Hoverbarrow combines two existing products, a hoverboard and a wheelbarrow.

This project focuses on the full design process, including:

• Idea Generation

• Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

• Design For Assembly

• Design For Process

• At Scale Cost Estimation

Project Summary

I worked in a group of 3 to bring this product from concept generation to being ready to manufacture at scale. This project focuses on design for process, design for assembly, and at scale cost estimation. Two seed products were combined into our new single product, and interviews were conducted to determine customer needs for each product and interpreted needs for the combined product. The Product Architecture Diagram blocks out the main “chunks” of the product and where the transmission of energy, material, and information occurred between chunks. The Product Specification further defines the product with a clear description as well as size, performance, compliance, serviceability, and safety characteristics with engineering metrics and industry standards.

The QFD (Quality Function Deployment) gives insights into how customer needs are related to the engineering metrics behind the main functions of the product and then how each chunk is responsible for each metric. The resulting weights are used in the Cost Worth Analysis to compare the cost of each main component to its associated cost which can point out potential opportunities for cost reduction or component enhancement. Over three main iterations of CAD (rough layout, design for assembly, and design for process), the BOM (Bill of Materials) keeps track of all assemblies, sub assemblies, parts, dimensions, materials, manufacturing processes, quantities, preliminary cost estimates, and recurring cost estimates.

The BOM is also used to determine the total material and manufacturing labor costs as well as assembly costs, resulting in a total product cost. The Target Cost Analysis then calculates additional margins for manufacturer, distributor, and retailer resulting in the final market price for the product to be sold at volume to the consumer and compares target costs based on similar existing products with the information from our BOM. All parts were completed to a “design for process” level, like adding draft and uniform wall thickness for molded parts and rolled edges on the deep drawn barrow. Finally, the Product timeline gives a rough plan for the development of the product through Raw Material Sourcing, Production, Testing and Validation, and Bring to Market.