Tim Chege | Product Design Engineering

innovation, design, tech, development, tim chege, product design engineering

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Don Norman talks about Designing for People

  Don Norman is the co-founder and principal of the User Experience/Usability consulting firm, the Nielsen Norman group, which is the home for his consulting and keynote talks. He is an IDEO fellow and  a member of the Board of Trustees of IIT's Institute of Design in Chicago. His latest books are "Living with Complexity" and "The Design of Everyday Things." ~ jnd.org

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David Kelley on TED Talks: The Future of Design is Human-Centred

  IDEO’s David Kelley says that product design has become much less about the hardware and more about the user experience. He shows video of this new, broader approach, including footage from the Prada store in New York.

David Kelley’s company IDEO helped create many icons of the digital generation -- but what matters even more to him is unlocking the creative potential of people and organizations to innovate routinely. ~ TED Talks

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Design Ethnography Sessions with Emilio

MSc Product Design Engineering. Project: A Low Cost Manufacturing Tool for Informal Sector Artisanry ('Jua Kali') in Kenya. 

Emilio Beating a Stack of Recycled Aluminium Sheets by Use of a Mallet to Produce Cooking Pans

Emilio, like Maina (discussed in the previous blog-post) works in Kamukunji, Nairobi. He makes cooking pans and poultry feeding containers. He makes the cooking pans manually by hand. He does this by use of a sort of mallet to beat a stack of five aluminium sheets laid on top of a makeshift die sourced from train carriage wheels.

Emilio and his Colleague Hammering and Cutting the Edges of the Produced Cooking Pans.

He says it takes him about thirty minutes to beat them to the desired form. After this, he cuts out the edges to have an evenly round edge that he then hammers on-top of a beam to fold. He mentioned that it costs about Ksh 40 (£ 0.30) to purchase a single sheet of the aluminium they use and once formed into a pan it is sold for Ksh 100 (£ 0.70).

Emilio Producing a Part for the Poultry Feeding Containers Using a Manual Punch Press

As mentioned earlier, Emilio also produces chicken feeding containers. However unlike the earlier discussed cooking pans, he produces these containers by use of a manually powered punch press machine. By use of the machine, he punches a series of circular holes on a rectangular sheet of aluminium that is then bent along the center. This is attached to a rectangular aluminium container to form the final product.

The Working of the Manual Punch Press Emilio Uses to Produce a Part for the Poultry Feeding Containers

Emilio introduced us to the brains behind the design and production of this machine, Christopher. He explained to us about the design of the machine. The manual punch press has a lever with a weight attached to it to increase the exerted force. It also has a circular steel rod that cuts out the holes. A spring mechanism that returns the lever to its original position before being pushed down is also used.

At the end of this session, I asked Christopher why he had not made more of such machines for production of other type of products other than the poultry feeding containers. He said that the biggest barrier was the high material costs related to producing such machines. 

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Design Ethnography Session with Maina

MSc Product Design Engineering. Project: A Low Cost Manufacturing Tool for Informal Sector Artisanry ('Jua Kali') in Kenya. 

The Kitchen Exhaust Hoods that Maina's Enterprise Produces

Maina works alongside his colleagues in Kamukunji, one of the constituencies in Nairobi with the greatest amount of 'Jua Kali' manufacturing activity. His 'Jua Kali' establishment mostly produces kitchen exhaust hoods for enterprise consumers such as restaurants. They also produce gutters for domestic rain-water harvesting and storage boxes used by students in boarding schools all over Kenya.

The Manual Folding Press that Maina and his Associates Use in Producing Exhaust Hoods and Other Products

During the fieldwork in Kamukunji it was clear that Maina's enterprise has curved out this niche market as amongst the numerous other 'Jua Kali' establishments, we saw no one else producing kitchen exhaust hoods. He attributes this to the manual folding press machine he acquired two years ago made by fellow 'Jua Kali' fabricators. He says that in the past two years this machine has become very popular amongst 'Jua Kali' of whom mostly use it for manufacturing of the earlier mentioned gutters.

Maina mentioned that before acquiring the manual folding press his establishment mostly produced the rain-water harvesting gutters whose market is saturated. They used to produce these manually by hand (like Patrick as discussed in the previous blog-post). 

