As the lead designer of a 3-student team, I created an ergonomic packaging assistive device that streamlines the intricate process of separating and dispensing paper wrappers.
2x
Reducing time to separate a full stack of paper liners from 12 to 5 seconds.
92%
less damage to cups
2.1x
production capacity in first busy season after using our prototype*
Problem Statement
The workers with Down Syndrome at chocolate company Moon Angel Sweets struggle to efficiently package and ship their chocolates due to their lack of dexterity.
Key issues with curent method
Manual separation of chocolate paper liners is:
- Slow and error-prone. Workers lack dexterity to be speedy, especially when under pressure from bulk orders.
- >3 cups are often mistakenly used for a single chocolate, causing material waste and less professional packaging.
Proposal + Key Criteria
Create a device that releases chocolate wrappers one at a time and achieves our standards for:
- Time efficiency
- Eco-friendliness
- Ease of use
- Consistency
- Cost
The Solution
Inspired by Walgreens’ nail polish racks, I integrated a shelf pusher mechanism to semi-automate the process of manually separating the cups:
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Product Journey
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Design Challenges
Challenge
Inconsistent separation and damaged cups. Early iterations of the separation mechanism caused multiple paper liners to be pulled at once, often resulting in tearing or deformation.
Root Cause
Friction was uncontrolled and applied along the cup walls via rigid teeth, causing an concentrated stress on thin edges.
Solution
- Replace static teeth with gripper-style dispenser tip holding down paper cup’s center to evenly apply friction.
- Add rails for guided single cup release.
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Inconvenient reloading. Manual restocking required the user to compress the cup stack while simultaneously closing the lid.
The dispenser relied solely on the lid to hold the cup stack in place.
- Introduce top-down tip that consistently applied downward pressure to stack.
Frequent fallover. The dispenser often tipped over during use.
The base was too narrow relative to the dispenser height.
- Widen the base
- Move the separation mechanism to the lower half center of mass
Product Testing Results
Design Criteria | Target Value | Testing Method | Result |
Time Efficiency | ≥ 20% time saved | Record time taken for workers at Moon Angel Sweets to separate paper muffin cups, compare it to their initial record. | PASS – Reduced time taken from 2 to 0.95 sec per cup |
Eco-friendliness | ≥ 80% biodegradable material | Measure non-biodegradable mass and check criterion compliance. | PASS - PLA plastic can be broken down at industrial composting facilities. |
Ease of use | Score ≥ 3 on user-input scale | Survey workers at Moon Angel Sweets after they test our dispenser. | PASS – 4 |
Release Consistency | ≥ 95% of the cups are consistently separated into single cups | Simulate chocolate packaging process and assess whether ≥ 95% of cups fully separate on one try. | PASS - 100% of the cups were released as singles. |
Cost | cleint budget: ≤ $100 for each device | Calculate cost to implement the product and compare it with the client’s budget and target value. | PASS – ~$15 to 3D-print |
Key Takeaways
This was my first project with a non-technical client.
As the lead product designer, I truly enjoyed the challenge of building a working product that had true impact from a few scrawny sketches, as well as rapidly prototyping and making dramatic design pivots. I learned a lot about CAD, and early-stage product development.