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The Sustainapack Challenge

Create a nested, sustainable packaging solution for the bulk shipment of switches, using reground injection molded thermoplastic.

About this Challenge

Microtechnologies' new low pressure switch is coming to market and requires packaging to deliver it from their factory in Costa Rica to customers around the world in bulk case quantities.

As a manufacturer of their own products, Microtechnologies generates scrap plastic as a byproduct of the components they produce. Due to the nature of the requirements of the products, they are not able to reintroduce scrap plastic back into their manufacturing process.

The goal is to use this plastic to mold inner nests of packaging to interlock and protect their sensors while in transit. This will eliminate packaging that requires being purchased from outside the company. The packaging will be produced from injection molding as this is the process that Microtechnologies possesses within the core capabilities of their company.

How to get started?

For designing the packaging you can download IGS file of the switch below. We are looking for creative and clever packaging designs!

Above image by Tommy Mueller Model: Challenge Helper Item - Sustainapack

Requirements

  • Your entry must include:
    • STEP or IGES file format
    • CAD file in any format
    • Rendering of your design
    • Calculations

  • Technical requirements:
    • Target 200 quantity per box +/-10%
    • Moldable from reground thermoplastic (Nylon, PBT, PE, PP)
    • Must accommodate all variations of switch configuration
    • Securely retain switch in packaging in storage and transit
    • Optimizes pallet / corrugate packaging size

  • Winning designs will:
    • Be a high (strength / weight) solution
    • Accommodate all configurations of the product
    • Keep the products safe and secure in storage and transit
    • Require least amount of time to load / unload

Download specification

Rules

  • ENTERING THE COMPETITION
    The Challenge is open to everyone except employees and families of GrabCAD and the Sponsor. Multiple entries are welcome. Team entries are welcome.
     
    By entering the Challenge you:
    1. Accept the official GrabCAD Challenges Terms & Conditions.
    2. Agree to be bound by the decisions of the judges (Jury).
    3. Warrant that you are eligible to participate.
    4. Warrant that the submission is your original work.
    5. Warrant, to the best of your knowledge, your work is not, and has not been in production or otherwise previously published or exhibited.
    6. Warrant neither the work nor its use infringes the intellectual property rights (whether a patent, utility model, functional design right, aesthetic design right, trademark, copyright or any other intellectual property right) of any other person.
    7. Warrant participation shall not constitute employment, assignment or offer of employment or assignment.
    8. Are not entitled to any compensation or reimbursement for any costs.
    9. Agree the Sponsor and GrabCAD have the right to promote all entries.
     
    If you think an entry may infringe on existing copyrighted materials, please email challenges@grabcad.com

  • SUBMITTING AN ENTRY
    Only entries uploaded to GrabCAD through the "Submit entry" button on this Challenge page will be considered an entry. Only public entries are eligible.
     
    We encourage teams to use GrabCAD Workbench for developing their entries.
     
    Entries are automatically given the tag "sustainapack" when uploading to GrabCAD. Please do not edit or delete this tag. Only entries with valid tag will participate in the Challenge.

  • AWARDING THE WINNERS
    The sum of the Awards is the total gross amount of the reward. The awarded participant is solely liable for the payment of all taxes, duties and other similar measures if imposed on the reward pursuant to the legislation of the country of his/her residence, domicile, citizenship, workplace, or any other criterion of similar nature. Only 1 award per person.
    All judging decisions are final.
     
    All winners will be contacted by the GrabCAD staff to get their contact information and any other information needed to get the prize to them. Payment of cash awards is made through PayPal. All team awards will be transferred to the member who entered the Challenge.
     
    We will release the finalists before the announcement of the winners to give the Community an opportunity to share their favorites in the comments, discuss concerns, and allow time for any testing or analysis by the Jury. The Jury will take the feedback into consideration when picking the winners.
     
    Winning designs will be chosen based on the Rules and Requirements.

    - Entry deadline is September 21, 2015 (11:59pm UTC).
    - The winners will be announced by October 26, 2015.
     
    Void where prohibited.

  • SPEC REFINEMENT
    We want to make sure that you have all of the information that you need to tackle the challenge. As such, in the first week of a challenge we may refine the specifications or offer clarifications based on member feedback. Please ask any questions that you have!

