Consumer Product Development
Spotlight
Company: Fresh Choice
Industry: Tobacco Products
HQ: California
Webpage:
Fresh Choice is a tobacco seller that desired to have their own cigarette making machine to sell their customers
Product/Project Highlights
Revolution
Client: Fresh Choice
- Consumer level cigarette loading machine
- Designed, and prototyped by Solid
- Cuts the tobacco
- Forms the cut tobacco into a cylinder and then pushes the tobacco into a preformed paper tube
- Contract manufacturing at Solid’s site in Mounds View, MN
Situation:
Our Client desired to have a desk top cigarette making machine designed, all required tooling developed and the product assembled and distributed. A crude prototype had been developed worked well with a lot of tinkering and tuning to keep it running. This prototype design provided a proof of concept embodiment for which to start the design of a production version.
Revolution
Client: Fresh Choice
Process:
Solid participated from the beginning starting with a proof of principal prototype through production. Involvement included conceptual layout development to create the smallest package possible. Solid performed all mechanical engineering and project management and subcontracted the electrical engineering to one of our partners.
Solution:
Revolution was born! Solid solicited plastic injection moulder and tool maker participation and coordinated quoting and supplier selection. Solid also coordinated tool build, debug, sampling and all sample inspections and approvals. Production was set up at Solid where all inventory procurement, inspection and control was conducted. Work holding fixtures and testing equipment were designed and built at Solid to support increasing production levels. Involvement with this product continued through early production. The Electric Cigarette Machine 'Revolution' cuts and feeds an amount of tobacco into each tube packed to your personal preference. The good news is each cigarette is uniform - you don't need to fuss and mess with the tobacco to make a perfect cigarette. The machine is safe, reliable and makes consistently good cigarettes. It also has a dial to adjust the tightness of your cigarette- you can make a tighter smoke depending on your preference. There are indicator LEDs to let the user know what the next step is in the process, or the next button to push. Solid design this for simple operation so the user doesn't need to think about making cigarettes, they can think about smoking a great cigarette!
