Does the product fulfil the original brief and specification
As you an see from the specification checklist (see drop down menu for full analysis) on the whole i have met the original criteria set and feel that my product performs functionally and aesthitically well for both bees and consumers.
There were however some factors such as not being able to acquire the tetra Pak which prevented the product from being fully completed and totally validated.
I feel I have also meet the needs of my brief, i have created an aesthetically pleasing, functional bee box which can be placed in any outside space no matter how small . This fit with my idea of reading a product which will allow city dwellers to provide nest sites.
What did not go well during the design process?
Contacting the bee charities and wildlife trusts wasn't as successful as id hoped however the small amounts of feed back and responses i did received i utilised as much as possible and this prompted further research. What i did learn from this initially negative experience was that i need to write a much clearer and formal email when contacting organisations. What i also think did not help my situation was i sent my email off far too early in my project when i didn't have a completely clear ideas of what i was looking to achieve. I should have refined my idea first and maybe have written some clear questions i need answers to to shape the kind of feedback i would receive.
Machine failures was a big problem i encountered during manufacturing. Not only did this waste a lot of time it also ruined a lot of the materials i was using, despite doing a lot of test pieces. My intention was to cut the outer wrapping net on the Cam1 cutter, however when i first tried to use this it would not connect to the computer. After a lot of fiddling around, computer changes and various technitions the machine did finally connect, however the machine was not distinguishing between cut and fold lines which caused yet another problem. I tried to combat this by cutting the fold and cut line separately, which seemed to be working however the next problem i encountered was that the blade could not fully cut through the card despite the cutter claiming to be able to sit unto 300 gsm. A positive that came out from this experience was that i can now use this machine on much thinner materials however it was not suited for the thickness of my card so had to abandon this machine. The other machine failures i encountered was with the laser cutter, which spontaneously rammed the auto focus into the machine bed during cutting. This caused the auto focus to bend and not be usable. To combat this i had to manually set the focus of the laser from my material which had a knock on affect of changing the effectiveness of the speed and power setting i had spent time setting up and testing. It was through a lot of test pieces that i was able to get the machines to work to produce my final outcomes.
I do recognise that Sometimes it was my own fault for problems i encountered in manufacturing, such as not checking work properly before sending it to print. I ruined a few sheets of material because of hidden cut lines behind fold lines on on 2Design (see image below). After several silly mistakes i became much more careful before committing to print my work as i could not afford to waste anymore material or time. It was the pressure of getting the product finished which caused me to be a little careless at times.
I would like to mention that it was not my intention to use the laser cutter as it had been prominent in my last project. Due to the cam1 failing and hand based tools not achieving the accuracy i needed, i had to use the laser cutter as it was the best and most appropriate machine for the job. What is different about my use of the laser cutter in this project compared to my last was is that i chose the laser cutter as it was the best option not the easiest option.
There was a lot of waste material created from the bamboo canes as they were all fatter at one end which is the part i needed too use for the nest tubes. This meant that only a quarter of each cane was usable for this product and as a result a lot was left over. To try and use more of the material i used the skinnier ends to make the tubes for my mock up my product.
I was hoping at the end of the project to know how much my product costs to manufacture and how much i would sell it for, however it was hard to determine the true cost of my product as i couldn't get hold of all the materials to know their price. What i also realised is that if i was a company manufacturing a lot of these bee boxes it would work out a lot cheaper than the one i made.When sourcing the materials it was a lot more expensive to buy single sheets or small quantities of materials and components where-as buying in bulk was a lot cheaper. I still kept track of how much i was spending on this product to ensure i was still being selective with materials and trying to keep costs down.
Hidden cut lines behind fold lines on drawing caused parts of the wrapping to removed.
What went well during the design process
My secondary research such as materials was much more in-depth and think this contributed to the success of my product.I utilised my primary research which helped shape my product and ensure it genuinely met the needs of the people i was designing it for.
I feel i have been honest with this product. The specification was true and valid, I did not create the product as i wanted it to be but designed it for a real client and a real need. The design choices i made were based on real facts and figures such as nest hole sizes, material restrictions and postage criteria.
Despite problems i encountered with the machinery i was able to adapt to the situation and find alternative ways to accomplish tasks. For example using a different machine when the one i was using broke down or wasn't doing the job properly and finding another job to work on when someone was using a machine i had planned to use. I feel i was able to pick up and put down parts of my product during manufacturing ss i had a clear plan of manufacture. I felt i was able to confidently pick up any part of the product and knew what i had to do and how i had to do it. This was also helped by the large amount of testing i did earlier on in the project which helped to eliminate problems. Another important reason for extensive testing was i wanted to ensure processes were safe and feel i took a very sensible approach when trying new things out in the work shop, such as putting card into the laser cutter where there is a risk of fire.
