PRESIDENT’S CORNER – My Favorite Project

by Bill Huseby I often get asked, “What cool projects are you working on at SIGMADESIGN”  Sometimes the question is asked differently, “What is your favorite project you have ever worked on?”  Appropriately, many of our clients have strict confidentiality rules that don’t allow us to discuss their projects or even mention their names. With one of our Core Values being …

2nd generation

SIGMADESIGN Industrial Design – IDEA 2013 Finalists

IN 2013, our Industrial Design team worked on a project to be submitted in several design competitions.  The design was a finalist in the 2013 IDEA contest. The project: 2nd Generation.  The challenge: Re-imagining what a generator can be. The “2nd Generation” project was an opportunity to address common complaints of portable power generation (e.g. cost, noise, size, fire danger, maintenance, …

Motorcycle_Bultaco-Sherpa-T

The Three Best Product Designs. Ever.

Director of Industrial Design, Mark Schoening, describes what he believes to be the three best product designs ever.   Observed Trials is a little known motorcycle sport wherein riders try to negotiate obstacles – or ‘traps’ – without ‘dabbing’ a foot.  In the late 60’s and early 70’s, the Spanish bikes were the best, and the Bultaco Sherpa T Model …

John Barker and the #N819WB

SIGMADESIGN Founder Takes Flight

SIGMADESIGN founder and Senior Mechanical Engineer John Barker has restored a few airplanes in the past including a 1976 Cessna 172, a 1965 Citabria, and a 1965 Cessna 182.  But he always dreamed of building his own airplane from the ground up.  Finally in 2003, he began taking steps towards accomplishing that dream.  Obtaining a kit to build a Van’s …

An Experience in Cooperation

by John Schlottmann | Director of Business Development SIGMADESIGN Supply Chain Management, Fabrication and Manufacturing expertise facilitates completion of Ziba project. Ziba was in the final stages of completing development of the AccuFit ℠ Digital Measurement System.  The AccuFit ℠ System, developed for LensCrafters, was the first digital measurement system in the US and Canada.  The primary technology behind the system …

Acclimates

A Heater that Divides and Conquers

We agree with our partners and clients at CADET:  electric ‘zonal’ heating is the most efficient way to heat a house.  A zonal heater allows heating of one or two rooms, instead of the whole house; it allows heating of a room – say a bathroom – quickly, just long enough to get ready for work.   And using electrical energy …

HP-SIGMADESIGN WEB PRESS COLLABORATION

Hewlett-Packard made public our industrial design work on their HP T400 Web Press, a giant Inkjet printer used for high-volume production of books, magazines and promotional materials. Working closely with the HP engineers in Corvallis, OR, the SIGMADESIGN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN team conceptualized, developed and refined all the external forms and details for this 75-foot-long printer. Design details for the web press …

Industrial Design Department Provides Bike Rack Design

By Mark Schoening, Director of Industrial Design Something had to be done – our lunchroom was overflowing with bicycles of all sorts: clunkers to racers, stingrays to stumpjumpers. Worse: as our once-spacious new building filled with more and more revenue-generating designers and engineers, there was less and less room for their self-powered transportation. Every Wednesday morning, the SIGMADESIGN folks would …

Cadet Apex72

Electric Heating and Collaboration with Cadet Manufacturing

Long time SIGMADESIGN electric heating client Cadet Manufacturing recently introduced the newest product in its line of electric in-wall heaters: the Cadet Energy Plus Heater. The Energy Plus uses a digital thermostat that eliminates the large temperature swings, high energy consumption, and noise produced by basic on/off, bi-metal thermostats traditionally used with in-wall heaters. The launch comes after many months of …