Design Case Study

Overview

One of Trico Machine’s longtime customers, who operates in the pharmaceutical manufacturing space, needed a redesigned manufacturing line component. The manufacturing line is situated in a clean room environment and the new component was required to be clean room compliant. Adding to the complexity of the redesign, the new component is a tensioner that moves bagged injection needles along a conveyor belt. 

The Challenge

The redesigned belt tensioner presented challenges created by the clean room manufacturing environment, FDA compliance, redesigning around the engineering requirements, and the fragility of the bagged injection needles. Operating within a manufacturing facility that is also a clean room required budgeting sufficient on-site time so that design parameters could be measured while minimizing the impact on production runs. Trico Machine also had to ensure that any equipment, clothing, or materials were clean room compliant. Tasked with completely redesigning a belt tensioner that moved bagged injection needles along a conveyor belt, Trico Machine had to budget enough time to understand the design parameters. In addition, because time within the clean room was limited, Trico Machine engineers had to learn as much about the operating conditions so that we could drive the design to the solution with our customer production engineers, design engineers, maintenance engineers, and production line technicians.

Trico's Rsponsive Solution

Trico leveraged its customer relationship, engineering knowledge, and design skills to break the manufacturing of this new component into three phases:

Phase 1 - Education: Trico spent several days meeting with and learning from the engineers, technicians, and maintenance staff using this belt tensioner. We learned from them not only what needed to be changed but also what shouldn’t be altered. Key to this learning phase was creating an understanding of the high level desired outcomes, guardrails, and design envelope required by the customer. 
Phase 2 - Design: Trico scheduled on site visit to view the existing belt tensioner while it was functioning. This provided information on the working conditions, which would inform the ultimate design. During this first time period, we were able to remove the existing belt tensioner, measure all the components, and take those parameters back to the drawing board. With this information in hand, Trico was able to generate a preliminary design.
Phase 3 - Refinement and Validation: During this phase, customer feedback was integrated into the design, the customer was able to review and approve all design elements, and we were able to identify several elements that were improved. With a refined design in hand, Trico built the belt tensioner and delivered it to the customer. 

Outcome

By learning our customer’s issues, seeing the existing belt tensioner in situ, and keeping the line of communication open, Trico was able to meet customer demands on time and on budget.