Design for manufacture

Beginning in the late 18th century, the Industrial Revolution saw the Western world transition from a primarily agrarian and handicraft economy to one thriving on machinery. Time-honoured artisans were quickly replaced by new manufacturing techniques and industrial technology that produced articles on a massive scale. With that came a decrease in costs and an amplification of pace.

Intricate and tailored manufacturing didn’t sit well alongside this radical efficiency shift. A new emphasis on simple, modular and fewer-pieced designs began to reign instead, with fresh manufacturing processes requiring products to be easily brought together at speed. Manufacturability rapidly became a critical aspect of good design.

This prevailing attitude of ‘do more with less’ has remained ingrained within design approaches of our modern age. Read on to trace an over 250 year-old design journey and discover the developments crucial to a design revolution that’s still ongoing. Plus, explore a few Australian Good Design Award winning projects that embody the best aspects of efficient manufacturability.

*The final stage of the Model T assembly line in Highland Park, Michigan. Image: Ford Archives – Henry Ford Museum*

Manufacturing revolution – design realignment

As noted by Arthur J. Pulos in a piece for the American Design Ethic, mass production requires great optimisation of the, “quantity and quality of the materials and the human and synthetic energy being consumed [in the manufacturing process], without reducing the value of the product that results.” He states that it brought about great technological change to realise this ‘do more with less’ rhetoric.

The assembly line was one of the major advancements that energised the mass manufacturing revolution. Credited to the inventor of the world’s first mass-produced vehicle, Ransom E. Olds, at the turn of the 20th century, the assembly line saw the manufacturing process broken down into a series of simple tasks along a production line. Workers with very specific jobs are stationed along the line, completing parts of the whole product before it moves onto the next station.

Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company and critical player in modern industrialisation, refined the assembly line not long after its introduction. He established a number of innovations, including the use of standardised parts, interchangeable components and specialised machinery. This allowed for the efficient production of large numbers of automobiles at a low cost.

Production and manufacturing designers drove the success of these large-scale manufacturing processes. It required an article’s design to critically take into account the technologies and operations at play in the manufacturing stage, as well as the production quantities expected. Such designers work to shift away from artisan-style design to set the stage for easy, efficient, cost-effective and optimised manufacturing.

*Robotic automation and 3D printing brings to life the 2022 Good Design Award Gold Winner – Scotsman Electric Scooter*. *Image: Scotsman*

Optimising design for manufacturability in our modern age

Many modern industrial designers take a leaf out of Old and Ford’s book in their everyday work. The principles of mass production that these innovators set in stone have now been applied to almost every industry – consumer goods, electronics, textiles and more – which means designers worldwide are required to innovate in-line with manufacturing capabilities and needs.

A crucial part of design for manufacture is the engagement of manufacturers in the development and design process. It opens up the conversation to include technological capacity, production quantities and available materials, with cost-efficiency and reductions in prototyping and manufacturing time usually the key emphases. This allows a product of the highest possible quality to perform as expected, without compromising a smooth and affordable manufacturing journey.

For example, as advanced robotics, automation and injection moulding increasingly become key parts of the manufacturing process, modular or one-piece designs are being necessitated. It’s in this way that products are able to be pieced together on production lines with relative ease in a puzzle-piece style.

With continuing advancements in manufacturing processes, design for manufacturability is a vital part of the modern industrial design discipline. It’s how innovators have been able to adapt to pricing variabilities, competition and movements in material availability, proving its future-proof ability to stay ahead of market pressures. The approach shows that a design-led thinking extends beyond the engagement of the design’s end users to include those bringing them to life on a manufacturing level.

*2020 Good Design Award Best in Class Winner – AbilityMade* *– uses 3D scanning and digital fabrication platform remove the need for plaster-casting*. *Image: AbilityMade*

Manufacturability at play

Designers don’t have to be under the stress of large-scale production to innovate for ideal manufacturability. In fact, the critical aspects of mass production – cost-efficiency, manufacturing speed and simple construction to name a few – are just as applicable to small-scale designs. Its cost, time and future-proofing benefits can still be vital to their success.