I was able to save time and money by eliminating one of my materials by changing how i cut the bamboo canes. Doing this will help ensure my product is as light as possible, as the more materials there are the more weight is added onto the product. I should have discovered this earlier on in the project when i was testing the bamboo cane as i had purchased the cork sheet and drawn plans of the cork stoppers which took time and money.
I was a lot more selective with materials i chose for my final product, i bought more materials than i needed and manufactured more pieces than necessary to allow for any mistakes and enable me to use only the best materials. Fortunately most of my materials turnout out ok which allowed me to create two final products and have some spares if i lost any bits.
Does the product work?
As i cannot get the correct size tetra pak for my final piece i will never truly know if my product works in terms of will it stand up to the weather and will bees use it.I do feel confident that my product will work due to my material choices and how i have designed the product.
My product folds together correctly and as i intended is easy to assemble and disassemble which i confirmed through testing.
My product fits inside a standard large envelope and meets the royal mail criteria for being posted as a large letter.
Is my product safe?
As i mentioned earlier in my research i Chose the Red mason bee solitary bee as it is a non aggressive species, does not swarm if distrurbed and according to all the bee charity sites is the safest bee around pets and children due to its gentle nature. I was also asked by someone during my project "what if other bees that are not so nice decided to nest in the bee box, or wasps, how do you stop them?. In answer to this important point is that Red mason bees and a couple of other non aggressive solitary bees only nest in small single holes like my product provides. Other solitary bees nest in holes in the ground whilst Wasps and swarming bees (such as bumblebees) will live in one big communal space so therefore would have no interest in nesting in this product.
The product has a roof covering the entrance to the nest holes proving shade from dirt sunlight, protection from rain, high winds and snow making it safe for bees to lay their larvae.
Once the solitary bees fills the nest holes and covers the entrance with a mud plug the nest tubes are suitably protected by the bamboo cane, the outer wrapping and also the soil covering the tubes inside which provides added insulation from the cold and noise.
Are there any alterations i would make?
When the product is fully assembled it is much heavier than i had anticipated especially when the soil is added, meaning that if it is free standing the wall tabs on the bottom bow slightly under its weight (see image below). To combat this i would use thicker polypropylene to make them stronger and more of a surface to stand on. However the product is mainly intended to be hung up and if this is done this problem doesn't occur.
I think the size of the product is perfect however if i think i could re design it to accommodate nest tubes on both ends of the product doubling the amount of nest tubes and be able house more bees. However i feel there is still a good amount of nest tubes provided and the product is intended for the novice and first time bee keepers, so hardcore bee keepers would probably opt for a larger scale bee box. My product could also be easily enlarged and adapted to accommodate more nest tubes.
I would change the plant slot design as the fold over flaps are very narrow and difficult to fold. The triangular folds in the corners are particularly difficult and they would benefit from being larger to give more surface to stick to the wrapping. (See image below). The plant holes were originally square which folded over much better, however i changed them as ti felt the shape was boring. I am now thinking that i should have prioritised function of aesthetics.
Bowed legs
Plant hole folds
Did i manage my time effectivly?
I got heavily involved with my research for this project and should have started modelling a little earlier as this was a real turning point in my product and gave me more direction.
I feel i was a lot more organised in terms of how i was going to approach the project. I had a plan of manufacturing which was very useful as i mentioned above. I kept track of meeting i had and areas i need to work on to move forward. This was also particularly helpful for the evaluation as i could track my progression.
I could have completed the manufacturing stage in a much shorter time, however i was slowed down by machines breaking or being occupied and having to wait for them to become free to use. Fortunately i allowed myself more time than i need to complete the build of my final product to allow for problems like this.
What did other people think of the product?
See feed back section from drop down menu
As i have been working on this product for a few months, i am very close to it and it was important that i got feedback from outsiders to get an unbiased overview of the product. I specifically didn't ask people on my course as they may also be subject to biased working along side me and knowing my work quite well. I therefore gave the questionnaires to people outside of uni. I received very positive feedback on the aesthetics and functionality of my product.
The most important aspect of the feedback from others was to see how easy my product was to assemble and disassemble as this was a very important aspect of my design, if not one of the most. From the testing it was established that my product is very easy to put together, the only problem encountered was one person tore a bit of the card, however if the wrapping was made from tetra pan as its intended to be this would not have happened.
What do i think of the product?
I like my product, it turned out better than i thought it was going to be after i did a lot more materials research. I think the turning point for my confidence in my product was when i started modelling. I did a lot of this during the design process and worked a lot better than just scribbling down ideas and drawing.
Although i am petrified of bees creating this product has eased this anxiety and has really made me much more aware of the plight the bees face and think that my product would also help spread awareness and encourage people to help with the cause.
As i intended my product is very different from the products currently available although i feel i could have done more work on the aesthitics and included some accompanying materials such as instructions, a bee life cycle calander and improved the envelope. I still received very positive feedback on the look of my product so am probably just being fussy.
I wanted to create a product which was purposeful and addressed genuine need and feel that my product does do this.