Students design health-care concepts

At PolyOne Corp., a 1½-day "design storm" with students from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., focused on developing concepts for the home health-care market. Rapid Prototype + Manufacturing LLC, a unit of Avon Lake-based injection molder Thogus Products Co., took part as well, to provide insight about the manufacturability of concepts created with the input of the 15 design students. "Students are the first adopters of new materials, new plastics and new manufacturing techniques," said Anil Saraf, market innovation director for Avon Lake, Ohio-based PolyOne. "Students are very knowledgeable about the trends of the markets, but not as much the materials." The project zeroed in on designing concepts for a stuffed animal with resin-based medical monitoring devices for pediatric patients, along with two products for older adults a jewel-like pendant to provide active adults with reminders to exercise, and weights with a soft-touch thermoplastic elastomer for use in physical therapy. Resin suppliers, molders, students and designers had to "think universally about a new product," said veteran designer Chuck Pelly, who contributed to the project, as did fellow industrial designers Scott Clear and Chris Lefteri.