Design of the new generation wristband sealstation
A.W.E. Korten · 2013
Dutchband B.V., in 2001 founded, is nowadays the largest provider of wristbands, tokens and festival solutions like sealstations and cash and pin vendor machines on the Dutch market. Since three years they have broaden their scope towards the European market, in order to maintain growth. With an increasing range to serve customers, their products need to change along side, e.g. for transportation. This thesis’ focus is on the development of the new generation sealstation to produce wristbands. The sealstation is a patented system to provide textile woven, fraud resistance, wristbands to visitors of festivals and events. Sebastian Yap has worked on the concept design for the new generation and finished with a working prototype. The thesis starts with a more extended introduction towards the product and the company. Based upon his thesis and the feedback gained out of the user tests with the prototype the list of requirements was reviewed and six main criteria were defined. To structure the following steps, these six criteria were divided into four main topics, to which will be referred later on. From here the research starts with e.g. the analysing of the sealstation, the context of usage, all stakeholders involved and the seal strength. Besides theoretical analysis of the situation, several festivals were visited with the sealstation to see the machine in action. During these practical experiences great insights were obtained from several stakeholders which were analysed on forehand. After the research phase, the development of all components is explained. For each topic, components are optimized for that specific topic. This is partially done by experiments. For each topic a functional analysis is made to define which component has which relation with and influence on another component. After all four topics are reviewed, they come together and the whole is analysed on interference errors. Since the components have not been tested together, this was done by 3D modelling. Due to a lack of time, one of the topics required an unexpected amount of time, the final stage is a ready for prototyping sealstation. Once the prototype is tested and no malfunctions arise, the product is ready for production. All technical drawings and order numbers for purchase components are present. It is likely though there will be a small iteration step required after the prototyping. Steps to be taken after this thesis are explained in the chapter conclusions. In the current stage of the seal station, a weight reduction compared to the existing seal station of 56 % and a volume reduction during transport of 58 % was realised. This thesis was written to obtain my masters degree at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. There is also an annotation for entrepreneurship incorporated in the master, including in this thesis. This meant the participation of an Entrepreneurship Week during the graduation. It includes also the search for new markets relating to the seal station, which is executed and summarised in the chapter opportunities.