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Revision as of 21:52, 6 October 2009

Executive Summary

We have identified the primary root need for the apple peeler is to eat an tasty apple. The user does not want to peel an apple. They peel because they want to eat an apple without experiencing the bitter taste in their mouth when they bit into an apple.

Provide a brief executive summary that describes your key findings and recommendations.

Market Research

Provide a description of your market research and observations. Include pictures to communicate key observations where possible. Summarize top stakeholder product needs in a list.

Competitor Products

The following reviews for the three competitor products were collected by

1. interviewing users who have used the standard peeler and/or;

2. researching online reviews of each competitor products.

Any contradictory statements are due to personal preferences of each user.

Standard Peeler

Fig 1. Standard Peeler

Pros

• Easy to clean.
• Easy to use.
• Can peel vegetable such as potatoes and other firm vegetables but not as easy as apples.
• Can be used for other purposes other than peeling, such as making curly fries and hash browns.
• Suction cup base is much better than the model with clamp.
• Metal structure more preferable over plastic device.
• Safer than conventional hand held peeler.
• Even kids are able to use it with not problems.
• Relatively robust for apples of various sizes and shapes.
• Core removing mechanism is favorable.

Cons

• Core is wasted if corer/slicer is used to slice the potatoes.
• Suction cup loses its adhesion capability if immersed in water, but recovers after time.
• Butterfly nut cannot be hand tightened, or the corer/slicer will move. Pliers are required.
• Corer/slicer is hard to realign once removed.
• Only peels fraction of the apple even with fine tuning.
• Core broke in half during the process making clean up difficult.
• Device is too small for medium to large potatoes.
• Suction cup loses its suction while the peeling process.
• Spring which hold the peeler blade is too strong which causes the peeler to peel off more than desired.
• Handle disconnects from the arm.
• Device rusts after a period of time.
• Leaves skin at top and bottom.
• Some apple wasted since the blade digs deeper than desired.
• Hard to clean the device with all the screws, springs and nuts.
• Blade exposure is dangerous.
• Do not want to eat apple in slices/spirals.
• Usage is confusing when first seen without user manual.
• Not a favorable aesthetic, the design is outdated.
• Too heavy.
• Concerned with potential rusting which may cause food contamination.

Conclusion Difficulties or ease experienced differ greatly from user to user, but in general this product is good for its price but has many room for improvement. The suction cup and metallic body was favored by many, but the robustness and maintainability seemed to be a problem.

Hand Held Peeler

Fig 2. Hand Held Peeler

Pros

• Small and simple. Storage is easy.
• Easy to clean.
• Cheap.

Cons

• Tiring and time consuming to peel.
• Chance of injury is very high.
• Irregular peeling.

Conclusion Simplest and therefore most robust but also most work required during the peeling process.

Electric Peeler

Fig 3. Electric Peeler

Pros

• Easy to clean.
• Very fast.
• Very robust. Can peel potatoes of different sizes and shapes with no problem.
• Does not peel excessively.

Cons

• Noisy.
• Does not peel the skin off the 'eye'.
• Relatively expensive for a single purpose device.

Conclusion Very expensive but the performance is top class.

Top Stakeholder Product Needs

• Maintainability

• Easy to clean.
• Reduced risk of rusting.

• Safety

• No blade exposure.

• Aesthetics

• Device design need to be favorable.

• Performance

• Skin need to be completely peeled.
• Variability in processing style.
• No excessive peeling.

• Ease of use

• Use and function of the device must be intuitive.
• Single or two step process is much preferred.
• Device must be stable for satisfactory performance.
• Light weight and compact.

• Value for money

• Device may have better performance but the value for money may be low.

Summary

In summary, the users were not satisfied with the apple peeler products currently out in the market. Experiences gained by the user from the competitor products are positive in some areas, negative in all other. There seem to be no products which fulfil the top stakeholder product needs listed above at a satisfactory level.

