Design for Manufacturability

Handheld Vacuum Redesign


Shark Limited Edition Cordless Hand Vacuum, Model # SV719

Redesign by:

Erica Autio
Kate Beiting
Kyle Medaugh
Dannielle Sita
Marc Zawislak

Winter 2005

The Shark Handheld Vacuum is used by households for cleaning purposes. Focusing on lean manufacture, parts of similar function and material were combined and pieces unable to perform their intended function were removed. By implementing snap fits into the casing, the number of screws was reduced which significantly decreases assembly time. Also, snap fits will make it easy for both consumers and professionals to open the vacuum and replace parts such as the motor or battery pack, thus extending the lifetime of the product. The redesign also addresses customer complaints concerning the number of sweeps necessary to clean up a mess. The opening of the motorized brush attachment has been resized to allow more dirt to be collected per sweep. The bristles have also reoriented to ensure they are at the optimum angles to kick up debris for the brush’s rotation speed. Both of these alterations will decrease the number of sweeps needed to clean a mess. Finally, the weight imbalance of the main unit was addressed. Moving the battery pack mounts from the rear to a more central location of the main unit casing, gives the vacuum a more ergonomically center balanced design. This redesign was developed by Erica Autio, Kate Beiting, Kyle Medaugh, Dannielle Sita, and Marc Zawislak in Winter 2005, instructors: Prof. Sridhar Kota, Mentor Dr. Donald Malen, and Teaching Assistant Audrey Plinta.

 

 

Project Specifications (pdf)

 

Pictorial Summary

1. Main Housing:
eliminated unusable battery door, integrated the battery support and the handles into the walls of the housing, and replaced screws with five cantilever snap fits. In total four parts were eliminated

2. Filter Mount:
 combining the filter mount with the mount for the power cords reduced part count by both combining pieces and by replacing two screws with an annular snap fit, also eliminated possibility of dirt to seep in between these two pieces

3. Brush and Attachment Casing: 
based on a DOE conducted, the optimal design for the brush was to increase the
number of bristles, while retaining the original bristle orientation, with respect to the brush attachment head,  two cantilever snap fits eliminated two screws

 

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