Dm2317 | Design For Manufacture N

TOMY’S

DM2317 | Design for Man nufacture

PROD DUCT AN NALYSIIS REPO ORT OF _

MEGA M ASK KET TCH HER R

BY MARIO O R. SIQUEIRA A_ 0719547 7_

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction

3

Market analysis

4

Market and statistics

4

Child priorities

4

Parent priorities

4

The Megasketcher Classique

5

SWOT

5

Materials analysis

6

Manufacturing analysis

6

Assembly analysis

7

Product comparison

7

References

9

Bibliography

9

THIS IS A HEADING

Mario R. Siqueira (0719547)

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INTRO ODUCTION Th he product under anallysis in this report is Megasketche er Classiq que, part of Tomy Co. Ltd. L range of o education nal toys for pre-sch hool infant. Th he Megasketcher draw wing board is very similar to the Magna Doodle, an nother magn netic board commercia alized since e the 70’ss, invented by Pilot Pen n Corporation. (1) Firstt conceived d as a pre esentation board b for usse in cleanrrooms, Mag gna Doodle e has ran nked as a to op-selling educational toy in the U.S. U and around the world for more tha an 25 years and achiev ved recognition as a cllassic toy. (2) (

Fig gure 1. Origina al Magna Doodle, from howstu uffworks.com

“

asketchers are a Mega m magnetic drawing d boa ards w with a spec cial screen that t a allows budd ding artists to d draw clear, crisp pictu ures.

”

- from m tomy.co.uk

Figurre 2. Tomy's Megasketcher M classique, from tomy.co.uk

Mario R. Siqu ueira (0719547 7)

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MARK KET ANA ALYSIS M Market and sta atistics Th he figures announced a by the Britiish Toy & Hobby H Associa ation early 2007 2 showss that the UK toy indus stry value grew ovver £2.2 billlion during 2006 – a 5 percent inc crease from m 2005 – and the ave erage price e of a toy in the UK in 2006 2 remaine ed at around £7.60. (3) Th he Megasketcher, targ get of this re eport, was acquired a with £19 9.90 at Ham mley’s (Regent St, London) but ca an be found d in otherr retailers fo or the avera age price of £11.00, or for £13.90 in the offic cial Tomy’s website. C Child priorities s According to A o the British h Toy & Hob bby Associa ation a Preschool children is aged betwe een 3 to 5 years y and at a those age es infants like to role-play with to oys that emu ulate the reality they perceivve in their da aily life. Thu us toys such as dolls, action a figures,, miniature houses h and d castles, to oy kitchens and garages, are attrac ctive to children of these ages. Th hese and other to oys such ass constructio on bricks an nd simple jiigsaw puzzless usually co ome in sets of different parts that have h to be put toge ether by inffants. With the t increase ed co-ordin nation of thiss age, 3 to t 5 years old o enjoy pla aying active ely outdoors where the ey carry, th hrow, catch h and push//pull their to oys. Overall children off this age e enjoy ope en-ended ga ames such as those where w they can exe ercise their creativity and a newly le earned skills s. Pa arent prioritie es Whereas for a child the most important aspec W ct of a toy iss how enjoyable it ca an be, for parents p therre are otherr concerns. The saffety level of a toy is deffinitely the most m importtant concerrn of parents, but other aspects such as co ost, resistan nce and longevity come into play as well. w Parentss expect toy ys that will resist th he potentially violent ha andling by a child thus s avoiding the infa ant frustratio on caused by b a broken n toy. For many parentss the cosst of a toy sh hould be prroportional to t how long g their child will be interested i in it.

Mario R. Siqu ueira (0719547 7)

F Figure 1. Original Magna Doodle, d from howstal uffworks.com Fig gure 3. Origina Magna Doo odle, from howstu uffworks.com

 

““

Mega asketchers are a Mega asketchers ards magnetic d drawing boaare m magnetic drawing dcial screen boa ards with a spec th hat w with a spec cial screen tto allows bud dding artists that draw clear, , crispartists picturres. a allows budd ding to

d draw clear, crisp pictu ures.

