injection, cooling, ejection and trimming that have to be done before the product is ready. High equipment cost can also be observed as these processes require different equipment to perform the operations. The equipment in every molding machine includes a power source, injection unit for heating and injection of molten plastic into the mold, clamping unit to secure the mold and the mold assembly.
The scrap materials resulting from the process can be recycled; this is done by taking the materials and regrinding them into pellets using the granulator. The pellets are then mixed with raw materials in the proper regrind ratio to make up for any degradation properties and reused in the injection process.
Cost Details
Parts one and two are the front and back casings of the measurement box. The parts cost £ 1.79 and £ 1.05 respectively. The back casing costs a little less than the front casing because less material was used in its construction since it has a circular hole inside it. The housings act as the housing unit of the measurement box. Item number three is the disk revolver used to remove the tape out of the box and retract it back in; the item costs £ 0.36. The tape measure costs £ 0.17 and is used to take measurements. Item number five is the pencil clip that holds the pencil in place preventing it from dropping, and it costs £ 0.22. Items six and seven costs £ 0.22 and 0.21 respectively, known as clips A and B and are attached at the end of the tape to prevent the whole tape from being retracted into the box. Item number eight costs £ 0.23 known as the belt clip and attaches the box to the users belt for easy portability and also used as the crank to rotate the disk revolver. The shaft revolver that is item number nine connects the disk revolver to casing allowing it to turn; the component costs £ 0.23. Items numbers ten are 10mm screws that are eight in total, all costing £ 0.27. They connect the front and back cases holding all components within the cases. Items eleven are 5 mm screws and are three in number with a total cost of £ 0.12; their purpose is to join the belt clip to the disk revolver. Items 12 and 13 are pencil and notebook costing £ 0.03 and £ 0.16 respectively and are used to record taken measurements.
The prototype cost £ 4.83 to manufacture and the supposed budget of £ 2.50, this is because only one product was made and there were no economies of scale. Set up costs allocated for low quantities are relatively more expensive than allocations for high quantities. Another factor is the plastic molding method will not be used in the mass manufacture of the promotional product hence the cost will be much cheaper.
Recommendations
The measurement box design fits perfectly with IKEA’s mission that is to offer well designed functional goods at an affordable price. The measurement box adheres to all the above-stated objectives since the cost of manufacturing the product is expected to reduce considerably once mass manufacture begins and the production process changed. The item is also very well suited for the customers of the company who are the main target since the product is expected to be given away with every purchase. As it was seen from the company’s statistics, the most sold items were the shelving units, the units are bought in parts, and the buyers assemble them themselves just like the measurement box. Despite these facts, the best part of this idea is that it is new and completely out of the box. People are used to the regular promotional products such as caps, pens, and calendars that do no longer make the desired impact on the target population. Giving them a new product will capture their attention and the attention of others creating a long lasting impact. Tape measures will last for a very long time and will never be affected by fashion standards; they are used by both genders and every race in the world.
Conclusion
Brand advertising is the key factor for the success of a business in today’s competitive world with companies trying to find more efficient, cost-effective way of marketing their products. The solution to the above problem is promotional products which cost less than other advertising mediums and last longer. Promotional product companies to ensure customer satisfaction have to understand the nature of their client’s companies and their objectives and come up with products that align with them. For customer satisfaction and achievement of marketing goals, promotional product firms need to think outside the box and design items that are unique yet cheap. This is what the measurement box idea has brought to the table and if implemented will guarantee an increase in IKEA brand recognition.
References
Cheng, W.-L., Huang, C.-Y., & Huang, C.-Y. (2013). Finding efficient frontier of process parameters for plastic injection molding. Journal of Industrial Engineering International .
Eaton, D. (2015). IKEA Facts and Stats. Colombus Business First.
Rosen, J. (2011). Promotional Products Industry History and Overview. The Wall Street Journal.
Żenkiewicz, M., Rytlewski, P., Moraczewski, K., & Stepczyńska, M. (2009). Some Effects of Multiple Injection Moulding on Selected Properties of ABS. Journal of Achievements in Manufacturing and Engineernig Science.
Zimmermann, K. A. (2015). Indian Culture: Traditions and Customs of India. Live Science.
