5 blog posts

http://andreakrakovska.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/final-pss.html?showComment=1350321039371#c7174153580095297944

http://katebarclay.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/pss-sydney-scoot.html?showComment=1350321448738#c8380713119056447046

http://monicayllu.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/product-service-system-polish-spot.html

http://whereisthecake.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/product-service-system.html

http://dalewakeham.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/surf-machine-pss.html?showComment=1350322708287#c323288023794209149

Product Service System

My proposed PSS design is a kimchi refiling system which operates at a kimchi house using reuseable Containers.

Kimchi is one of the most beloved foods amongst Koreans, we eat it at every meal. According to my research an average Korean eats up to 80 kilograms of kimchi a year which accounts to a lot of packaging waste as there are many different types of packagings including, plastic bags, plastic jars, foil packs and glass jars.

It is recommended by waste managements in Australia that residue be cleaned before recycling but many residents seldom clean the containers so they are more inclined to not recycle the item and since kimchi packaging leaves lots of residue  especially in the foil and plastic packs lots of the packaging which can be recycled is gone to landfill.

The system will be based in the major hubs of Korean population which include Strathfield, campsie and eastwood.

So how does my system work?, here’s a scenario board that explains the use of the system. in the first step Emily visits the kimchi house and makes a one time purchase for a kimchi jar in which she also gets a free kimchi making session during the weekend.  This Is an incentive for her to participate in the kimchi making session with the elderly

She also purcahses a token to refill her kimchi jar.  Only tokens are useable within the refilling machine which can be bought at the counter, this is to prevent anyone from bringing in their own containers to refill freely.

 She then goes to the refill machine and inserts the coin and gets her serving of kimchi. During the weekends Emily goes to the kimchi house to learn how to make kimchi from the elderly here she can meet new people and socialize with friends. She can then come freely during the weekdays to refill using the machine. The counter has a open view to the back room where the kimchi is prepared which also emphasises the freshness of something which is inside a machine.

The refillable container/ lid and clips will be made out of polypropelyne, with a thermoplastic elastomer seal. The container will contain a 2litre amount of kimchi, which will be enough to last the consumer for the week. The form mimics the traditional Korean pots to form a link of ritual to the younger generations.

The refill station stores a capacity of maximum 20 litres to keep a high turn over so it brings a level of freshness to the consumer. Within the refilling machine there is a portion control mechanism to prevent over spillage and maintain hygiene as the consumer doesn’t need to pour out the kimchi themselves . A button is pushed and the mechanism rotates using a motor.To keep the kimchi fresh a cooling system will be running within the back of the machine, which consists of a compressor heat exchange pipes and refrigerant

So the benefits of the system are it eliminates disposable packaging which means no waste going into landfill. It brings a sense of community as it brings people together, promotes local farmers, it encourages the upkeep of tradition, and the passing on knowledge between generations by actively involving the elderly.

Light Bulb Conspiracy

The light bulb conspiracy was a very interesting documentary to watch as it gave us insight to how planned obsolescence came about in the 20^th century.  Planned obsolescence is the shortening of a products life cycle in order to maintain ongoing consumption and purchases by consumers, the beginning of consumerism.

Planned obsolescence surfaced during the 1920’s during the same time mass production of goods emerged. Bernard London tried to make planned obsolescence compulsory due to the great depression to achieve a balance in the economy but it was dismissed. It re emerged again during the 1950s but was applied differently; to “seduce the customers” into buying the latest product to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary...

The humble light bulb a symbol of ideas is used as an example in how planned obsolescence first started. A secret cartel gathered and agreed upon the shortening of the lifespan of the light bulb to 1000 hrs down from 2500hrs to increase sales and profit. At first I thought planned obsolesce was a good idea as it helped enormously during the economic crisis but after continually watching the documentary I was disturbed how even when the economy became stable planned obsolescence was stronger than ever; For the economy to grow not only to meet demand but to grow for the sake of growth.

Its sad to see how the old discarded products all end up in landfills in third world countries such as Ghana, even though this is illegal the the waste is exported as second hand goods for “storage”. The effects of planned obsolescence was clear in the second part of the video as it shows how its affecting the world.

The title of the video “light bulb conspiracy” is ironic as the light bulb a symbol for ideas was the first product to fall victim of planned obsolescence whereby it was redesigned to fail faster.

