Cost Analysis in Materials and Manufacturing, Term Paper Example

Executive Summary

Across the world, left handed population has inferior access to resources and accessibility options. This includes lecture halls in modern universities. There is a row of seats in auditorium that accommodates left-handed student. However, left-handed students cannot always get these seats.

By providing extended table, theater style seat with table from pulling from front seat, and other solutions, universities have been attempting to combat the problem with inferior options not designed around the needs of the lecture hall. These solutions have their own weaknesses which are mainly about the easiness of use. The AmbDex is our way of getting over the disadvantages and provide comfortable seats for all students.

The design of the AmbDex takes a design similar to other lounge chairs in that it begins with a typical arrangement of wood, fabric, and cushion material such that the average consumer will recognize it as a comfortable device for sitting on. Attached on the side, however, are two slots with a table that we can take it out and attach it to which side we want. The table to is slim and light so that it is easily to be moved, but also ensures the stability when using it. The traditional table is too small; therefore, our table will be big enough to use a laptop on it.

How we are going to get people to buy this? Well, the best approach for a concept such as this would be a regional expansion model, where we begin with an initial university for a trial installment, and under positive performance conditions expand to other universities in Philadelphia. We can then expand to universities in other states.

Problem Statement

The focus of the design is the problem in lecture hall seat for left-handed students. About 12% of men and 8% of women in the general population are left-handed, but at universities, there are about 3%-10% of seats in lecture hall are left-handed integral armchairs. It means a large percentage of integral armchairs are for right-handed students. For example, Lowell Hall at Harvard University has maximum capacity is 352 seats including 12 left-handed seats; Broida Hall at University of California – Santa Barbara has 286 seats including 31 seats with left-hand writing tablet; or Mitchell Auditorium at Drexel University has the capacity of 300 seats including 15 left-handed seats.
Although seats for left-handed students are available, it is not always the case that left-handed students have a chance to seat at those seats during class time. Students run from classes to classes, they seat depending on the vacancy basis. Right-handed students may accidentally seat at the left-handed tablet chair, and left-handed students most of the time end up sitting at right-handed seat. If universities can get better seats, both left-handed and right-handed students can enjoy their writing experience in class.

Objective Statement

About 90% of lecture hall seat have right-handed tablet making left-handed seats to be on demand. On the market, we have a couple types of seats with tablets that both left-handed and right-handed people can use. The theatre style seats with folding desktop from front seats don’t leave space between rows for students to move in and out. The extended table is unstable because the hinges don’t ensure the stability of the extended part. The AmbDex will eliminate these disadvantages and provide a most convenient seat for students. It is obvious that students are beneficiaries of our product. There will no longer be the situation of left handed students writing using the right-handed table.

The priorities of the product are easiness of use, stability, and aesthetic. The cost is not important but it will exceed the price of current seats about 10%. Taking the disadvantages of the folding desk top and extended table, our product basically looks similar to a traditional seat but the students can easily move between rows. However, the mechanism is different because the tablet can be taken apart. Each seat has two tablets, and student can take one to attach it to the armrest on the side they want.

Through the design process, the environment that the product will be used in is considered. What if a right-handed student sits next to a left-handed student? The space between seats is very small and it can be easy to hit someone else’s arm. If we increase the space between seats, the room capacity decreases, decreasing the effectiveness of the lecture to service its maximum capacity of students. This design below will address this issue, as well as any concerns for stability though proper joints and support.

Weight Factor

Ease of Use 100

The top priority of any chair design chosen it that it must be easy to use. While lecture halls are normally used by college students, they also double as event centers for speakers and other notable presenters that often entertain the general public. Therefore, the chair should cater to the lowest common denominator such that a member of the public does not need a degree in lecture Hall Seating to use the chair.

Stability 80
Lecture hall seats are intended to be rarely replaced, and thus must suffer years of abuse by slouching students, piles of textbooks placed on the desk portion, and other unforeseen stress contributors.
Cost 30
While cost isn’t the primary factor contributing to college and university expenditure, avoiding unnecessary modifications will keep us in line with the cost of our primary competitors, and give our product one less reason to be disqualified before more careful analysis.
Aesthetic 15
With the competition for college students increasing, colleges and universities (particularly those in urban environments or with a background in artistic study) are trying to distance themselves from the “1950s” look reminiscent of a prison environment. By making sure the chair is as pleasing to the eye as it is to use, we avoid limiting our market to Detroit’s public school system, which thrives on the stuff.
Decision Matrix
Ease of Use Stability Cost Aesthetic Total
Design Alternatives 100 80 30 15 –
AmbDex 6/600 8/640 6/180 8/120 1540
Theater style with folding desktop 3/300 7/560 4/120 6/90 1070
Desk 5/500 9/720 7/210 2/20 1450
Extend the table 7/700 2/160 8/240 4/60 940

Per our Decision Matrix, the AmbDex is superior in aggregate to all major alternatives commercially available today.
Analysis/Results

• Based on the rating factor and weighting factor, we have our design goals and criteria. We now compare our design with other alternatives. Rating factor is assigned to a scale from 0 to 10.
• Identify the similar products that will be alternatives to your design.
• We have 3 products available on the market that is better than the traditional lecture hall seat. They are seats with extended table, folding desktop, or desk. Decision matrix is used to compare our design with other alternatives. Each alternative will be assigned a rating factor to see whether it meets our design goals. The folding desk
• Define your design goals. Iterate to those stated in the Objective Statement and the rest of the report.
• Describe the rank ordering and prioritization of goals.
• Decision Matrix
• Describe alternative products.
• Discuss the weighting factors.
• Indicate whether the ascending weighting factors increase or decrease in value.
• Discuss the ratings as they apply to the alternatives including your product

Design

• Identify and discuss any codes or standards that are applicable to your design.
• Identify and discuss other constraints that affect your design or its function.
• The main issue here is about joint connection. It is critical make the joint system that can be able to hold the table with great stability and
• Discuss any hazards analysis pertinent to your design.
• Describe and model the form and function of your design.
• The main difference between our product and traditional seat is that the table is moveable. Below the armrest is a slot with the table inside. This table can be taken out and attached to the slot on the other side. The table will be mainly stay on the right side because most of the students are right-handed. When a left-handed student needs to use the table, he or she just simply pull it out from the slot and put it in the slot on the left side then turn it out to use it. There is a steel plate with the size of one fourth of the table at the bottom of the table to ensure the stability of the table when using it.

