One day, a customer walked in and asked us if we could build this product & then asked if we could improve on it, as they were not happy with the functionality & the finished design.
After talking with them about the use conditions & their overall product goals, we altered & minimized the design to improve aesthetics, performance, weight & size as well as manufacturability. We after a couple of prototype iterations ended up with this...
The product went from ~25lbs to ~8 lbs & the final version was ~3/4 the volume of the original, which saves on shipping & storage costs. The performance of the unit was increase by almost 2x through reduced restrictions in the flowpath & the straightening vanes applied to the integrated motor mount. The motor-mount was produced from a single sheet part & then bent to produce the straightening vanes & incorporated in the outer shield as a structural member of the overall body. Finally, because we were able to partner up front with the customer on the use conditions & design, we could also Design for Manufacturing to improve the overall manufacturability. Partnering with TCS means more than just producing a product, our goal is to provide solutions for our customers for Design, Use & Manufacturing.