June 25, 2018 By Ruwini Perera

Beira Group – Product Design Project

Beira Group also known as BPPL approached us to design a range of household cleaning products to allow them to break into the sophisticated European domestic market. Our job was to research and understand the market, in particular competition such as Vileda who dominate the space with a range of well designed and innovative products, and then create a range of products to break in and disrupt the space as a new premium brand.

The project consisted of a number of  phases of work including concept design and idea generation, refinement, production models and prototypes, and finally the creation of 3D CAD files to be sent to the tool makers for manufacture. We had to get our hands dirty to fully understand the effective operational uses of a simple objects such as sponge mops, a pot brush and other basic household cleaning items, and for the first phase of work we presented some completely new thinking on something as everyday as a brush. This prompted our client to remark “We’ve been doing this for fifteen years, but we’ve not seen anything like that before. Great work!”

 

 

 

Before the designs could be presented to potential buyers in the UK we had to produce accurate models of the final design form. We used a mixture of 3D printing and CNC milling depending on the design. CNC milling is prefered for the superior surface finish that can be achieved, however for some of the parts 3D printing allowed us to more easily produce the form prior to sanding and painting.

It’s always fun to take rough blocks of foam and plastic, working through the machining process, then, sanding, sanding and even more sanding (did we mention that we sanded?) ….and not to forget our Walter white moments, the engineering thermoplastic had to be dipped in an office made acid concoction in order for the paint to adhere to its surface. Scroll below for a peak into what ensued….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once completed the models were taken to the UK to be presented to a potential buyer, who loved the new design direction that we had brought to their brand. It just remains now to get them through tooling and into the market to see what the customers make of them.