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Erik Hersman at re:publica 2013: Innovating Africa

  Raised in Sudan and Kenya, Erik brings unique energy and insight to the world of technology and innovation in Africa. He is a co-founder of Ushahidi, and as part of the Ushahidi strategy he has been building the iHub (Nairobi's innovation hub) since early 2010, a place that has grown to 10,000+ Kenyan developers, designers, and entrepreneurs with connections in the corporate, academic and investor sectors. An avid blogger, Erik writes two different technology-related blogs - AfriGadget and WhiteAfrican. He is frequently a speaker at meetings and conferences dealing with technology in Africa, mapping, blogging and web application development, including; TED, and PopTech. He is a TED Senior Fellow, a PopTech Faculty Fellow, Chairman of the AfriLabs association, and is a founding organizer of Maker Faire Africa. ~ re: publica

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Juliana Rotich at TED Talks: Meet BRCK, Internet Access Built for Africa

  Tech communities are booming all over Africa, says Nairobi-based Juliana Rotich, cofounder of the open-source software Ushahidi. But it remains challenging to get and stay connected in a region with frequent blackouts and spotty internet hookups. So Rotich and friends developed BRCK, offering resilient connectivity for the developing world. ~ TED Talks

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Design Ethnography Sessions with Patrick

MSc Product Design Engineering. Project: A Low Cost Manufacturing Tool for Informal Sector Artisanry ('Jua Kali') in Kenya. 

Patrick Showing the Aluminium Gutters they Produce for Domestic Rain-Water Harvesting

Patrick is a Jua Kali entrepreneur and artisan in Dagoretti in Nairobi. Him and his associates mostly make domestic rain-water harvesting equipment such as aluminium gutters and pipes. They then install these on the rooftops of houses across the county.

Patrick and his Associate Demonstrating How they Manually Produce Aluminium Pipes

They make their products manually by hand with the use of basic tools such as a self-fabricated workbench and a steel bar that serves as a hummer. An example of this, is how they make the aluminium pipes; they fold  a sheet of aluminium around a steel pipe, fold the edges to interlock, and then beat the interlocked edges to seal it.

The Window Frames and Wheelbarrows that Patrick's Enterprise Produces

He also makes window frames and wheel-barrows that he sells to home construction businesses. He fabricates these out of steel bars and pipes whereby he uses a welding machine. He says this is his most valuable equipment of which he bought at about Ksh 30,000 (£220).

The Manual Metal Sheet Roller that Patrick is Planning to Purchase for Producing Aluminium Pipes

Patrick is in-fact planning to purchase a manual metal sheet roller that he would use in making of the aluminium pipes. At the time of the fieldwork session he also took me to see it and mentioned he was in negotiations hoping to purchase it for under Ksh. 25,000 (£180).

At the end of our last session, Patrick mentioned that his greatest challenge to improving his enterprise's productivity is the lack of equipment due to their high costs. He stated that he would consider an electrically powered machine of Ksh 30,000 - Ksh 40,000 (£220 - £300) to be affordable.

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Design Ethnography/ Field Research Methodology

MSc Product Design Engineering. Project: A Low Cost Manufacturing Tool for Informal Sector Artisanry ('Jua Kali') in Kenya. 

A Satellite View of 'Jua Kali' (Informal Sector Artisanry) Sites in Kamukunji Constituency in Nairobi, Kenya. Source: Google Maps. [Click Image to Enlarge]

In a period of two weeks I visited a number of informal sector artisanry establishments in three locations in Nairobi, Kenya. The purpose of this was to engage with the artisans with an aim of further understanding the context of the problem being tackled in this project. I visited each of the establishments multiple times during the period. One of the establishments was in Dagoretti constituency, three were in Kamukunji, and one was in Nyamakima.

A 'Jua Kali' Establishment in Kamukunji, Nairobi, Kenya

The goal of the research sessions was to collect data/information on the current production processes used by the informal sector. These information is such as; the type of processes & equipment used, the setup costs of these processes & equipment, the products they produce, how they produce them, the time and energy involved, the cost of producing them, their sale value, how much training & knowledge is required, the barriers and challenges they encounter in the production, and the needs they have relevant to the subject, amongst other issues. 

A 'Jua Kali' Establishment in Dagoretti, Nairobi, Kenya

The artisans were interviewed and their activities observed during the sessions. The interview and observation techniques used were structured based on the above mentioned goals. Some of the research sessions will be discussed in the blog posts that follow as documented during the visits.

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Existing Knowledge on the Informal Sector in Kenya & Africa from Desk Research

MSc Product Design Engineering. Project: A Low Cost Manufacturing Tool for Informal Sector Artisanry ('Jua Kali') in Kenya. 

Post-it Board: Existing Knowledge on the Informal Sector in Kenya & Africa. Sources: See Bibliography.