Utilize graphics to aid in the description of the form.

• Utilize scientific principles in describing the function of your design (torque, specific heat, capacitance, and ergonomics, etc.)
• Our group follows the model of lecture hall seat; however, we use ergonomics perspective to ascertain the size of the chair and the table. A chair is made to bring comfort to human beings.
• The size and design of a chair is essential to support human body. The chair seat cannot be too high because it presses the thing muscle up from below on the edge of a seat. It cannot be too low because if our knees are lower than our hip socket, it stresses the discs. The front rail must be curve downward. From our group experience when using lecture hall seat Nestbitt building at Drexel University, the distance from the armrest to the seat shouldn’t be too high because it doesn’t limit the horizontal space.
• Tables of the seats are usually small which is about the size of a 9.7″x7.5″ notebook. Our table will be bigger so that it can support notebook and laptop.
• The main principle applying to the table is torque. Assuming that all forces created by our arm will be on the armrest, there are only two forces that apply on the table. They are weight of the table and weight of the object placing on the table. Since the table is attached to the armrest, to Psychological principles (left handed vs. right handed)

Utilize graphics to aid in describing the scientific principle.

• Data and analysis (surveys, testing, charts, tables, etc.)
• Do not include the cost of materials or production.
• Iterate: make sure that your solution fulfills your objective statement. Make sure that your design goals are consistent throughout the report.

Materials and Manufacturing

Describe and justify the materials utilized in your design that are related to its function.

Stainless steel, wood and plastic composite, and cushion are three main material used. Stainless steel is used for the frame of the seat so that it stands stable on the ground. It is corrosion resistance, so we don’t have to care much about maintenance. Steel are widely use for structure such as bridge and architecture, so there is no double about its stability.

The only steel’s weakness is that it starts losing its strength at high temperature; however, this characteristic doesn’t relate much with our product function because room temperature is about 69-73 Fahrenheit degree. The joint connection is also made of steel.

Wood and plastic composite (WPC) is decaying and insect resistance. We choose WPC because it satisfies our requirement on stability. Cushion using for our seat shouldn’t be too soft because it is unable to support our body.

Cost analysis

The total cost to develop the AmbDex chair is $41,845.95 with the various parts costing $925.95 and the cost of labor involved will cost $31,000. This total cost of production is due to the minor modifications made to the chair and the breakdown of the cost of parts, the AmbDex chair, and the miscellaneous cost is as represented in the table below.

The Project cost is expected to be high due to the high cost of labor incurred. The labor estimates for each section of the chair is described in the table below. These estimates assume the number of hours per week to be 10 hours per the development member, and the payment for each member is an average of $50 per hour.

The calculation of the outlying benefits is at 25 percent of the labor costs whilst the overhead costs calculations are done at 25 percent of labor, material costs, and the outlying benefits estimates.

The cost of outsourcing the production of the hair will be at a value $35,500 which is cheaper than in-house production of the chair. This differential cost of production is due to the ease in location and availability of resources and materials involved in the production.

Outsourcing the production of the production is cost effective since wage on labor is set at a base minimum for the outsourced professional company. The in-house production issues of staffing may create mechanical hindrances to the production process in which the quality of service provided by the staff members vary and may cause inefficiencies.

For the initial production of the chairs for the single university, it is cost effective to outsource the production services since the cost of supervisors which is relatively higher than the cost of labor for the other laborers. The potential need for outsourcing the marketing and response management needs which could be carried out or performed by either outsourced vendor or in-house is determined by the number of employees of the company.

The production of AmbDex which is technically advanced than the ordinary chairs requires the location of qualified employees, training of the employees, provision of physical workspace and the required technology items for the efficient completion of the left-hand chair construction. This is unlike the requirements for the outsourced vendor who only requires being located and payment made for the services being offered.

The cost comparison for in house production in comparison to outsourced production is as follows:

This therefore means that the company producing AmbDex saves over 15% or an equivalent of $6,345.95 this is in addition to the savings to the direct costs savings such as employee turnover, employee benefit increases, and location and training of back up coverage.

Marketing

• Customer Profile
• Should find reference suggesting a preference for either for-profit, or non-profit schools
• We should also show that larger schools are more likely to have their students in lecture halls, making large schools priority customers for the AmbDex chairs.
• Attendance of Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy

Web reference to who they are

• Pricing Strategy
• Need reference for the cost of conference rooms
• Should find reference for sample budget for construction for a community college, public university, and private university
• Regional Rollout
• Drexel
• Then Philadelphia
• Then Pennsylvania

Some reference sites and books;

Cost Benefit Analysis. New York: EDC, 1977. Print.

http://products.construction.com/swts_content_files/1639/4629_126500-AME_08.pdf

http://www.cpsmanufacturingco.com/seating/auditorium-seating/auditorium-desk-options/

http://cfe.unc.edu/pdfs/AltTabletArm_pilotRPT_AUG2012.pdf