The following three Australian Good Design Award winners have been recognised to embody the best aspects of the design for manufacture approach:

*Mobility embodying modern manufacturing efficiency.* *Image: Scotsman*

Scotsman Electric Scooter

2022 Good Design Award Gold Winner

Scotsman is the world’s first fully connected, all-carbon fibre scooter. Cruise around traffic congestion with a sustainable ride designed to last, with its study, yet light frame offering a speedy, energy efficient experience – every time.

An optimised 3D printing process using carbon fibre thermoplastics brings the manufacturing cost down 60%, allowing the Scotsman to thrive at the meeting point of power, design, quality and affordability. It stunningly presents the future of urban commuting with no compromise to performance.

Learn more

*Modular shade for sunny, productive and connected days*. *Image: ChillOUT*

ChillOUT Tree

2022 Good Design Award Gold Winner

The ChillOUT Tree is a landscape architect’s solution to a lack of shade in high-traffic urban spaces where actual trees don’t fit the bill. They are smart, modular shade structures that activate outdoor community hubs as safe and accessible ‘third places’.

A modular approach to manufacturing uplifts the ChillOUT Tree as an easily serviceable and upgradable public amenity. The designers challenged an unmet need for simple shade structures that provide more than just that, bringing modern, practical and technological experiences to the public domain in a completely integrated offering.

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*The revolution of an everyday action. Image: Lane*

PIVYT by Lane

2022 Good Design Award Best in Class Winner

Simple, aesthetically pleasing and compact, the PIVYT by Lane introduces a sleek new way to access and secure your home away from traditional over-complicated and tired handle/knob designs. It delivers a new benchmark for door hardware innovation that stands out in a highly competitive market that constantly contends with commodification.

They challenge existing door hardware componentry by minimising surface area, in turn decreasing manufacturing materials used, and also reducing the opening of door to only one action – simply pull. PIVYT’s ability to be retrofitted simultaneously extends its use cases in homes of all eras.

Learn more

Entries for the 2023 Australian Good Design Awards have been extended to 5th May

The deadline to be a part of the 2023 Award season has been extended, with entries now closing at midnight 5th May. If you have an idea, product, project and service ready to make its mark on the design world and our wider society, don’t delay – submit your entry today.

ENTRY INFORMATION HERE

Catching up with Meld Studios

Founded in 2009 with a vision to amplify how people interact with the world around them, Meld Studios has since become an award-winning design company thriving at the forefront of service design. Now, with studios Australia-wide, the team of like-minded innovators are continuing to pioneer design as a strategy and advocate for inclusive, collaborative and iterative design approaches – both with clients and internally.

Meld Studios are proud recipients of numerous Australian Good Design Awards. In 2018, their human-centred design framework for the Queensland Government took home the most prestigious Award accolade – the Good Design Award of the Year – while 2020 saw the studio make room on the office mantlepiece for four new Awards celebrating their impactful and conscious work.

An unwavering dedication to design-led thinking and culture has underlined Meld Studios’ inspiring journey. It’s empowered a future-focused approach to design that deeply respects the people, places and visions they innovate for, with each project and initiative showcasing their commitment to a more equitable and connected tomorrow. In 2022 Meld Studios were recognised as the Good Design Team of the Year for their glowing emphasis on human-centred design and ongoing industry success.

Almost a year on from their win, Good Design Australia sat down with Meld Studios co-founder, Steve Baty, to talk about all things design-led thinking, contemporary collaboration and the progressive goalposts of good design.

Good Design Australia: A design-led culture is synonymous with the Meld Studios vision. What does that look like in the workplace?

Steve Baty: As a design company, it’s how we go about client work in very much the same way that we go about work for ourselves. For example, Meld has recently gone on a journey of becoming an employee-owned business, and we achieved that as a designed project. So, just as we do day-to-day with our clients, we conducted research to understand how people thought about their roles, responsibilities and commitments to one another. We engaged the right people and brought together different concepts, sought feedback and put trials in place.

Meld approaches the running of the company with that same client philosophy of early engagement, deep understanding, trying multiple things, seeking feedback and then settling on a preferred model or a preferred approach. It’s how we can ensure everyone’s voices are heard, appreciated and actioned for everyone’s benefit.