Design Concepts

Design Comparison

A Pugh Chart allows us to systematically make comparisons between different products. By comparing and contrasting the strengths and weaknesses of the ideas we will be able to better evaluate the features of the designs and filter for the best concept. A standard Pugh Chart includes: Criteria, which state the top customer and stakeholder needs; Weights, the relative importance of the criteria; Datum, an existing product for referencing and benchmarking; and Net Score, a non-scientific score summarizing the findings of the chart.

For our five top design concepts all but one of them (Design 5: apple vending machine with built in peeler) fall into the domain of household products. Therefore, instead of including that concept into the same Pugh Chart as the others, which would be meaningless, we created a separate Pugh Chart incorporating Design 5, which focuses on comparing pros and cons between vending machines. The Pugh Chart are as follows:

Pugh Chart 1 - household peelers

Description		Standard Peeler	Foldable Peeler	Motorized Peeler	Peeling Gloves	Children's Peeler	Hand-held Peeler	Electric Peeler
Sketch
Criteria	Weight	Datum	Design 1	Design 2	Design 3	Design 4	Competitor 1	Competitor 2
Price	1	0	-	--	++	--	++	--
Safety	3	0	0	-	---	0	--	+
Easy to use	3	0	-	+	++	0	+	++
Efficiency	3	0	0	++	+	0	-	0
Portability	2	0	++	-	++	-	++	-
+		0	4	9	12	3	9	9
0		13	7	1	0	0	0	3
-		0	4	7	10	-4	9	4
Net Score		0	0	2	2	-1	0	5

Pugh Chart 2 - commercial vending machines

Description		Standard Vending Machine	Apple Vending Machine with Built in Peeler	Fresh Fruit Vending Machine
Sketch
Criteria	Weight	Datum	Design 5	Competitor 3
Price	2	0	-	-
Easy to use	1	0	0	0
Healthiness	3	0	+++	++
Consumption	2	0	+	0
+		0	11	6
0		13	1	3
-		0	2	2
Net Score		0	9	4

The first Pugh Chart compares Design 1-4 with a standard peeler and two competitor products in regards of Price, Safety, Easy to use, Efficiency, and Portability. Among our 4 concepts Design 2 and 3 both have a net score of 2. This indicates that these two concepts are slightly better than the standard peeler. The Motorized Peeler is more efficient due to its high peeling speed and the Peeling Gloves are easier to use and are very portable. Our 2 other designs however, have scores of 0 and -1 respectively. Although the Foldable Peeler increases the portability of the product, it also makes it less easy to use and a bit more pricey. The Children's Peeler, on the other hand, does not increase the value of the product in any of the five criteria but instead increases the price and decreases the portability of the product. The first competitor product, the Hand-held Peeler has a net score of 0 but the second competitor product, the electric peeler has a net score of 5. This is due to the fact that the electric peeler is a lot easier to use than the standard peeler while it is also safer.

In Pugh Chart 2 comparisons among different vending machines are made. Our Design 5, the apple vending machine with built in peeler is being compared with a standard vending machine and a fresh fruit vending machine. Under the criteria of Price, Easy to use, Healthiness, and Consumption, Design 5 scores 9 while the fresh fruit vending machine has a score of 4. The reason our design is slightly better is because the apple being sold is healthier and is also in a form that makes consuming it easier. Without the skin no potential harmful chemicals (for instance fertilizer) is taken by the consumer. Also, with the skin peeled it means that the apple is ready to be consumed, the user does not have to worry about washing the apple or cleaning it in any way.

Project Plan

Gantt Chart

Gantt Chart is convenient for project planning.
1) Divides a complex project into smaller tasks.
2) Organize tasks in a chronological order.
3) Estimates how long a project required.
4) Allow user to know what tasks are dependent on other tasks to be completed first.

All works have been assigned to team members.

We will follow this sechdule as much as we possibly can.

Team Member Roles

Findings and Recommendations

Appendix

Initial Ideas

1) Eliminate all the screws

2) Motorize the peeler

3) Lazer!!!

4) Tray to hold the peeler

5) Circular 1-step Blade

6) Better Appearance Design

7) Grow an apple that would automatically have the skin peel off by itself (after taking out from the fridge?)