””

- from m tomy.co.uk

from m tomy.co.uk Figure 5 Stylu us holder- (whi ite)

Figure 2. Tomy's Megasketcher M classique, from m tomy.co.uk

Figurre 4. Tomy's Megasketcher M classique, from tomy.co.uk

Figure 6 snap p-fit for stamps

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Th he Megaskettcher Classique To omy’s Mega asketcher iss composed of: -

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Plastic ca ase · 1xx Orange fa ace plate · 1xx White styllus holder (figure 5) · 1xx Blue conttainer · 2xx Blue backk plate Plastic sttylus · 4xx plastic pa arts (3 green parts, 1 yellow) y · 1xx fine spherical magne et · 1xx thick cylin ndrical mag gnet · 2xx springs, one o for each h magnet · 1xx Nylon string Magneto ophoretic (m magnetic tra ansmission) sheet Motorized d magnetic c strip erase er · 1xx 32cm long g magnet · 1xx spring-po owered motor ƒ 4x asssorted size e gears ƒ 1x me etallic spira al spring ƒ 1x me etallic shaftt ƒ 3x pla astic parts

Sttrengths, We eaknesses, Opportunities O a Threats and Strengthss Unique techn nology Self-contain ned Virtual unlimited d usage Clean and tidy t

Weaknessses T large and noisy Too Non-collabora ative Monochrom me Human intervention in assembly

Opportun nities Impro ove collaborative aspects Reduce: material and noise Increa ase level of au utomation in manufacturring

Threats 21 centtury LCD-base ed novelties Highe er costs for raw w material st

Th he Megasketcher as a drawing an nd writing educational e tool hass several ad dvantages compared c t equivalen to nt productss. Being a inkless, wa aterless and ultimatelyy clean draw wing pad avoids the untidine ess that pen ncils, crayo on and pape er can produce. Its drawing ability also does no ot run out lik ke ink in pens an nd can be reuse r counttless times. Moreover, just like Magna Doodle, Me egasketche er was desig gned for ea asy portability (notice the handle) and to self contain evvery access sory needed

Mario R. Siqu ueira (0719547 7)

Figu ure 7 Large arrea allows lap use, from tom my.co.uk

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for its usage – stylus, stamps and eraser – reducing the probability of lost parts. Although its overall size can be considered slightly too large for certain infants from the age group to carry it nevertheless becomes very appropriate to be use without a table, directly on the child’s lap. (Figure 3)

MATERIALS ANALYSIS The disassembly of Megasketcher revealed several different coloured plastic and some metal parts. Different plastic colours were sampled and tested following the provided protocol. Due to ambiguity of the flame and smell test results it can only be narrowed down to whether different samples are thermoplastics or thermoset plastics. The Blue, green, orange black and yellow samples displayed thermoplastic behaviour (ie. melted) under 260 degrees Celsius or direct flame and stretched during bending. The white samples (one for the stylus holder and another for the eraser structure plastic displayed termoset characteristics such as being very brittle and disintegrating under direct flame. The choice for a stronger and more flexible (though more brittle) plastic for both the stylus holder and the moving eraser reflects the fact that these parts suffer more strain from use than the rest of the body (under normal conditions). Additionally to the plastic parts that are also metallic screws, a small gear shaft, the motor spring, two small springs in each side of the stylus and the magnets themselves. The nature of the magnotophorectic screen is still largely unknown although the analysis revealed that it is composed of a gluey foam, less than 1mm thick, sandwiched between two paper thin sheets of plastic: one transparent and one opaque. There’s no apparent reason for not having two transparent sheets. The gluey foam seems to act as a sponge which has embedded in its matrix, the magnetized liquid. The removal of both plastic sheets did not disrupt the magnetic capabilities.

