Integrated Product Development
A project sponsored by Opus Mach, a manufacturing startup.
OVERVIEW
Team Project
2015
4 months (ongoing)
Finding a product opportunity for the company in the marketplace and implementing a design
MY ROLE
Secondary research
Interviews
Market Research
Identifying Product opportunity gaps
Value Opportunity Analysis
Infographics
Ideas for Product requirements
THE TEAM
Alanna Libbrecht
Ankita Arvind
Jeremy Jiang
Josh Knilans
Stamp Siripanich
TJ Berry
"Reimagine machine or human interfaces for loading and unloading commercial vehicles"
PHASE 1: INITIAL RESEARCH - Finding the product opportunity
Providing Context
Our primary research began understanding facors that influenced the context of loading and unloading commercial vehicles.
First hand research - Interviews
For further insights, and to confirm our second hand research, we interviewed truck drivers that were delivering goods to commercial businesses near Carnegie Mellon University’s campus. The drivers shared with us their experiences and problems they face with their jobs.
"That's the best thing[liftgate] they ever came up with, I couldn't do my job without it" -- Kevin
"I work for 12-13 hrs/day. If the pallets are well organized, it would only take 8-9 hrs/day." -- Jermaine
Finding Product Opportunity Gaps (POGs)
Having generated an extensive list of the social, economic, and technological trends surrounding our problem statement, we worked to draw connections between the trends to find unmet needs. We then used this information along with what we had learned from our interviews to define a number of POGs.
Break the spatial and physical barriers to loading and unloading a truck by empowering drivers with better and more adaptable lift equipment.
POG #3
Driver centered loading methods that take into account the expertise about the route that the driver has gained through their experience.
POG #2
Increase the driver’s ability to easily and conveniently access loaded products regardless of where the products are on the truck.
POG #1
PHASE 2: RESEARCH & INSIGHTS - Understanding the User
PHASE 3: CONCEPTUALIZATION - Prototyping and usability testing
Product Ideas
We worked through many scenarios involving designs inside and outside the truck body. One of our ideas was for the truck body itself to have a system of conveyor belts, another idea involved re-designing pallets to make them more ergonomic. With a set of at-least 15 ideas, we brought it down to a single design that would meet the needs of the user and the business goals as well.
PHASE 4: FINAL DESIGN - Working prototype and Pitching
