Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
September 05, 2005 02:00 AM

Designer's time well-spent with customers

Roger Renstrom
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    An industrial designer in San Francisco tried the corporate route twice, but he enjoys a smaller environment that allows him to work hands-on with products such as the Disney Snap watch.

    Gray Holland graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., and worked for General Motors Corp. on the EV1 electric car and other projects.

    In 1993, he returned home to San Francisco and set up a small design firm that global player Frog Design Inc. acquired in 2000. He became vice president of industrial design at Frog and, for a couple of years, helped Frog incorporate tools for computer-aided design.

    But he missed working with customers and left Frog in 2003. He hung a new shingle for Alchemy Labs Inc. in San Francisco and, with a small staff, has done diversified design work for Walt Disney Co., Seiko Corp., Nike Inc. and others. Several long-term projects are in development.

    ``We have a great amount of general manufacturing knowledge, and the result is involvement in the tooling side of the design process,'' he said.

    Holland's experience allows him to consult on product-innovation, across-corporate-culture and time-to-market issues. In working on a project with Disney and two Seiko entities, Alchemy Labs was challenged to help balance three goals and three agendas in three time zones.

    The children's Disney Snap strap watch, made by Seiko, is an example of Holland's design communication skills. He worked to build consensus and secure decisions from a Disney brand unit in Burbank, Calif., Seiko Instruments USA Inc.'s marketing office in Austin, Texas, and Seiko production coordination in Hong Kong. Manufacturing is done in China.

    The overall Snap line includes wristwatches for all ages, hunting pocket watches and quartz watches, although the adult lines do not carry the Disney brand.

    Holland began concept work on the children's line in December 2002. Test-market quantities from a February 2004 version of production tooling, however, did not make the grade. Given the multiple players, nothing happened for six months, and then the design was tweaked and moved to tooling in the fall of 2004.

    A production version was introduced in early April during the Baselworld 2005 watch and jewelry show in Basel, Switzerland.

    The Disney Snap for children retailed initially for about $35 but is advertised for less.

    ``They wanted to sell it for $30, but I don't see how they do it for less than $50,'' Holland said. ``They are under the Swatch by $10.''

    The low-cost Swatch watch, made by Biel, Switzerland-based Swatch Group Ltd., competes with the Snap line.

    Seiko saw a need for an inexpensive flexible polymer for the strap and, after extensive trials, settled on recycled PVC as a material meeting functional and cost criteria. PVC is perfect for the strap, he said, but the product does not qualify for sale in all markets.

    ``With the recycling, we were able to meet the requirements for Japan, but we were not able to meet the requirements for Seiko in Japan,'' Holland said.

    A Seiko policy bans PVC on children's products in Japan.

    In addition to the recycled PVC strap, the watch has an acrylic body and strap pivoting tip, a nickel-plated-carbon spring-steel backing and a magnet.

    Two small pockets in the PVC strap allow two forks of a half-bent staple to go through. A small knurled pin grabs hold of the PVC from the inside. The pivoting tip on the end of one strap works with a hinge point and the magnet to keep the watch securely on a person's wrist. ``We couldn't two-shot the magnet because it would kill the magnetism,'' he said.

    ``The key is to keep the magnet in contact with the metal,'' Holland said. ``If it starts to separate, it releases exponentially.''

    Before finding the solution, Holland experimented on materials with a Houston-based styrenic block copolymers maker. A special formulation met more than 70 percent of the requirements. Increasing the formulation's flexibility, however, caused injector pins to stick to the strap, preventing its release from the mold.

    ``It would hit the injector pin and then pull back into the mold,'' Holland said. Adding mold release agents and lengthening cycle times pushed up costs and terminated that effort.

    Alchemy Labs designers make extensive use of three-dimensional graphics software from Toronto-based Alias Systems Corp. and Alias-enabled Cintiq interactive pen displays from a unit of Japan's Wacom Co. Ltd.

    Holland presented his perspectives April 9 in a talk to the Industrial Designers Society of America's Western District conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Illinois AG sues 14 firms over PFAS contamination
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Top-dollar deals, repeat buyers highlight 2022 M&A
    2
    This is the year the reality of plastics EPR arrives in the US
    3
    Prices on the rise for PP, PVC
    4
    Auto supplier Seoyon E-Hwa to invest $76M, add 740 jobs in Georgia
    5
    Illinois AG sues 14 firms over PFAS contamination
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified