Lloyd Sevack, President, P. Eng.
Montreal, Quebec
You know, we spent considerable R&D time developing a product that will never sell in high volume. Here’s why…
We often received customer inquiries that went like this:
Customer: Do you have a plaster frame with a 100mm hole?
Tripar: No, but we have a 3-7/8” stamped hole, as well as 4”.
Customer: That won’t do. I need 100mm.
Tripar: You realize that those sizes we have are either only 1/16” smaller or bigger than 100mm? Surely your luminaire can accommodate for that?
Customer: Yes, but I want 100mm.
And so, we’d laser cut that customer’s 100mm hole at their expense, only for the next week to receive a similar call from that or another customer asking for the same but with a 110mm hole…oh so close to 4-3/8” which we have… but no success.
One flawed solution: “goof rings”
Some lighting OEMs achieve “customizable” plaster frames using “goof rings.”
This is when the customer buys a plaster frame containing the largest hole they envisage, that also contains three to four small rivet holes around the large hole. They also stock a series of reducing (goof) rings; rings with a constant outer diameter but each with smaller holes.
They then rivet the required/desired goof ring to their “universal” plaster frame, effectively reducing the hole size. Well, this is a falsehood! Yes, the plaster frame itself is “universal” but now requires the inventorying (and assembly) of goof rings, with the problem of hole size simply shifting to the goof rings. It’s not a solution at all! And it’s a bit goofy if you ask me.
The problem
Fueled by customer requests, this made me wonder if there is a way for a single plaster frame to accommodate a variety of hole sizes?
And one day as I was using my camera and seeing the aperture leaves in the camera lens, it suddenly hit me. Could this same principle be employed in a plaster frame to offer a variable-sized hole?
Back at work, I shared this problem and idea with my Engineering team, adding that we cannot do this with 16 or more leaves as done with expensive camera lenses, but must do so with much fewer to keep costs reasonable. They stared back at me blankly until one asked; “How are you going to do that?” At which point I looked at everyone around the table and said “I have no idea”, and pointed to one person, and said “You first!”
The solution
The product development process is never a straight line; one idea, development, and often failure leads to others. Slowly two potential solutions emerged. Using only 6 leaves it seemed that we had a concept that could yield hole sizes ranging from 3-1/2” to 5-1/2”. I confidentially shared our concepts with a few of our biggest customers, to get their feedback and comments. After several prototypes, each increasingly refined, we repeated the trials with those same select group of customers, whose feedback was positive.
Attention then shifted to if/how we could offer this at a reasonable price. Unsure of the potential volumes, we could not afford the expense of developing hard tooling (dies) for all components, but did so for the leaves, as their numbers would be higher, requiring 6 per plaster frame.
This allowed us to come out with what we now call The Shutter™ (as well as a much simpler solution for an adjustable square-hole plaster frame); Yup, we did it.
The devil is always in the details; learn more about it on our New Product Bulletin.
Who is the Shutter for?
It’s for three types of OEM luminaire clients:
First, for OEMs developing new products and are unsure which of their luminaire new sizes (and corresponding hole sizes) will take off, it’s ideal. If their demand for any specific hole sizes increases enough, we will offer pricing on that fixed hole size, which is cheaper than the Shutter.
Second, the Shutter is ideal for niche players that don’t have high volumes.
Third, we had one “surprise” application. When showing the Shutter to a few high-volume plaster frame customers, many said “I’m ordering 500 of these.” When we asked why given their volumes, they explained how if they have not predicted their demand for the variety of fixed-hole size plaster frames they require and run out, their entire production would stop and customer orders held up for a part worth a few dollars. So, they’d prefer using the Shutter to keep things moving until their missing plaster frame comes in, only to then backfill their stock of Shutter and always have 500 in reserve.
Lessons learnt
Would I do this again knowing of the R&D investment and low sales volume? Absolutely!
Why? Because it solves a costly problem for our customers, not to mention the wow factor; people who see and play with it are both intrigued and impressed, reinforcing the trusted brand that Tripar has in the OEM lighting industry.
US Pat # 11,085,615