GDA: It seems as if a deeply collaborative approach brings this design-led attitude to life. How does Meld come together with clients and as a team with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth?

SB: Meld has four studios where people come to work, but for the last few years we’ve had as many working locations as we’ve had homes. Since the pandemic, that’s kind of our reality. We’ve found that the key to keeping the collaboration and the engagement rolling is to become much more deliberate about when we work side-by-side or remotely. We’ve needed to decide when it’s most important to come together and understand that it could be for a whole raft of reasons – some of which have nothing to do with the project. It’s things like reconnecting with staff, the social elements of working together and the simplicity of having a coffee during a break that are important too.

There are obviously times that we’ll need to go out on-site to engage clients and stakeholders face-to-face, or collaborate together as a team. I feel as if there’s a rapport, a sense of trust, a vulnerability and a rhythm that usually works better when you’re in a room together. But, even then, all we need is a timezone and email to connect and have extremely valuable conversations.

A recent project Meld was involved in realised the perfect balance of both, where initial engagement was physical – bringing 15, 20 people together into a room – and the outcome was delivered remotely to the same people dotted around the country.

*Insights* *from Meld Studios’ deep-dive into the ACMI visitor experience – 2021 Good Design Award Winner*
Image: Kimberley Crofts

GDA: Turning back the clock to 2022, what did it mean for the Meld Studios team to be named Good Design Team of the Year?

SB: It was a big deal. It was a really big deal. Alongside my two business partners, we’ve spent a lot of time over the years trying to justify and prove the value of design in new spaces. We’ve made the argument with clients that these approaches can help you time and time again. In fact, it’s been 13 years of incrementally shifting the places and sectors in which we work, the scale of the challenges we face and the ways we help lead change in our effort to make a powerful case that says ‘we can do this’.

So to have the Australian Good Design Awards and Good Design Australia sit there, look at our body of work, look at the places that we’ve been able to get design into, and recognise that that’s some really good work – that’s special. I got quite emotional when I found out. I was just so deeply proud that Meld’s commitment to design in new spaces could be acknowledged by our industry.

GDA: The concept of ‘good design’ within Good Design Australia encompasses ideas, products, projects and services that show potential to lead to a better, safer and more prosperous future for all. How does Meld define ‘good design’?

SB: We look at design as a way of helping create a thriving Australia, so that’s always what we’re aiming for. That looks like a nation that is more sustainable, more equitable and more just. It requires design to be seen from the perspective of the people who were, are or will be impacted by a project, which means that good design is all about asking the right people the right questions. Have the people being impacted been involved? Have they had input? What would they suggest or consider? Do they consider the output to be more sustainable, more equitable and more just?

One of the things as an industry we’re grappling with at the moment, is this notion of colonialism and extractive practices – the role of capitalist organisations and markets in creating and taking advantage of natural resources, human resources, exploitation, extraction. It’s really only when we start to move away from those sorts of mindsets – that historically paternalistic colonial approach to ‘what does good look like?’ – that I really think we can realise what we mean at Meld by ‘really good contemporary design’.

GDA: What would you describe as the next frontier of good design?

SB: Deep client and stakeholder engagement. Honestly, it’s already on its way there. If you think back 10 or 15 years ago, for example, you would have never really had a serious conversation about design and its connection to Country and its people. Whereas now, it’s becoming more and more innate to design processes and frameworks.

Eventually, we’re gonna get to a point where we start asking questions like, ‘well, should we design it at all?’ We’re not quite there yet, because there’s money to be made. But, at some point, it’ll no longer be a ‘how can we? how might we?’ situation but a ‘should we?’. I think that’s actually the next frontier for good design.

*The Meld Studios team following the company’s transition to an Employee-Owned Trust – the first in Australia’s history*
Image: Meld Studios

Entries for the 2023 Australian Good Design Awards close 21st April

The deadline to be a part of the 2023 Award season is quickly approaching, with entries closing at midnight 21st April. If you have an idea, product, project and service ready to make its mark on the design world and our wider society, don’t delay – submit your entry today.

ENTRY INFORMATION HERE