Executive Summary:

HD developed a new design language for Copley Scientific’s pharmaceutical testing range. Ease of use and manufacturing were considered throughout the design, allowing us to deliver high-quality, commercially viable solutions.

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Benefits:

Copley were able to introduce a wide range of market-leading products that met both the users and manufacturers needs without compromising on cost, thus allowing Copley to continue their growth. The new design language draws upon minimalistic principles and high engineering standards, whilst also communicating Copley’s enduring values.

HD have generated some fantastic concept designs for our whole product range that fit our original brief really well. The communication and pace of work throughout the project has been excellent. – Copley Scientific

Copley Scientific, a company renowned for high quality pharmaceutical testing equipment, approached Haughton Design to aid in their 2020 major equipment upgrade and rebrand campaign.

Copley requested that the refresh needed to focus on ease of use and to reflect their high-quality, corporate ideology without the associated development costs. In addition, the casing needed to have minimal production impact on internal mechanisms, to further improve cost effectiveness.

HD were tasked with developing a new design language for their entire pharmaceutical product range including; Disintegration testing, hardness testing, suppository testers, dissolution testing, powder testers, thickness testers, friability testers, and semi-solids testers.

HD undertook a heavy industrial design phase focusing on the product enclosures, developing a multitude of competing concepts. Various methods were used to develop, refine and evaluate concepts and an idea judgement matrix used to aid selection of the final concepts and ensure alignment with the needs of the brief.

Copley shared their latest developments into early touchscreen control and asked HD to generate multiple solutions to effectively mount their touchscreen modules onto the enclosures of the devices. The small bezel surrounding the touchscreen not only aims to direct the user to the interface point through clever use of CMF design, but also securely mount the display to the enclosure in a method that doesn’t expose any visible fasteners.

The enclosure construction methodology was developed in tandem with Copleys’ in-house engineering team to achieve a design that is not only aesthetically pleasing and easy to clean, but also ensures that it can be easily manufactured as well as being inherently scalable and modular. The products feature a series of elegant folds to their sheet metal enclosures, providing a soft visual appearance, improved manufacturability and ease of cleaning.

HD also engineered the elevated dissolution water bath to improve manufacturing quality without adding to manufacturing costs. HD developed a vacuum formed water bath design made from a grade of clear and recyclable PETg, and iterated the final design with our in-house FEA software, with Copley validating the final design with practical lifetime testing.

The disintegration testers feature a unique banding that elevates the water tanks, to make them appear that they effortlessly float. This design was developed from a blend of minimalistic design and a user centred mentality. Our aim was to strip away the unnecessary, and to only focus on what’s important to the user; visibility of the vessels within the tank. This solution utilises our strong internal knowledge of Design for Manufacture, specifically design for sheet metal and fabrication, bend radii and fabrication joints were specified to increase production yield whilst keeping high quality industrial design and aesthetics at the forefront of importance.

The new design language draws upon minimalistic principles to improve ease of use and core product functionality, while also communicating Copley’s enduring values, and their commitment to the highest engineering standards to deliver solutions that answer directly to customer requirements.

HD provided an easily accessible, flexible design and development resource with a simple, cost- effective workflow and clear output which allowed for easy adjustment to suit the client and reduce project timelines. In addition to full ownership of the manufacturing data pack and giving the client ability to select their supplier of choice, the outcomes of HD’s work provided thorough design verification, improved design & manufacturability, and design for high volume output.

The final design provided:

• Improved user experience
• High quality aesthetic
• Improved functionality
• Simple and intuitive features
• Reduced manufacturing costs

Get in touch to discuss how we can help with your product or medical device development project.

 

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