Talk:Ice cream maker

Revision as of 16:28, 28 September 2007 by Jeremy Michalek (Talk | contribs)

We received your report, and we are impressed with your findings. Detailed comments follow:

Please include a picture of the product at the top of the document
Very clear executive summary with findings highlighted
Good discussion of basic customer needs, but more detailed discussion of specific needs such as noise, safety, speed, etc. would be helpful
A technical description of how the ice cream maker functions appears to be missing
The components list is clear. Is the motor spindle holder a single component or an assembly? How about the mixing bowl?
How are the aluminum and plastic components of the mixing bowl sealed to avoid leakage of the thermal fluid?
Good observations for DFMA. The ideas to look into merging gear assemblies to reduce part count is worthwhile for us to investigate.
FMEA - you identified some important failure modes. The data from customer complaints on amazon is also useful for helping identify places for focus.
Your LCA analysis is interesting. You conclude that the manufacturing stage is where most of the energy is consumed, but it is not completely clear from your numbers. $1 million worth of manufacturing is 598 MTCO2E, and under your assumptions the $1 million of ice cream makers is associated with 4kWh of electricity. What is the MTCO2E associated with this electricity? Also, is the energy used by a refrigerator to cool the mixing bowl negligible?
Your quantitative analysis uses P = 50W. Where did this number come from - is this the power listed on the motor ?