MANUFACTURING ANALYSIS The disassembly of this product revealed several identifiable marks of injection moulding such as moulding

Mario R. Siqueira (0719547)

Figure 8 sprue marks

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seams, sprue marks (Figure 8), split lines, snap-fits (Figure 11) and intricate features. The shape and overall assembly of this product indicates that human intervention in the assembly. This is a typical product of mass production, a strategy to reduce the end price and the costs of manufacturing. The manufacturing process can probably be improved with simplification of the parts and by automatization.

ASSEMBLY ANALYSIS The assembly of this product starts with the placement of the magnetophoretic screen in the blue container. The screen has several holes around its edge which can be aligned and placed onto the plastic tips in the blue container. Just below the screen there’s a space where the eraser slides. After locating the screen and the eraser mechanical parts, the orange face plate can then be snapped to the top of the blue container, thus sealing the screen between those 2 main parts of this product. Before snapping of the orange part the stylus holder need to need screwed to the orange part. At this point the product needs to be flip to its back to assemble the 2 blue back plates. One of these plates differs from the other by having a dented groove along which the eraser engine slides. This is one of the main improvements from Magna Doodle.

PRODUCT COMPARISON Comparing the style’s evolution between the Pilot Pen’s Magna Doodle and Tomy’s Megasketcher one can verify the addition of more complex curves to the plastic casing in the modern toy. These rounder edges not only provide a safer form to the toy it also confer a more appealing form to the child. The magnetophoretic screen is also improved. Instead of evenly distributed units of hexagons filled with magnetic particles this new screen seems to be made of a fine foam mesh where the magnetic particles are embedded. This mesh has random size “bubbles” but all much smaller than the standard Magna Doodle hexagon unit, thus allowing a finer stroke with the correspondingly finer stylus. The added spring powered motor

Mario R. Siqueira (0719547)

Figure 9 snap fits

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eraser improved on the “two swipes to erase” requirement of the Magna Doodle (only one swipe is necessary as the eraser will return to the initial position automatically) but it increased the noise cause by the movement of the gears and spring. Megasketcher competes in the market with other drawing toys such as the Tomy’s Lumisketcher, Etch-a-sketch and Tomy’s Aquadraw. Compared to lumisketcher, even tough megasketcher does not support colouring it does not spend any ink. Aquadraw, like megasketcher, do not use any ink but does use water. It is the humidification of the fabric that reveals the drawing lines. So, as soon as the fabric dries the doodle is gone. Also, it is not possible to have a fine line with Aquadraw.

Figure 10 snap-fits (both pictures)

Figure 11 Signs of Injection moulding such as sprue marks

Mario R. Siqueira (0719547)

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REFERENCES 1. Pilot Man-Nen Hitsu Kabushiki Kaisha. Displaying magnetic panel and its display device. Google Patents. [Online] United States Patent and Trademark Office, 13 March 1979. [Cited: 22 October 2008.] http://www.google.com/patents?id=d9UzAAAAEBAJ. 2. Pilot Pen Corporation of America. Pilot Pen Wins Magna Doodle(R) Trademark Lawsuit. PRNewswire. [Online] 21 November 2006. [Cited: 24 October 2008.] http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=184900. 3. NPD Group. UK toy industry worth £2.2 billion after strong performance in 2006. British Toy & Hobby Association. [Online] 24 january 2007. [Cited: 1 November 2008.] http://www.btha.co.uk/press/industry_worth.php.

BIBLIOGRAPHY British Toys & Hobby Association website (www.btha.co.uk, 01/11/08)

Making It: Manufacturing Techniques for Product Design by Lefteri, C. – 2007 Lauren King Publishing

HowStuffWorks: How Magna Doodle works? (www.howstuffworks.com/magna-doodle.htm, 01/11/08)

Wikipedia: Toy; Toy Safety; Tomy, Plastics, and related (www.wikipedia.org, 25/10/08 – 06/11/08)

Materials, Engineering, Science, Process and Design by Ashby, M; Shercliff, H; Cebon, D – 2007 Butterworth-Heinemann

Mario R. Siqueira (0719547)

Figure 12 Magna Doole Honeycomb screen, from howstuffworks.com