Prizes

Cash awards for TOP 5 places

1st Place

$400 cash

2nd Place

$300 cash

3rd Place

$200 cash

4th Place

$100 cash

5th Place

$50 cash

About Microtechnologies

Microtechnologies relentlessly strives to be consistently recognized globally as a premier engineering and manufacturing organization of excellence for precision products. We achieve this by enabling all of our team members to learn and perfect their abilities with the goal of perpetuating the rich Micro Legacy. We deliver uncompromising service and product performance that inspire confidence while exceeding our customers' expectations and thru our actions we further our reputation for reliability. This is evident to our customers, fellow employees, communities, and business partners through our words and deeds.

For more information, visit the company's website
at www.mic-tec.com

41 comments

  • Robert H.

    Robert H. over 8 years ago

    Are the metal brackets in the IGES file part of the product to be shipped, and do the 5 positions allowed by the 'adjust-o-bracket' represent all the configuration variations referenced in the challenge requirements?

    Robert H. has uploaded 3 CAD models & has left 459 comments.
  • Rad Siderius

    Rad Siderius over 8 years ago

    Microtechnologies - you would like this design to accommodate all configurations of your switch, however, you've only supplied one. What are the differences?
    You would also like to target 200 per box, what is the size of the box?
    Sincerely,
    Rad Siderius

    Rad Siderius has uploaded 5 CAD models & has left 1 comments.
  • Robert H.

    Robert H. over 8 years ago

    Also, with what molding machine tonnage should this design be able to run?
    Kindly,
    Rob

    Robert H. has uploaded 3 CAD models & has left 459 comments.
  • Paulo Borges

    Paulo Borges over 8 years ago

    And the number of parts in each box?

    How big is the injection machine?

    Paulo Borges has uploaded 68 CAD models & has left 420 comments.
  • MicroTechnologies

    MicroTechnologies over 8 years ago

    Thank you for your comments. The different configurations are without the brackets. We will upload a reference file without the brackets in the minimum condition for reference. The 5 positions in one bracket is for our customers mounting configurations and no a variable in this challenge as this bracket is mounted in only one position.
    We are open on the box dimensions as it will be a custom box so it will be a result of the winning design.
    We are open on the molding machine size tonnage as this not a constraint for us.

    MicroTechnologies has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 31 comments.
  • Robert H.

    Robert H. over 8 years ago

    Thanks Jason, that helps. Beggars can't be choosers (in my case) but could the new reference file be a single or a small quantity of 'solid' bodies rather than a collection of 1000+ individual surfaces? It's a little easier to wrangle the geometry that way. Thanks again!

    Robert H. has uploaded 3 CAD models & has left 459 comments.
  • Ben Ewing

    Ben Ewing over 8 years ago

    Hi all. We have uploaded an additional file. There are now two files: one for the maximum and one for the minimum condition. Cheers!

    Ben Ewing has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 304 comments.
  • Tommy Mueller

    Tommy Mueller over 8 years ago

    I managed to knit the 1000's of surfaces down to just 24 surface bodies. If anyone else with this issue is using Solidworks...
    ...
    Open Solidworks, click file open, select IGES file type then click the options for import button. After import, run the diagnostics tool to heal & repair the many surfaced edges. Your result should be about 24 surface bodies.
    ...
    I'm going to make a "solid model" out of this reference file. I'll gladly share it after my first entry in Solidworks and STEP file formats.

    Tommy Mueller has uploaded 224 CAD models & has left 1893 comments.
  • Tommy Mueller

    Tommy Mueller over 8 years ago

    Okay... if anyone want an easier 3D file to work with... you can find it here: Challenge Helper Item - Sustainapack

    Tommy Mueller has uploaded 224 CAD models & has left 1893 comments.
  • Salvador  Cardenas

    Salvador Cardenas over 8 years ago

    Just a quick question how much does each switch weigh?

    Salvador Cardenas has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 6 comments.
  • MicroTechnologies

    MicroTechnologies over 8 years ago

    The lightest switch is about 30 grams and the heaviest option with the bracket is 45 grams each.

    MicroTechnologies has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 31 comments.
  • MicroTechnologies

    MicroTechnologies over 8 years ago

    Great submissions so far, keep them coming!

    MicroTechnologies has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 31 comments.
  • Leon van Rijn

    Leon van Rijn over 8 years ago

    I'm not sure if my idea of the challenge is different than most others, but in my opinion there a not so many good contestents so far.

    In the challengde description I read "Microtechnologies generates scrap plastic as a byproduct of the components...............The goal is to use this plastic". Yet most entries use more plastic on their packaging than the amount used to produce the product.

    My question is: Is my idea of the challenge wrong, or does the amount of plastic used for packaging not matter?

