Waste = Food

Waste Equals Food is an enlightening documentary that follows the efforts of chemist Michael Braungart, and architect William McDonough as the two combine efforts in the advancement of Green Technology.

This documentary follows companies like Ford Motor Company and Nike, as they are coming to be one of the leading contributors of waste in todays world.  Ford Motor Company has had tremendous issues concerning hazardous waste, where Nikes' shoes over time have become a stockpile of old shoes.

As we progress, we learn about the various ways that Braungart and McDonough have implemented green technology, or at least "green thinking" in the worlds of mass production.  For instance, one of Fords manufacturing facilities had been redesigned, making the entire plant area green and sustainable. There was also a great deal of focus on the employees of the plant, encouraging higher morale of its workers.  Nike's fundamentals had been examined, and new ideas for green materials and recycling strategies have enabled the company itself to be more sustainable.

Although these areas of the marketplace are gaining acknowledgment for their interests in becoming a green company, the philosophy as a whole is not on the scale it needs to be.  Although implementing green technologies into a pre-existing company can be tremendously expensive, the overall expected  benefits significantly outweigh the costs.

Ford Motor Company's Green Roof

Electronic Wasteland

In our Materials and Processes class we were able to watch the 60 Minutes special featuring the Electronic Wasteland, a place in the Far East where the 'recycling' of electronic materials is highly prominent.  

The focus of this special was to follow a seemingly acceptable American based recycling center that recycles the materials inside of television screens, computer monitors, and other electronics.  Although the focus of the company is to recycle properly, the company is responsible for the exportation of carcinogenic materials such as cathode ray tubes (CRT), high in mercury.  

Shipping these hazardous materials is technically illegal, due to the materials being transported; however, some of these materials are able to slip through the walls of the United States to the Far East.  In China, these so called 'recycling areas' are primarily run by gangs that control certain neighborhoods or boroughs.  

Due to the low amounts of natural materials in China, the citizens of these neighborhoods are paid through the gangs to dismantle electronics to harvest the valuable materials from parts inside of computers, cellphones, televisions, and other electronic devices. 

If carried out properly, the extraction of these materials are less likely to cause problems in humans, as well as the environment. However, there are few regulations protecting its citizens from the ways these materials can be harvested. For instance, the people who disassemble these objects vary in age.  They sit at home around an open furnace melting away the connections that hold certain pieces to motherboards.  Once heated, the units are pried off, smashed and hopefully they have not destroyed the valuable components.  

Another issue with the electronic wasteland is the amount that is 'recycled'.  With todays' age of technology, there are new things being put on the market daily, rendering prior technology useless.  Piles of electronic waste sit in fields and decompose, contaminating water supplies of areas surrounding them. The particular region involved with these electronic fields have to have water shipped in so the inhabitants can survive.  

The worst part is that the Chinese Government conceals the matter at hand by misleading the 60 Minutes reporters to believe that the recycling efforts are to the best of their abilities.  These are lies.  

GRIP Equipment

Justin Atwater Taylor is the founder of GRIP Equipment. This company is the brainchild of Taylor's thesis project while at the University of Kansas, where he developed an over-the-shoulder bag for holding disc golf discs. Developed for use with the modern day sport of Disc Golf, GRIP is breaking new ground into the primarily undeveloped sport, and making the brand known.

The GRIP brand is bolstered by the support of various professionals in the Disc Golf world, and there are specialty bags endorsed by these professionals. The bags are made of high quality materials that are able to withstand the environments, even including a rain cover, similar to the way traditional golfers protect their clubs.

Most bags are produced on a large scale from the far east, where manufacturing costs are lower. The specialty bags are produced in limited runs, primarily based on the number of pre-orders. Most bags are in the range of $200-$300.  Although the buy-in is high, the rigorous construction of these products are worth the investment.

With extensive ergonomic testing from the strap form to placement of pockets inside the bag, these bags are built for overall user comfort and for the love of Disc Golf.

Manifesto of Design

A Personal Manifesto of Design

Design creates the future:  Along with the natural rhythm of society, design has the powerful ability to shape the world as we see it.  The fact that we study and practice design provides us with a highly competitive advantage.

Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly. (The 5^th rule of the Dalai Llama):  Following rules can only get you so far.  When it comes to design, there are no rules; so why not push things to the point of being ludicrous?  There is always time for adjustment, so start big.

Promote your ideas:  Even if your cause is small, there must be someone out there who feels the same way.  If you can connect with a group of people regardless of size, the belief may catch on over time.

Dissect objects:  Taking things apart gives you an idea of what construction methods are commonly used.  This can also promote ones thinking of what could be improved.  Repetitively reconstructing objects allows you to understand the limitations of potential ideas, as well as stimulating the growth of new ones.

