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Toaster Redesign
TOASTER
REDESIGN
Project Scope
Proctor-Silex® 2-Slice Toaster
Analyze an existing product with the challenge to reverse engineer and re-design a more cost-effective product.
Team: Daksh Jayaswal, Tongtong Lu, Elvin Peprah, Annisa Prasetyanto, Qiao Yin
My role: Industrial Designer, Rendering
Functional Requirements & Decomposition
The simple diagram shows what material flow, energy flow, and information flow a toaster receive when toasting bread.
Disassembly Flow Path
Having taken the toaster apart, the team was able to document parts, material, and assembly process and put them in the DFM Product Analysis Worksheet. This exercise helps the team to determine which parts can be eliminated or reduced to minimize cost in manufacturing and assembling. Parts such as the small bridges, bread grills, and back protective sheet are the few that are considered to be eliminated.
Brainstorm
Aesthetics
Combo Plunger
Heating Pad
Solution
Options
Several sketches were done and the team group these concepts into 5 categories: Skinny toaster, Button Plunger, Panini/Grill, Conveyor Belt/Printer and Drawer. Each design has their own special features and the team used that as a baseline on the scoring method in this chart.Skinny Toaster has the highest score.
The Skinny Toaster is an aesthetic and functional overhaul of the incumbent toaster design. The vertical design of bread storage has been replaced by a horizontal arrangement; the bread sits side by side in the new design. Additionally, the new design reduces part count such as for the bread grills( reduced from 4 to 2 pieces). Also a few parts are eliminated/redesigned such as the plunger due to the new design.
This redesign also saves money in manufacturing and assembly without changing the materials. Customers will also reap the benefits of the redesign; a lighter and skinnier toaster. Below are some sketches and redesign of internal parts.