In preparation for my fieldwork research/ design ethnography, I carried out some desk research on the subject of informal sector in Kenya and Africa. Some of the information I accumulated from this is that:

The informal sector provides employment for majority of the Kenyan population and plays a significant role in the country's economy. Most of the informal sector labour is lowly educated and those that are well educated find their knowledge not applicable. Training is mainly through apprenticeship and hands-on learning.

The production methods and equipment used in the informal sector are very basic and obsolete. As a result, the goods produced are of relatively low quality. Conventional equipment such as those used by more industrialised manufacturers are way beyond the informal sector enterprises' economic means.

Manufacturers in the informal sector lack proper design processes and usually produce goods based on specifications given by the customer and by copying their competitors' products. They as well work in environments of poor condition.

Four Existing & Potential Solutions to Problems in Informal Sector Manufacturing. Sources: See Bibliography.

In the desk research done, a few solutions to the issue of basic & obsolete production equipment were identified. Some of these solutions are already being applied while some are still just potential solutions.

The manually driven metal sheet roller seems to be the most popular machine in the informal sector manufacturing in comparison to other machines. The power driven lathe is a less popular machine, probably due to it's power requirements and definitely due to it's steep purchase cost.

The concrete lathe is a potential solution due to it's relatively low cost of construction. Majority parts of the lathe are built in cast concrete and only those that must are made of steel. Another potential machine is The Multi-machine is an all-purpose machine that can be built at a relatively low cost with hand tools and with discarded vehicle parts. both these machines are designed by Pat Delany.

Early hypothesis/ideas of the proposed machine in this project based on the desk research include; the machine will require to be produced at a low cost. The machine should preferably be manually powered/driven. It should also be simple enough for the Jua Kali workers to manufacture it themselves.

Bibliography of Desk Research

Daniels, S. (2010). Making Do: Innovation in Kenya's Informal Economy.

Kinyanjui, M., McCormick, D. (2008). Industrializing Kenya: Building the Productive Capacity of Micro and Small Enterprise Clusters.

Kinyanjui, M. (2008). A New Industrialisation is the Strategy for Africa’s Social Economic Dynamism?

McCormick, D., Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, B. (2007). Industrial Clusters and Innovation Systems in Africa: Institutions, Markets and Policy.

Ragan, S. The Concrete Lathe Project. Make Magazine.  http://blog.makezine.com/2012/04/12/the-concrete-lathe-project/

Ragan, S. Pat Delany's Designs for Low Cost DIY Machine Tools. Make Magazine.  http://blog.makezine.com/2011/05/16/pat-delanys-designs-for-low-cost-diy-machine-tools/

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A Manufacturing Tool for Informal Sector Artisanry in Kenya

MSc Product Design Engineering. Project: A Low Cost Manufacturing Tool for Informal Sector Artisanry ('Jua Kali') in Kenya. 

Kenyan Informal Sector Artisans. Source: S. Daniels, Making Do: Innovation in Kenya's Informal Sector.

I am currently working on my main project for my MSc programme. The projects aim is to design a manufacturing tool for use by informal sector artisans in Kenya. The tool is to enable the artisans to improve the productivity of their production processes and the quality of the produced goods. 

A Kenyan Informal Sector Trader. Source: Business Daily Africa.

The informal sector is a source of livelihood for majority of the population and those that work in the manufacturing segment of this sector are millions of Kenyans. This informal manufacturing sector is locally referred to as 'Jua Kali', Swahili translation for hot sun as they are known to operate out in the open. They produce basic household metallic goods such as cookware as well as other goods such as metallic rain-water harvesting pipes. 

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The artisans in the sector have for several years used methods and tools such as hammers that are highly labour intensive and of low capability. Their production processes are therefore highly inefficient as compared to the standard processes of more industrialised manufacturers. The goods they produce are also therefore of relatively poor quality and thus of low value.

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The human-centred design challenge of the project is to therefore design a tool that will enable the artisans to earn a higher income and thus rise above their current poverty. This is by producing goods more productively/efficiently of which are of a good quality and thus good value.

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Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my blog. I am a Product Design Engineer currently (2012/2013) pursuing my Masters of Science in the subject. This blog is an account of my projects and also a platform for me to share content on design, innovation, technology, & development that I find interesting. So do visit here occasionally for an update on my projects and other related & interesting content.

To view my older blog, see my earlier post below.

Thanks ~ Tim Chege

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My Old Blog

To view my old blog, go to; timchege.blogspot.com