Blog comments

1 http://3331203.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cormack-wobble-bobble.html?showComment=1347430900722#c7060784733470936876
2 http://bjcyc.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/normal.html#comment-form
3 http://stan-darmawan.blogspot.com.au/
4 http://ikeemays13.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cormack-project-presentation-boards.html?showComment=1347430766871#c2888270551541072564
5 http://z3333129.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/rationale-dinovites_9.html?showComment=1347430508783#c6951290024656263960

Cormack Innovation Awards

Berry blast aims to promote healthy eating amongst kids by providing a fun enjoyable experience for children as they play with their favourite superheroes

It’s a perfect addition for the lunch box as the yogurt pack provides children with a healthy nutritional low gi snack which will help them stay focused throughout the day, especially in class. It is unique to the market as it comes with an over cap that is fitted onto the guala pack.

Current guala packs on the market have small lids and are hard to open especially when it’s still sealed with the tamper proof ring; this makes it difficult for children to have guala packs during school as it is too fidgety to open especially when dexterity in children’s hands are still growing. The Berry Blasts overcap allows for a larger surface area for the children’s hands to grip onto and gain leverage to open the lid which helps them gain confidence and self-reliance.

Once the Yogurt has been finished the overcap has an after use. It can be removed from the pack to be kept as a collectable. There are many different characters to engage the children both boys and girls to create a collection of their own to be collected, put on top of pencils and traded amongst friends.

The 11th hr

The 11th hr is a documentary that highlights the importance of the earth and humankind. It was quite engaging  as it starts of with how closely linked we are to the earth and how it helps us grow. Its quite tragic how the Earth who once helped us live is now becoming forgotten in the race to grow in consumerism.

It was interesting to find out how the there is a direct link between the sunlight and the population of the world. Though I didn’t make the link before, it makes perfect sense that the energy from the sunlight directly supports the population of the world. It took 100 thousand yrs to reach a billion people on the sunlight directly, since then pockets of ancient sunlight aka oil has perpetually increased the population to 2 billion in only 130 yrs, 3 billion in 30 years and 6 billion in 40 years.

The metaphor for oil being ‘burrowed energy’ clarified the importance about the externalities for oil; Asthma growing in children, acid rain from burning coal, global warming from burning fossil fuels, all these are subsidies for the use of oil.  30% of children in class have asthma in recent times than 10 years ago, increases in adhd, Alzheimer’s, birth defects. Even though these facts may be true that there are coherent symptoms of using oil, the statistics of comparing to 10 years ago is quite irrelevant because as the video said, the exponential increase in population means that there was about 1.5 billion people less 10 years ago, which means a significant increase in children being affected as the number of children have increased dramatically.
Its dissapointing how deforesting the earth can lead to dramatic results which including flooding, degrading soil, desertification. It was amazing to discover how a fully grown tree can hold up 57 thousand gallons of water and re direct it into the aqua ducts, and without this trees lead to flash floods and soil erosion. Ultimately these floods lead to water pollution.

 Its tragic to hear how politics is dead when it comes to the protection of the Earth, the world being controlled by corporate identities, who pollute the waters with 5 million gallons of toxin into the water per year.
Overall the video was very insightful to global topics and was an eye opener to what’s going on in the world

Video Blog A

How its made

It was interesting learning about the different manufacturing processes for various packaging, especially tetrapaks. I’ve always thought tetrapaks were hard to recycle as they were multi layered with plastic, paper and aluminum. After watching the video I’ve learnt that they are completely recyclable; separating the 3 layers through expansion in water. The printing side of the packaging was also interesting. It is important for a designer to know this information as it limits their color to 6 layers.

Even though these videos are quite old, I was quite surprised by how technology has advanced. There is very little human interaction in the development and recycling of packaging, which makes for very fast output times.

Giving packaging a new life

Watching these videos gives an important insight to how the manufacturing of packaging works and how important recycling is as it provides raw materials for new products.

After viewing the videos I was left surprised by how much resources we use to create new products is recycled ie waste paper accounts for 60% of new paper products.

I’ve always viewed recycled products as low quality and second rate, but after watching the videos it helped me understand what goes behind in the processes and how some materials can be just as good as virgin materials for example tinplate can be recycled over and over again without product quality loss.

I can see now how sorting through different types of materials is vital in recycling. Wether its color glass or clear glass, pet or pc they all need to be sorted into their respective groups to be recycled efficiently and effectively. Its am It’s amazing to see how even a fragmented glass piece the size of 15mm or less can be detected on a convey belt and removed at fast speeds.

The videos are important for a designer to understand as it is up to them to pick the materials which will end up in land fill.