    Leon van Rijn has uploaded 2 CAD models & has left 13 comments.
  • MicroTechnologies

    MicroTechnologies over 8 years ago

    Leon, The least amount of molded plastic that is used is the best option. We do generate scrap plastic, we just do not generate a lot of it. you have the right idea of a minimal design that is skeletal in nature that uses the minimal plastic to orient and support the parts in the carton packaging.

    MicroTechnologies has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 31 comments.
  • Ian Sayers

    Ian Sayers over 8 years ago

    Is this file coming in clean and solid for other users? I am seeing several hundred geometry errors including a bunch of unresolvable gaps. Since packaging design involves a lot of boolean operations that require a solid model, you'd think they would try harder to provide a clean file. Not sure why they went with an IGES file, the worst possible choice...

    Ian Sayers has uploaded 45 CAD models & has left 41 comments.
  • Tommy Mueller

    Tommy Mueller over 8 years ago

    Hello Ian Sayers Try using this file instead:
    Challenge Helper Item - Sustainapack

    Best of luck!!

    Tommy Mueller has uploaded 224 CAD models & has left 1893 comments.
  • Ridwan Sept

    Ridwan Sept over 8 years ago

    almost finish, good luck for all !!!

    Ridwan Sept has uploaded 220 CAD models & has left 1677 comments.
  • mohammed adil

    mohammed adil over 8 years ago

    please show the winner name..

    mohammed adil has uploaded 2 CAD models & has left 1 comments.
  • Nouamane

    Nouamane over 8 years ago

    mohammed adil ;The winners will be announced by October 26, 2015

    Nouamane has uploaded 94 CAD models & has left 362 comments.
  • Ben Ewing

    Ben Ewing over 8 years ago

    I'm happy to announce the finalists for Sustainapack Challenge: https://grabcad.com/challenges/the-sustainapack-challenge/results! Next we'll be taking an in-depth look at all of the judging criteria and how each entrant performed in those areas. Congratulations to the finalists and to all of the entrants! There were so many amazing entries and we will be sure to announce honorable mentions along with the winners.

    Ben Ewing has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 304 comments.
  • AC

    AC over 8 years ago

    Congrats to all the finalists. Here are a few comments to assist the judges in making their final decision. My past experience includes 25 years working directly in plastic injection molding facilities. A lot of my time was spent both designing as well as performing DFM's on plastic designs for a) moldability and b) providing suggestions to make geometries more user friendly with regards to cost of injection mold tooling and providing feedback on eliminating features considered undercuts, which increase mold cost.

    That being said, most of your finalists have two issues in their designs. Wall thickness that are too thin and non-drafted features that will only make the part stick in the mold cavity causing demold issues. As a rule, you typically do not design any part with a wall thickness less that .040" This causes non-fill issues (aka short shots), apply excessive injection pressure to fill the cavity, and eventually causing mold damage causing flash issues.

    Secondly, the geometry must have at least .5 degrees of draft (at minimum, 1-3 degrees is optimum) for proper demold. This meaning, all features in the "Z" direction must have angle to them.

    Lastly, several of the finalist designs (which are good by concept), will require expensive side action to mold (either lifters in the tool or slides, both increasing mold cost by 30-40%). Some of the designs will have tooling costs between 80-100K $US, even if produced overseas in some of the more "economical" tooling shops.

    That being said, and based on the challenge requirements, I would say that James Sawyer's submission is the best submission in this competition.

    This was fun, thanks to all.

    AC has uploaded 7 CAD models & has left 6 comments.
  • James Sawyer

    James Sawyer over 8 years ago

    Thank you for for your kind words. It was a fun project. I liked the feed back I got after the first entry. It forced me the rethink the project and reduce the wight. This project was more like the, work place, real world that I miss now that i am retired.

    James Sawyer has uploaded 9 CAD models & has left 7 comments.
  • AC

    AC over 8 years ago

    Just goes to show how Grabcad challenges go. The requirements change, as a case and point, the finalists were praised for coming up with a solution that could be "single packed", but yet, the original requirement was must be able to support a 200 piece pack and box size didn't matter. Then, all of a sudden, a submission that was not even moldable was commended for being a solution where you could just shrink wrap it. Then there was a finalist that provided a slolution where you actually had to assemble the packaging. I wonder what the plant manager at Microtech would feel about that one. I'm not sure what the credentials are of the judges of these challenges are, but when two of them are "Directors" of business development, it tells the story. Most every challenge I've reviewed on this website share the same issues. I'm unemployed for a reason. I can point out incompetence from a mile away. One of the finalists submissions "can't even be molded". It really is unreal. Kind words for you James, but this website is nothing more than a place where talented people "give away" for nothing their work. It's how it began. An Engineer who undermined every Engineer in the world giving away his work for nothing. Yes, the CEO of Grabcad. For an engineer in Bangalore, $400 bucks takes care of him for several months. For a guy in the U.S. it covers groceries for a couple weeks.

