Cullen's Blog

Where I am for the project deliverables is not very far. I have found that it is hard to work on the project deliverable with everyone, because they are all also doing the same spreadsheet but in different places. It is hard to all agree on one answer when we are all trying to talk and find there answers all at the same time. This is some of the reasons that it is hard to get the answers in my group. Another reason is, something like the company name, we haven’t talked about it too much so it is hard to come up with it on the spot. This is where my group and I are on for the project deliverables.

The Sett CE Sofa is a sofa made 95% out of plastic. This sofa was designed in a total of four months, and was made out of their own packaging material and take back material. The company, Gispen, is a dutch company that won biggest tender company ever for office furniture. The people of this company believe that recycled plastic can be used for an advantage and because of this they created many partners in the company such as waste collectors, plastic recycling companies, machine builders, designers, engineers, and the (Dutch) Technical University of Delft. The new sofa is the right step in eliminating the plastic problem.

90% of all the plastic ends up as trash, instead of recycling. A small city near Miami, wants to ban polystyrene from restaurants and grocery stores, because these are bad for our landfills, oceans, ect. The city and the Florida Retail Federation took it to court. The court sided with the state, rather than the city. Some states are trying to ban or fine people for using plastics in the wrong way. For example, Hawaii has a statewide ban of use of plastic bags. California has also banned plastic bags. Maine has banned single use polystyrene containers. New York has also banned plastic bags and it will take effect in 2020.

From our presentation, we needed many improves. One of which would be our business description. We needed to start with something smaller. It needs to be more a school or some smaller sports team, like a local football team, because getting a license is too expensive too start with. We also needed to say we were offering a jersey or gym clothes out plastic instead of saying we are offering a cheaper jersey. For our innovation, it would be putting plastic into jerseys or gym equipment. Finally, our target market would have to be something local like a school or a small football team.

In our solve it idea, we had an idea to make a sprinkler system that will put out fires in buildings faster. We thought that fires in buildings weren’t being put out fast enough. Our idea would be able to put these out faster. What it would do is it would the fire retardant chemical that would be added to the water, so that way it will help the firemen to put out the fires quicker and more efficient. This will make it much easier to put out building fires and hopefully be able to save items and belongings in other rooms.

Plastic waste is a big problem in our world. From ecosystem to ecosystem, garbage is everywhere. The biggest problem is not people not being aware of the plastic waste problem, its that plastic is so useful that it is hard not to use. Lighter automobiles, lighter planes, and plastic food packaging has reduced food from spoiling. Even with all these problems, people are coming up with solutions to these. Margaret Sobkowicz is one of the people that are trying to stop this plastic problem. She is a professor of plastic engineering at the university of Massachusetts Lowell. She is trying to harness the tools of engineering for environmentally sound plastic.

Plastic is everywhere. From your keyboard to your pencil. A lot of the stuff in your life is plastic. But where does it all go. Some goes into landfills, some goes overseas to be recycled, but most end up in our rivers, ponds, lakes, and oceans. Over the last ten years, we have produced more plastic than the last century. 50% of the plastic we use, we use once, then throw it away. It will take 500-1,000 years for plastic to degrade. Americans throw away about 35 billion plastic water bottles a year. These are some of the facts about the plastic waste in our world.

One of our targets for our solution on reducing plastic waste would be a clothing line company. The biggest problem is that there is too much plastic in the ocean and in animals habitats. The problem about the clothing line company is they might not want to spend the extra money to go make their clothes out of plastic. Another problem is that the amount of plastic in the clothing has to be enough to make a difference. For example, if one shirt gets rid of one plastic bottle, it is probably not enough to get rid of the plastic waste problem. The other side of that is that if you put too much plastic in the shirts, the shirt might not be breathable or it’ll make too much noise. This is a problem with targeting clothing lines.

Mr. Tod’s Pies had many flaws and good things about his company. One of his flaws was the fact that he was expanding his company too fast. He was using his money to spend it on stuff that wasn’t needed. (Mr. Pie Man, the mascot of Tod’s Pies.) Tod wanted $400,000 dollars so he could build a factory. This was a flaw because Tod didn’t have any proof that he was selling out of his pies. Also, Tod said that McDonalds wanted his product. This could be a good thing because then it could show how good his product was and how people want his product.

Some qualities of an effective team member would be trying to be a reliable team member. You also have to have consistency when you do your work. You have to make good work all the time, not some of the time. You have to express your ideas clearly, so your team members can understand what you’re saying. You have to be a good listeners. You have to remain an active participants and shares thoughts. The team member needs to be able to adaptive of situations. He/She will commit to the team and be a problem solver. You have to also treat your team with consideration. These are some responsibilities and qualities of a good team member.