Fath Components

Design Process for a Industrial Monitor Holder

Knowledge Areas:

Industiral Design
Design for Manufacturing
Cross-Functional Collaboration

Product Development
Design Thinking
Product Management

Tools:

Solidworks
Plastic Injection Molding
3D Printing

Background

All the parts designed at Fath fit in the modular environment of aluminum profiles (as seen in the image below) produced by Bosch, Item and a few other manufacturers. The parts are primarily used in workspace or production areas of factory floors. Therefore, I had to make sure to abide by the standard sizes to make the part compatible with the right screws, nuts and other such parts.

I also made sure to choose appropriate materials based on the materials available for production, type of production, manufacturability and strength of the part.

My Team

I worked on designing this part under the Lead Designer at Fath's plant in Spalt, Germany. During the course of this project, I had to communicate with the Production Engineers at the plant in Spalt, as well as some Production Engineers from the factory in China. I also took the lead to negotiate the price of a sub part which was to be sourced from a supplier in Taiwan.

Overview

Fath Components is an organization that has been organically grown. It started out as a family operation in 1989 and evolved during the years into an owner managed international group with production and distribution companies in Europe, the PR China and the USA. This way, a secure foundation for the future was created and the greatest possible proximity to their target markets was achieved.

Fath is deeply rooted in the Franconian Lake District, Spalt, where the headquarters, central logistics, and product design department are located. A major part of their production takes place here as well.

Problem Statement

In order to accomplish my mission to design a part from scratch to a finished mass manufacturable product, MirkoJan Fath, the CTO assigned me the project to design a VESA* monitor mount as an addition to their ecosystem of products that were related to supporting computer monitors in factory floors.

*The Flat Display Mounting Interface, also known as VESA Mounting Interface Standard or colloquially as VESA mount, is a family of standards defined by the Video Electronics Standards Association for mounting flat panel monitors, televisions, and other displays to stands or wall mounts.

Design Process

Designing a 3D model on solidworks around the standard VESA dimensions

Identifying the different parts of the assembly

Internal piece to control torque. This is an important part to prevent the monitor from falling to the minimum angle and had to be chosen carefully

The exterior part which connects the torque mechanism to the monitor.

All parts assembled to simulate functionality. This includes the torque intenral piece, the exterior part with VESA dimensions, and the two connector pieces to attach the monitor to an aluminium profile.

Prototyping and Reliability Testing

3D printed prototypes

This rib design was made to reduce the amount of plastic that would be used to manufacture each unit. It also ensured that we did not compromise on the strength of the part.

A thickness analysis was conducted to test the shell and rib thicknesses. If there was an area that was too thick, it would be succeptible to sinking of the plastic after injection molding.

A draft analysis was conducted to ensure that the part was well designed for manufacturability. If the draft was not an appropriate amount, the part would fail to exit the injection mould correctly.