Machine Design Approach: Industrial Automation Machine and Commercial Appliance Machine

After nearly 12 years designing and building machines for the manufacturing industry and another 3 and half years designing and building machines for the commercial appliance industry, I’ve found the differences quite fascinating. So fascinating that I’ve been meaning to write this for a while now.

The industrial automation machine designer has to ensure the parts he gets off-the-shelf are ones his/her customer has proper access to spares. The designer needs to use brands which the maintenance team of his customer is familiar with. Some tech which the designer feels would increase accuracy and reduce number of parts cannot be used simply because the maintenance team wouldn’t have access to spares which in turn would increase down time. For eg. A DC motor powered linear actuator cannot be used if the brand is unknown. The designer would be forced to replace this with, say, a pneumatic cylinder.

The commercial appliance machine designer is rarely shackled by this issue. Yes, spares availability needs to be thought through but a whole supply chain can be setup for this product line. Unique components can be used. Unique tech can be used. Tech can be pioneered. Design is not influenced by a maintenance team.

The next major influence is the external styling or the eternal form vs function argument. The person who starts the design process of the industrial automation machine is the machine designer. The process starts from studying the existing manufacturing process, product design, work space, budget, etc. and then designing a machine within these parameters. The machine designer is usually an engineer who, let’s face it, is not a stylist. The machine designer designs an automation system keeping in mind the function. Obviously an effort is made to not make it look ugly but then here form always takes a back seat to function.

On the other hand, a commercial appliance never starts life in the hands of a machine designer. An industrial designer who is a proper stylist is the one who defines the externals of the machine. An industrial designer is, again, not shackled by manufacturing processes, etc. Form always takes the front seat. Compromises are usually there in the areas of maintenance because of the importance to form. Only after the industrial designer fixes the form, the machine designer takes over. Here the machine designer is shackled to work within the form outlined by the industrial designer. Dimensions, shape, materials (to a certain extent), manufacturing process, components (atleast the external ones) are usually finalized by the industrial designer before it comes to the machine designer. The machine designer is faced with the challenge to work within these boundaries. The challenge becomes bigger when cost of manufacturing is included in the equation.

Another design factor is the user experience. While there is no single definition for User Experience, the end users of the machine designed by an automation designer differ from the end user of the commercial appliance machine designer. The end user of the commercial appliance machine designer demands a certain sophistication and softness in the products he/she uses. The appliance, usually, fits inside the home of the user or be part of the user’s domestic life, thereby has to be part of the comforts he/she is used to. The intention of the team (industrial designer +machine designer) would be to isolate the user from the functional hardware (motors, bearings, wiring, etc) of the machine

The industrial automation machine designer designs his machine with the sole intention of improving the productivity of his end customer. A certain ruggedness, which is inevitable considering the mode of usage, is built into the system. This is evident in its external appearance. Even though this machine would be a lot more technologically advanced and sophisticated when compared to the commercial appliance machine, its appearance would convey a different story. The intention of the designer would be to have the functional hardware accessible thereby making them easily replaceable and reducing downtime.

Safety systems also play a role in influencing the design philosophy. Industrial machine safety is a completely different animal to commercial appliance safety. A detailed write-up on this subject will follow soon.

There is a specific reason for this article. For the past few years I’ve been noticing a lot of startups who want to develop a commercial appliance machine approach industrial machine design and building companies. What could go wrong? Trust me, a lot. As see in the above write-up the design approaches and philosophies are completely different. In my opinion, an industrial machine designer cannot design a commercial appliance machine unless he/she has done it previously. The functionality, costs, core design in itself would completely vary.

Expecting to write more in this rather fascinating sub-categories within the field of machine design.