    AC has uploaded 7 CAD models & has left 6 comments.
  • Adriano Ordoz Barissa

    Adriano Ordoz Barissa over 8 years ago

    I agree with "AS" that had many entries impossible to manufacture an injection mold. However I can not ignore some good ideas in this competition.
    Working as a designer of injection molds for over 10 years and know well the constructive difficulties for many of these finalists. In my view I sought to create packaging in which it was possible to be produced in a single mold two plates P1 and P2, fleeing complex features such as drawers and negative.
    I do not like to judge anyone's opinion, after each has its own. In my view some works were selected mainly by the idea and not intended to be produced.
    Thank the jury for recognizing one of my work and good luck to all.

    Adriano Ordoz Barissa has uploaded 78 CAD models & has left 392 comments.
  • Robert Gorhan

    Robert Gorhan over 8 years ago

    I'm still at a loss as to why they chose mold injection over vacuum form...especially if they were using recycled thermoplastics.

    Robert Gorhan has uploaded 5 CAD models & has left 52 comments.
  • Ben Ewing

    Ben Ewing over 8 years ago

    Thanks for the feedback everyone. The judges will be ranking each finalist entry by the judging criteria (Strength/Weight ratio, accommodation of configurations, protection of product, time to load/unload) and will be releasing the results on the 26th. If you have any questions or suggestions about the GrabCAD Challenge process as a whole, feel free to email me at ben@grabcad.com.

    Ben Ewing has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 304 comments.
  • Benjamin Bohn

    Benjamin Bohn over 8 years ago

    I am not sure I'm all on board with the pending results either. I agree with most of the comments, negative mostly, but very realistic. There were so many entries that didnt even come close to being able to hit the targets, and I know there were a couple targets I missed too. But from a fundamental stand point of minimalist injection molded, the field was very small. Even smaller by separating those that had any kind of consideration for the manufacture process. For mine, I was late to begin with, but almost didnt make it because I was making sure it could be made with out side actuation, issues with minimum draft angles... etc. They wanted simple, I gave a simple two part moldable part. The details are there, but as with any 1-3deg draft, hidden amongst fillets, its hard to identify without looking at the geometry, which I suspect didnt happen as is somewhat supported by the 4 downloads I received.

    I will give lots of credit to those very creative ideas that folks put up. I was impressed by a lot of them. That kind of creativity, I hope, is being used to make wonderful things somewhere, and not being wasted. But at the same time, I am so disappointed that there were such a large number of entries that seemed to ignore the bulk of the requirements. Ok, miss some, but completely go in another direction? That is not engineering. We make art of the forest, we are told not to build or go there, we figure out another way, and make something beautiful in the end despite the obstacles. It is really those obstacles that define what we do; they make it fun, interesting, engaging and rewarding. Otherwise I would be a painter (I love the arts too, so no one take this as a negative) and I could do as my spirit directs, and a no just means I move on.

    I hope that the results of this contest really does take into consideration what was laid out in the requirements, else there will be yet another backlash of supporters of this site. Folks that manage and handle the site should take it more serious. I am sure there are many others like me on this site, who are engineers and designers that take their job very seriously, and it is a part of who they are. I ask of you, please do not ignore all of the people who are speaking on here. Please seriously consider what was put out there. A winner in the engineering realm should be one who met or exceeded the requirements, as set forth from the beginning, and not be influenced by any other opinion (or similar intangible) that were not initially stated. That makes any contest unfair, and is just not right.

    I look forward to seeing who is going to win, and what the people have to say about it.

    Benjamin Bohn has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 1 comments.
  • James Sawyer

    James Sawyer over 8 years ago

    Well said.

    James Sawyer has uploaded 9 CAD models & has left 7 comments.
  • Ajay Agrawal

    Ajay Agrawal over 8 years ago

    Winning design will have
    Require least amount of time to load / unload

    and what about above requirement I mean some of finalist's design requires so much time to load and unload the design.
    I think Sara was the best Community Manager as she really take care for each and every comment.

