Service design

Service system design

A manufacturing process for those that have a minimal skill base, but want to make woodworked products to a high standard.

The plant stand’s parts laid out on white: four wooden legs, two cross beams, a round top and five red 3D-printed jigs.

At a glance

Role
Product design student
Team
Individual project
Timeline
Second year of my BSc Product Design (2019–2020)
Status
College project, BSc Product Design at TU Dublin

What it shows

  • Designing a manufacturing system for a social enterprise
  • 3D-printed jigs
  • Step-by-step instruction manuals
  • A quality-control checklist

Discover

This was likely one of my most enjoyable design projects, as it was the last before Covid. It was also the first time I got to really engage with the user.

The users would be those working at Pace, a social enterprise.

Define

The idea was to design a manufacturing process for those that have a minimal skill base but want to make woodworked products to a high standard, for sale in the WeMakeGood store.

Design

The system that was designed was one focused on using 3D-printed jigs, clear instruction manuals for each machine that was to be used and how each part needed to be cut and finished. It also included a clear quality-control checklist for the supervisor to follow.

Jig instructions: renders of red jigs fitted to the wooden legs, cross beams and round top, each with numbered steps. For example: “Clip the jig onto the circular top part. Drill with a 6 mm drill bit, with a depth stop of 10 mm.”
Instructions for the jigs.
A page of the instruction manual: nine numbered steps with workshop photos, from the cutting list (four legs, two cross beams and a round top), through drilling with the jigs, cutting the cross joints and the round top, chamfering, gluing and sanding, to finishing with natural teak varnish.
The instruction manual: nine steps, from cutting list to finishing.
The quality-control checklist: photos of work that fails and work that passes the check, for glued joints, chipped wood, cross joints, the circular top and finishing, each with a note on what to look for.
The quality-control checklist for the supervisor, with examples that fail and pass.

Deliver

How a product is made with the system

4 steps · 1 milestone

  • Step
  • Milestone
  1. 1Make3 steps
  2. 2Check1 step
  3. 3Sell1 milestone

  1. 1Make

    1. Step 01

      Cut the parts

      From the cutting list in the instruction manual.

    2. Step 02

      Drill and shape them with the 3D-printed jigs

      Each jig clips onto a part to guide where the holes and curves go.

    3. Step 03

      Assemble, glue, sand and finish

      Following the manual, step by step, for each machine.

  2. 2Check

    1. Step 04

      The supervisor’s quality check

      The checklist shows what fails and what passes, for joints, chipped wood, the circular top and finishing.

  3. 3Sell

    1. Milestone 05

      A product made to a high standard

      For sale in the WeMakeGood store.

Outcome

The finished product: a wooden plant stand.

What’s next?

  • Measure it in use. Counting how many pieces pass the supervisor’s check first time, and which steps still cause mistakes, would show where the jigs and manuals need work.
  • More products from the same kit. The approach (jigs for the precise steps, a manual for each machine and a checklist for the supervisor) could carry over to other products for the WeMakeGood store.