Product service system

My Product service system is a self serving herb station positioned at local supermarkets. My PSS aims to reduce food waste and packaging material as well as save money for the consumer and herb providers.
Food waste is a major problem in australia. as a matter of fact it is a problem for the majority of first world countries as over 40 percent of our bins are thrown away food. however the biggest offender of food waste are the supermarkets who throws away the largest proportion of food with fruits, vegetable and herbs being the most thrown out. that is, tens of millions of kilograms of safe, ediable fresh food and groceries are being discarded every year. 
So why is this happening? In order to understand this we need to have a look at the scenario board. A person decides that she wants to cook a meal at home how ever she doesn't have the required ingridents. purchasing of ingridients could take place prior or after the decision to cook, and she finds herself making a purchase for the herbs. at her local supermarket they provide herbs in big bunches which she doesnt need that much since she is cooking for herself, and the smaller portions of hers are heavily packaged and these are what you would find at your local major supermarket. 
The problem with this is that if you're buying small portions they are expensive due to the excess packaging, which is harmful to the environment as well. and if you were to buy a whole bunch, you would lose the freshness if not used in time which could be difficult if you live alone or dont cook often, and both products would lose its freshness if it is not purchased quickly. 

(system map and product) This is where my PSS comes in. this is a self service herb station that is proposed to be station at local supermarkets. it is a system where consumers pick out the exact amount of herbs that they require off the plant itself and pay for what they picked. they then place it in a small recycled paper bag and is weighted on check out. when the herb runs low they are rotated to be maintained and regrow the herbs. any died out herbs or damaged containers are returened for maintainence

Project 2 comments

Andres
http://baejin.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/normal-0-false-false-false-en-au-zh-tw.html#comment-form

Frankie
http://frankie-industrial-design.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/gps-bike-system-rationale.html?showComment=1350522834516#c3860485291281961387

Monica
http://monicayllu.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/product-service-system-polish-spot.html?showComment=1350523029632#c7359118945978469377

Ella
http://id-ella.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/making-your-own-garden-compost-is-lot.html?showComment=1350523489444#c4882839698279637702

Dai
http://3331203.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-ja-x.html?showComment=1350525478322#c8003023208727778490

Video reflection: Planned Obsolescence

Planned obsolescence: a policy of deliberate planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a period of time.

This concept was, as the video suggested, first put into action in the mass production of light bulbs.

The first light bulb that was invented by Thomas Edison outlasted 1500 hours in illumination, and later designs outlast that number many times more. As longer lasting products are put out into the market, there was a decline of needs in the product, and this is where planned obsolescence was put into play. A Global cartel company pressured lamp manufactures to reduce the bulb life expectancy to 1000 hours. This meant that light bulbs are breaking faster, forcing the consumers to increase regular purchases, and creating a larger demand.

Other method of planned obsolescence was shown in the video with the invention of nylon and production of nylon stockings for ladies. It was a proud achievement for scientists to discover the synthetic material that has many advantages to what was available and the product was proven to be successful and durable. However it was too durable for the company’s liking as demand was declining. Thus it was back to the lab to come up with a design for a more fragile design of nylon, shortening the product life expectancy.

This is an example of planned obsolescence by shortening the functionality of a product lifetime. However as time goes by this method has become insufficient for companies and manufacturers; they wanted products to be consumed faster.

So then thus planned obsolescence was taking a step further, they went from speeding up consumerism by shortening the functionality of a product life time to socially acceptable to discard a product simply because it is not fashionable anymore. The most common example of this can be seen in fashion clothing and mobile phones.

So why is such a wasteful way of life introduced? Planned obsolescence was first proposed in 1932 by Bernard London to end the depression in America. The theory was that by limiting a product’s life spam, it will create a demand for customers to repeat the purchase under a shorter interval of time; creating more job opportunities, increasing sale profits, thus help boost up the country’s economy.

Consumers are consuming at an ever growing rate. With all the products purchased, used, and discarded, where do they all go? “the light bulb conspiracy” addressed this issue by taking a trip to Koma, a third world country in Africa. Although it is illegal to dump waste in these countries, many companies disguise their end of life products as “second hand goods” and “donate” them to these countries as an act of goodness and friendship.