                                                                                                           

Build things: Making something useful is a self fulfilling task that can be completed by anyone. 

                                                                                                                   

Travel:  I think travelling is essential for anyone, designer or not.  Being immersed in a new place enables you to learn the ins and outs of an unfamiliar culture, and expands your global understanding.  You would be surprised at how different things are, even in a place like England.

Don’t clean as frequently as you should:  Let papers pile up, but not trash.  Having papers or drawings lying around gives you the ability to revisit ideas more frequently than if they were in a folder in some storage cabinet.

Don’t be perfectionists: Why try to be perfect in a world that is not?

Network: Connecting with the people around you serves as a lifetime pipeline of information.  Especially in college, with the variety of style and life aspirations, it is an absolute necessity to make friends to learn from.

Record Progress:  Keep a library of sketches.  It is fun to see the progress when you compare them to what you do today.  I’ve found myself learning from old sketches as well.

Home Contained

Debbie Glassberg had the idea for home contained while in Guangzhou, China in 2007.  She noticed that down the road from her father's factory, that another company was manufacturing large steel shipping crates. It was then where she had the idea.

Back in Kansas City, Debbie had teamed up with Steve McDowell, Laura Lesniewski, and Josh Hemberger to bring together these five containers into a space that is defined by three categories.

Container space: offering unique livable spaces in and of themselves.
Contained space: the space created between more than one container, allowing flexibility in an overall plan.
Uncontained Space: which is the space beyond the structure, integrally connected to an overall nurturing environment.

The interior of the living space presented is way more spacious and invited than I had originally predicted.  At first while imagining a home built solely of corrugated steel, I did not know what to think. I had imagined the residence to seem cramped and intrusive, yet after further exploration, the house is beautiful. One thing I had not imagined was the spaciousness of the home. When one thinks of a shipping container, I will assume that many will not find the existing space too inviting.

Once inside, it is obvious that the planning and layout of the space makes this structure a home.  Only a few walls have the corrugated aesthetic, reminding of you where you really are.  Other than a few reminders of it's origins, the house shines through as a beautiful dwelling, structurally safe and strong.

Huhtamaki Packaging

Most days in the art&design lab are stress filled, so there is the necessity for coffee.  Little did I know, Huhtamaki is responsible for allowing me to drink my coffee or tea each morning.  Huhtamaki's facility is based in De Soto Kansas, where they work with molded fibers, foodservice products, consumer goods, and rigid plastics.  

To produce a majority of their plastic products, Huhtamaki prides itself on high volume injection molding.  Something that that impressed me is their use of recycled materials.  For instance, the molded fiber products Huhtamaki rolls out are composed of 100% recycled materials like newspapers and paperboard. Primarily used for the packaging of food, these materials are excellent for absorbing shock, allowing longer shelf life and overall product dexterity.  

Huhtamaki does a great job of promoting other companies through their labeling. Improving shelf presence is a overall goal of this company, and their packaging supports this goal tremendously.  They primarily use lithographic printing on their products.  The reduction of certain materials used in this process has earned them the USA EPA Award of 2003.  

How It's Made: Swiss Luggage

In our materials class, we had the assignment of identifying various manufacturing techniques of various objects within an everyday store like Target. Out of a hat, I pulled the category 'luggage'.

At Target, there are roughly 7-10 prominent manufacturers of luggage: Skyline (Skechers), Heys, Embark, Sierre, Grip, Swiss Luggage.  For this particular assignment, I chose to examine Swiss Luggage for its high quality fabrication methods, and for its outstanding warranty protection.

The chosen luggage was the 20" carry-on pilot case.  The attention catcher for me were die-cast fixtures, like the rivets, zippers, and the handrail.  Whenever I am going to make a purchase, I see it as an investment; therefore, I am always looking for the highest quality regardless of price. Like my father tells me all the time, "if you take care of it, it takes care of you".

Other features of this luggage set includes molded rubber fittings, poly-eurothane wheels, rubberized bumpers, leather patchwork, elastic harnesses, and a built in toiletry bag.  The warranty was what ultimately sealed the deal.  Swiss's 10 year warranty blew most others out of the water.  Similar luggage sets had an average of 5-7 year warranty.  For the extra $30, you get an extended three years of protection, and a high quality, well made Swiss bag.

The Various Ways of Prototyping

Stereolithography (SLA): The SLA process was coined in 1986 by Charles W. Hall.  SLA is the method of layering curable materials in a successive form to create an object. Photopolymer resin sits in a tub as a ultraviolet laser.  The laser builds up layer after layer of this resin until the desired form is completely traced. The drawback of SLA printing is time.  Depending on the complexity of the part, the manufacturing time varies accordingly.

