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| Ross J Slade Industrial Design Inc. 39 Fern Avenue, Ottawa, ON. K1Y 3S2 tel: 613 729 9313 |
Manual Sorting Cases As Manager of Corporate and Industrial Design for Canada Post Corporation, I worked for 7 1/2 years as the sole Industrial Designer for a corporation of 60,000 employees and was responsible for projects throughout the country. Obviously a big part of the Post Office's job is to sort mail, and for many years, these have involved the use of Manual Sorting Cases. The cases, of which there are in excess of 25 types, are constructed of hundreds of different components and the designs have evolved over the years. Unfortunately, the various designs had little to do with current mail standards and failed to take human factors into account. As part of my Master's thesis I resolved to try and correct this by designing an ergonomically-correct, and economically-feasible manufactured solution. The illustrations below document the study.
The old sorting cases were originally made of wood. These designs were modified slightly when converted to sheet metal, but the underlying concerns of mail standards and human factors were not addressed.
Using real people in assorted sizes, standing and seated, the reach in a three dimensional space was plotted. Scale models were then used to explore possible solutions. Shown here are scale models of the final design. When completed, the design consisted of seven distinct pieces, from which a variety of standing, seated, and left- and right-handed cases were developed. Design drawings of the injection- moulded foam components were produced and a full size mockup of some of the components was created. In spite of the new cases requiring less space for servicing, the new design actually took up approximately 10% more floor space than was required for the original cases. As a result, the ergonomically-correct design solution was dismissed.
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