So what can designers do to help end this wasteful cycle of consumerism? Now days, designs are concentrated more to be environmental friendly; this means that we are using materials that are renewable, recycle and non-toxic. Future strategies could include changing our economic systems and values altogether where products that lasts longer, with less toxic footprints are the ones with most value. 

Project 1: Cormack packaging

Cormack Packaging- Toothpaste Dispenser

The conventional toothpaste packaging has been left unchanged for the past couple of years, and while small problems do exist, no many solutions were provided no matter how tolerant and adaptable consumers are. For this project, while observing the process of toothpaste being used by kids and adults, some of the most occurred problems are kids who just started to brush their teeth indecently does not know how much toothpaste is not enough or too much, and often a mess is made as a result. An interesting method that some people to overcome toiletry issues is by the use of pump toothpaste which was introduced in the mid 80’s,  however due to more cons than pros, pump toothpaste gradually faded out. Some of these issues including pump malfunction, the can being top-heavy through use and becomes unstable, and most important of all, excess packaging. Through this process the value of being able squeeze out that last bit of toothpaste has become a ritual and money saving behaviour for people in general. But due to the tube shape of conventional toothpaste, this has been proven hard to do so.

Therefore as for my product attribute I concentrated on these aspects

1.      Portion control for kids

2.      Minimise packaging

3.      Easy access to the last bit of toothpaste

4.      To be fun, and easy to use for kids.

And here is how I achieve these points

1.      Portion control: the use of a pump system means that it is easy for kids to learn the “one pump per use” system. This will also teach kids to know how much they will need in the future

2.      Minimise packaging: conventional toothpaste tube is 110g with thicker plastic. In my design I have use thin LDPE with 200g of toothpaste which means that each purchase will give more toothpaste as well as less packaging.

3.      Easy access to the last bit of toothpaste: because of the thin LDPE , the bag could be ripped off the nozzle and it is easily flattened.

4.      Fun and easy to use for kids: the outer shell of the packaging are in the shape of animals, with a push at the tongue, the toothpaste will come out.

Project 1 comments

Packaging
andrew
http://baejin.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cormack-innovation-awards-normal-0.html#comment-form

Monica
http://monicayllu.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/ez-feed-baby-bottle-cormack2012.html?showComment=1350523254090#c4038185476493588063

Ella
http://id-ella.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cormack-packaging-moo-milk-bottle.html?showComment=1350523638535#c321844685886869188

LIah
http://liah90.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cormack-design.html?showComment=1350524204157#c9172661478388063693

Sarita
http://saritaparto.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cormack-packaging-competition-little.html?showComment=1350524852396#c746615672091934789

Disassemble: Toaster

Video reflection: An inconvenient truth

Global warming and climate change has always been an interesting debate between politicians and scientists in the last decade or some. For some, like Al Gore’s “An inconvenient truth”, I urges people that global warming is happening, and happening at an exponential rate. I found his film very engaging with his presentation of data and facts in a very visual and comparative method. His delivery of outcomes and consequences to the result of global warming, if not acted upon to be extremely provocative and a real sense of fear and responsibility is truly driven to our senses.

Others, argues that global warming is over rated, inaccurate and says that such a claim as an intellectual fraud for Al Gore to use such an issue as a foothold for his next presidential run.

Whatever it is, there is no harm in making the Earth a greener and cleaner environment, right?

I have always been aware that our daily activity has some sort of impact to our environment, but it was not until I watched this video that I was fully aware the extent of damage we are doing. As Al Gore said:

”each one of us is a cause to global warming, but each one of us can make choices to change that with the things we buy, the car we use, we can make choices to bring our individual carbon emissions to zero…”

While that is true, I feel a sense that as designers it is our responsibility (as well as scientists and engineers) to produce products to help consumers make that choice. There is no use if the community does want to make choices for a greener environment without the option or resources to do so.

I believe this is a new direction for all emerging industrial designers that whether if you do believe in the occurrence of global warming, there is no harm in reducing carbon emission and toxic byproducts.