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS):  The SLS process uses a high-powered carbon-dioxide laser to selectively fuse pieces of plastic, metal, ceramics, or glass into a three dimension form.  The material lays in a tub underneath the laser.  With the input to the SLS system being a CAD file, the file is then broken down into layers, determined by the complexity of the part.  This process is well known for being stronger and more rigid that similar prototyping methods.  For instance, one SLS produced part can be a finished product if desired. 

Fused deposition modeling (FDM): The FDM process is one that most are familiar with.  I have been using FDM machines since high-school.  These machines are relatively cheaper than its other competitors.  The FDM process begins with a CAD file, then the FDM machine does the rest.  In Fused deposition modeling, the printer head lays out a molten bead of plastic.  After these rows of liquid plastic are 'printed', the machine rebuilds specific areas of the piece until the desired shape is complete.  Although these machines are cheaper, the main drawback is with this process is time.  The fact that the FDM machine needs to repetitively layer up .005" beads of plastic means extensive manufacturing time. 

Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM):  The LOM process is one of the cheaper processes used in todays prototyping world.  The LOM process uses paper which is laser-cut or machine cut to the desired dimensions.  Each individual piece is cut to its specific dimension by input provided by CAD data.  Paper models, once completed, have similar finishing properties as wood, which allows this process to be a final output level of manufacturing.  

Mongolian Yurt Construction

Nomadic Mongolians are known for the style of dwelling they live in.  This make-shift home is called a yurt, and they only take about an hour or two to be entirely constructed.  Having been around since the 13th century, the Mongols have perfected this style of living.

The walls that make up the entire circumference of the yurt structure are similar to sliding slat blinds.  The walls of the yurt are able to compress together, making traveling and relocation with/of the yurt easy.  When the walls of stretched out and arrayed in a circle, the yurt now has a strong structure to rest on.

The next piece of building materials, and probably the most important one, is the circular wooden dome that sits in the center of the yurt.  This dome is the crux of the roof.  Two legs project from the dome to the floor on the inside of the yurt.  Wooden poles lock into this dome, and the opposite end of the same pole is strapped tightly to the side of the wall.  To hold objects in place, the Mongols use specific types of rope, most commonly from the hair of a yak.

Once the dome is secure, the main structure is complete!

Now it is time to insulate the Yurt.  The first layer is intended to waterproof the structure, so they wrap the structure in a tarp-like plastic. This layer is followed by skins or felts that insulate the yurt for warmth. There are usually two or three layers that comprise the exterior shield.

A yurt is typically furnished with the necessities for life on the Mongolian planes. Typically a wood-burning stove is present, as well as a couple beds (depending on family size), and basic kitchen amenities.  If you are a guest in someone's yurt, make sure you sit on the LEFT! The right is for family...

Berry Plastics

Berry Plastics has a plant in Lawrence, so our materials class group went to check it out. While main headquarters, as well as R&D are located in Indiana, this particular site focuses on drinking cups and food packaging. On a yearly average, Berry Plastics will go through 2.5 billion pounds of plastic resin (1.1 million metric tons) to manufacture all products.  It is also the largest producer of duct-tape.  They also focus on a few specialty items such as specific types of film.

The plant utilizes eight thermoform machines as well as twenty-one injection molding machines.  The thermoform machines at Berry primarily manufacture drinking cups and their respective lids.  Such products are typically produced for food companies such as McDonalds, Burger King, and TacoBell.

What amazed me was how much is produced on any day.  The average day yields around 1.5 million drinking cups, as well as lids.  The thermoform machines are what makes this happen; they are able to produce an estimated 50-75 cups per mold.  With a seven second manufacturing time, it is understandable how they are able to produce these products on such a large scale.

I wish we were able to take pictures, I am certain you would be impressed as well.

Manufactured Landscapes

 Edward Burtynsky is internationally acclaimed artist due to his large-scale photographs of "manufactured landscapes".  These images include but are not limited to: recycling yards,s factories, dams, and old mines.  I saw his documentary, Manufactured Landscapes, and honestly i was not impressed.

People are acclaiming trash.  Trash is rather terrible.  Although people recycle, the combination of different types of plastics, i.e a grade 4 plastic cup, is not mixable with a grade 5 plastic.  These combinations are vast, and most of them are not able to be mixed. The average recycling contains a whole mix of different types of plastics.  Even though you are technically recycling, one may not comprehend this fact.

With this movie, I do not feel that Burtysnky's aim for this documentary has been followed correctly.  The fact that people are admiring landfills for beauty may subliminally call for an increase in consumption of 'recyclable' materials. Increasing the amount of debris in landfills is not doing any good.

I would ask you readers to watch the film to see if they have the same beliefs as I do, and if not, please repost why!