8) Solution that would dissolve the skin (?)

9) Cut up the apple completely, and then filter out the skin, then reform it back to the shape of the apple

10) Freezing up the apple so the skin cracked

11) Have a mate to peel the apple for us

12) Container that holds the apple, you turn the handle bar, then it peel the apple

13) Centrifugal Force Apple Peeler

14) Separate the corer, blade and the slicer

15) Foldable peeler

16) Adjustable size peeler

17) Using scruber(?) to peel the skin instead

18) Glue, Clamp instead of suction cup

19) Part of the kitchen part

20) Rotate the blade instead of rotating the apple

21) Detachable blade? (combine the traditional peeler and the conventional one)

22) Scanner that detect the soft/rotten part of the apple

23) Automatic Super Fridge that peels every for you

24) Optimize peeling process such that only the skin is being taking off

25) New generation of apple!!! NO SKIN!!! WOHOOOOOO

26) Use fertilizer that is not harmful

27) Ultra sound to pulverize the skin

28) Sand paper instead of the blade! 

29) A sphere with sand paper in so when one spin the sphere it peels the skin off

30) Make the skin sweet so that you would love to eat the skin

31) Adjustable size of the body so you can fit different size of apple/ vegetables on it

32) Better grib

33) Greener Material to plastic, no rusting, easier to manufacture

34) Design that doesn’t need the box, so the supplier would have more space in store

35) Decrease numbers of components maybe less than 5 parts!!!!

36) Standardize all the fasteners

37) Vertical peeler instead of horizontal

38) Use Wire/string for peeling

39) Single bladeSegments of blade

40) Bendable blade

41) Protection Blade Cover prevent from accidental cut

42) Water Power instead of man power

43) Foot Switch for handicap people

44) Sound control

45) Detachable Groove channel Assembly

46) Set the groove channel to the default position automatically (spring attached?)

47) Peeler returns to the default position (through some channel?)

48) Integrate the blade with the main body

49) Get rid of the spring?!

50) Generate energy when turning the handle bar

51) Switch between manual and auto

52) Replace the spring with rubber band

53) Hold the apple by magnet/ electro magnet

54) Add more tooth on the tri-fork

55) Sound interaction. Alerts user when finished peeling.

56) Pet compatible apple peeler

57) Light on apple peeler to see at night.

58) Sensor to detect potential injury. Alarm when hand is close to blade.

59) Blade turns blunt when user is in danger.

60) Vacuum to clean skin and juice.

61) Peel multiple apples at the same time.

62) Multiple Blades

63) Adjustable blade angle

64) Blade equipped with pressure sensor

65) Magnetic base

66) Adhesive (glue, tape, velcro) on base

67) User interface to alarm the user when appropriate steps are not followed

68) Apple loaded into device with conveyer belt

69) USB powered

70) Solar peeler

71) Make whole device square

72) Apple core removing mechanism

73) Series/Parallel connected peelers

74) Easy disassemble – easy to clean

75) Press/snap fit all components

76) Safety camera connected to parent’s computer to protect children from accidents

77) Automatic repositioning of groove channel by spring

78) Longer lever

79) Tri-fork on front and back for secure placement

80) Tri-fork all the way through the apple

81) Use carbon fiber to reduce weight

82) Change design to appeal to small children – i.e. Disney

83) Change handle from wood to rubber

84) Scans apple for optimal peeling experience

85) Alarms when device is not secure

86) Intuitive use

87) Attach LCD screen – TV,

88) Apple peeling is scored

89) Heating system for warm apple sensation!!! (Tri-fork)

90) Injecting/Coating apple with chocolate, caramel during peeling process

91) Blade attached to user

92) Sweetness sensor

93) Nutrition analyzing sensor

94) Integrated can opener

95) Integrated blade sharpener

96) Floatable peeler to recover from shipwreck

97) Direction of handle rotation changeable

98) Emits ultrasound to keep pets away from peeler

99) Apple vending machine with built in peeler

100) Built in juicer and sauce making mechanism

101) Automatic washing of apple

References