Summary:
With a group of nine people in a team, we designed an innovative safety technology , which we called MAVERICS ( Motorcycle Automatic Vision Enhancing Rotational Integrate Cornering System). It is an adaptive headlight which motorcyclists can attach to their bikes in order to increase their field of vision when they are turning corners at night. With the use of this additional safety feature, it will decrease accidents for motorcyclists, especially at night.
MAVERICS Project
Figure 2: Product's logo
The product has the slogan SEE FURTHER: it is short, memorable and highlights the features.
Figure 1: The group in Dragon's Den
Problem:
It is well-known fact that many motorcyclists are victims of vehicle incidents whether it is involving another driver in a car or other type of vehicle losing control or even not being able to see what is in front of them on the road during a turn. Due to the lean angle when cornering, the beam of the headlight is rotated away from being horizontal, and this restricts the rider's vision up the road. This can be represented by the following image:
Solution:
With our product, the adaptive headlight, will be primarily used for the mortorcyclist to keep themselfves safer when on the road. The product itself will have to be attached to the motorcyle and then be automated to take into account the angle of the bike in order for the light beam to remain on the road ahead. This will allow the rider to see and avoid any forms of obstacles or other drivers on the road, thus reducing the amount of motorcycle incidents on the road.
Video: Demonstration video for our product
Product specification
To manufacture the product, we decided to buy parts and then assemble it together in house.
Table 1: Parts List and Cost Elements
Figure 8: The housing box with all the electrical components
Figure 7: Labelled diagram of the final design.
A specific housing box is needed for all the electrical components. As it is expensive to rent the place and all the machinary needed to manufacture a box like in figure, a company called The Plastic People can manufacture the housing box with the needed dimensions.
For the box, the material we will use is Acryic, This will cost £10.53 for The Plastic People to manufacture the box.
The objectives of the project:
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To design an innovative product
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To make a business plan for the product
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To present the product and a business plan to the Dragon's Den
Figure 4 : The conventional headlight problem.
Source: BMW Motorcycle Adaptive Headlight - YouTube. 2014. BMW Motorcycle Adaptive Headlight -YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cB_9H7NtT0
Figure 5: The adaptive headlight solution
Source: BMW Motorcycle Adaptive Headlight - YouTube. 2014. BMW Motorcycle Adaptive Headlight -YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cB_9H7NtT0
Evaluation
1. Calculation for prime manufacturing cost
The total purchased cost for the product is £115.45.
Direct labour rate = £6.5/ hour,
It will take 30 minutes to assemble this product, so the unit production time = 0.5 hour/unit.
Step 1: To find the unit direct labour cost for the cornering light system:
Unit direct labour cost = Direct labour rate x Unit Production time
= £6.50/ hour x 0.5 hour/unit
= £3.25/ unit.
Step 2: To find the prime manufacturing cost for the cornering light system:
Prime manufacturing cost = Total purchased cost + Unit direct labour cost
= £115.45/ product + £3.25/ unit
= £118.70/ product.
2. Pareto analysis
The Pareto Rule indicates that approximately 20% of all the manufactured goods stocked by a company will account for 80% of all the investment tied up in stock.
Step 3: To find 80% of the prime manufacturing cost:
80% of the prime mfg cost = Product prime manufacturing cost x 80%
= £118.7/ product x 80%
= £94.96 /product.
Step 4: To find the minimum number of cost elements comprising 80% of the prime manufacturing cost:
80% of the prime mfg cost = £ 94.96/ product
1st highest cost element = £ 29.95/ product 1. Circuit board
Difference = £ 65.01/ product
2nd highest cost element = £ 24.83/ product 2. Sensor
Difference = £ 40.18/ product
3th highest cost element = £ 13.00/ product 3. Fog lights
Difference = £ 27.18 / product
4th highest cost element = £ 11.28/ product 4. Stepped Motor
Difference = £ 15.90/ product
5th highest cost element = £ 10.53/ product 5. Housing box
Difference = £ 5.37/ product
6th highest cost element = £ 6.18/product 6. Clamp bracket
Difference = £ -0.81/product
Figure 9: The chart for product cost distribution
Figure 10: The pie chart for the proportion of the six highest component cost to prime manufacturing cost.
Note: In the pie chart, the accessories are: Connecting arm, wiring, stepper motor bracket, motor connector, lamp connector, light bracket, switch cable, power supply cable, connector arm screw, clamp fixing grub screw, housing sticker, connector arm nut and clamp connection nut.
Projector fog light, stepper motor, sensor, circuit board and housing box are the potential items that need to be examined to reduce the prime manufacturing cost of the cornering light.
Figure 6: Labelled final design of product mounted on a suspension fork
Below is the detailed of the part 3 ( housing box) for the adaptive headlight.
Business Plan
Estimated Annual quantity
1st year: Materials being used for manufacture will be bought on the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th
month. A total of 4,000 units worth of material will be bought this year (1,000 per month).
A total of 4,000 units will be sold, distributed from the 2nd to the 12th month.
2nd year: Materials being used for manufacture will be bought on the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th
month of this year. A total of 6,000 units worth of material will be bought this year.
A total of 6,000 units will be sold this year, distributed from the 2nd to the 12th month.
Capital investment costs
In order to meet capital investment costs, it is expected that a one off private investment of £50,000.00 will be achieved.
Selling price
Through auto centres (Halfords) and online retailers (Amazon and Ebay): £250 per unit
Wholesale to other companies:
• 10% discount on orders ≥ 100 units = £225.00 /unit
• 20% on orders over ≥ 200 units = £200.00 /unit
• 30% on orders over ≥ 300 units = £175.00 /unit
Consumable costs
= Postage and Stationary + Electricity and water
End of 1st year = £5,400.00
End of 2nd year = £6,600.00
Product distribution costs
=Transportation costs
End of 1st year = £25,000.00
End of 2nd year = £55,000.00
Projected net profit
= Income – expenditures
End of 1st year = - £49,522.21
End of 2nd year = £5,690.25
Estimated payback period
Bank loan = £50,000 Length of loan before payback commence = 15 months
Payback= £431.25 per month for 120 months
Payback period starts from the 4th month of the 2nd year.
Contribution
My main contribution for the group were:
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to identify the suppliers for each parts of the product and determine whether the parts to be manufactured in house.
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to calculate the prime manufacturing cost of the product
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to reduce the prime manufacturing cost by applying Pareto analysis (80/20 rule). This analysis determines the most highest costs when buying materials in order to reduce the prime manufacturing cost.
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to calculate the financial plan of the product in the next 2 years.
Figure 3: The group project's presentation