    Ajay Agrawal has uploaded 43 CAD models & has left 118 comments.
  • Reinaldo Wiener Rocca

    Reinaldo Wiener Rocca over 8 years ago

    I agree with the previous comments. It is not the first time that I put a lot of effort trying to meet the requirements (like calculations, cost reduction, manufacturing optimization) and when I see the finalist some of the proposal doesn't meet them.
    For example, if it is supposed that the packaging is made from plastic waste, how it is possible that some proposals use more material in the packaging than in the product. This doesn’t make any sense to me.
    I recognize that there are creative ideas in the finalist but some of us took very seriously the technical requirements and it is very sad to see that the winning proposals are only good appealing and statically nice.

    Reinaldo Wiener Rocca has uploaded 4 CAD models & has left 12 comments.
  • marcus

    marcus over 8 years ago

    Thanks for the equal opportunity to partake in these challenges and good luck to all the finalists.

    marcus has uploaded 6 CAD models & has left 11 comments.
  • MicroTechnologies

    MicroTechnologies over 8 years ago

    All, Thank you for the feedback. mostly negative and questioning the qualifications of the judges. All of us are seasoned engineers, tool and die makers and have worked in plastics for the majority of our lives. When we consider designs we look at the design elements of the packaging and how we can scale to suit the needs of the manufacturing process or we may like a certain aspect of a portion of a design that could be incorporated into other designs to make an even better overall design. I understand some of the comments about why we wouldnt make a thermoformed tray but we base our decisions on what processes we have in house to captively produce these using our own recycled resin. We are very appreciative of all of the entrants as this is our first exploration of offering this to a community to design an element of our process. I have also considered letting users provide a vote on their favorites and weighting that into our decision. We will be offering more of these challenges in the future so we will use the feedback to make our decisions on how we move forward to partner with.

    MicroTechnologies has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 31 comments.
  • Winston Jennings

    Winston Jennings over 8 years ago

    @Jason Murphy, Thanks for explaining. Now I can see why designs were far from your requirements! WJDAE - TSCE1 Packaging Tray and WJDAE - TSCE2 Packaging Tray

    Winston Jennings has uploaded 279 CAD models & has left 892 comments.
  • Ben Ewing

    Ben Ewing over 8 years ago

    The winners have been announced: https://grabcad.com/challenges/the-sustainapack-challenge/results. Congratulations to the winners! There were so many unique solutions for this challenge. To pick the winners, the judges took an in-depth look at how each finalist stacked up in terms of Strength to Weight Ratio, Accommodation of Configurations, Safety of Product and Loading time, and rated them from 1 to 10 in each category (10 being criteria fulfilled, 1 being unfulfilled). Thank you to everyone who participated in this exciting challenge!

    Ben Ewing has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 304 comments.
  • Ben Ewing

    Ben Ewing over 8 years ago

    Again, if you have any questions or suggestions on the challenge process, please email me at ben@grabcad.com!

    Ben Ewing has uploaded 1 CAD models & has left 304 comments.
  • Nicolas Marc

    Nicolas Marc over 8 years ago

    Many thanks Microtechnologies and Grabcad for this beautiful challenge.
    Congrats to all participants and finalists.
    Special thank Tommy Mueller for:
    Challenge Helper Item - Sustainapack
    Best regards.
    Nicolas.

    Nicolas Marc has uploaded 66 CAD models & has left 916 comments.
  • Adriano Ordoz Barissa

    Adriano Ordoz Barissa over 8 years ago

    Congratulations Nicolas Marc.
    thank you to Microtechnologies for this very exciting challenge.

    Adriano Ordoz Barissa has uploaded 78 CAD models & has left 392 comments.
  • ANOUAR BARODI

    ANOUAR BARODI over 8 years ago

    Congrats to the winners !!!

    ANOUAR BARODI has uploaded 98 CAD models & has left 1661 comments.
  • Krista Casal

    Krista Casal over 8 years ago

    THANKS Microtechnologies and GrabCAD!
    And "Honorable Mention" for all participants! :)

    Krista Casal has uploaded 85 CAD models & has left 379 comments.
  • Luis Arias 3D CAD

    Luis Arias 3D CAD over 8 years ago

    Congratulation! Marc, very good work!

    Luis Arias 3D CAD has uploaded 259 CAD models & has left 5480 comments.
  • Ashish Thakur

    Ashish Thakur about 8 years ago

    congn. Marc

    Ashish Thakur has uploaded 0 CAD models & has left 1 comments.
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