/ 2/3/2021 Battle Covid-19 in five minutes

The cleaning solution set to change our lives

How do you sanitise air?

UV light offers a new cleaning method that sterilises and sanitises areas from viruses, bacteria, germs and pathogens. Until 2020, a mobile cleaning system that uses UVC disinfection hadn’t been brought to market. But now more than ever schools, offices, gyms, supermarkets and care homes need a practical, cost-effective and efficient solution to sanitising areas.

This is where the VIOA team comes in. In direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, they set out to solve this very problem. The key points of the project included:

 

• It needed to be quick to market

 -> Businesses and public areas need a solution now

 

• Be accessible to a wide market 

-> We’re in this together, we should all have access to a solution

 

• Be accessible to the many not the few 

-> A mobile and cost-effective system with an easy to use interface

 

• Support industries particularly impacted by the pandemic 

-> Leisure, education, retail and care

 

Sheffield-based VIOA needed a strategic partner who could help them deliver this idea set to make a difference in all of our lives.

A company that strives to drive change through design and that wouldn’t shy away from a challenge.

 

How AME approached the VIOA challenge

Insight

Usability, cost and weight were key to VIOA’s vision, so the AME design team started by optimising the configuration of the components and the overall format of the steriliser.

 

Create

Using the optimised configurations, AME developed the aesthetics and ergonomics of the steriliser. Vital elements to explore included transportation and consumer interaction areas.

The revolutionary UV steriliser needed to be mobile, and so easy to use that no training would be required. Multiple methods of manufacture and assembly were explored to ensure the product could get to market quickly.

 

Validate

At AME, we believe in an iterative approach to prototype design.
That’s why the design team has precisely engineered a functional prototype to be trialled by consumers.

With the insight gathered from the validation stage, the AME team can optimise the product in line with the feedback and refine the design before the steriliser goes into volume production. This reduces overall cost and any design risk before the product enters the market.

 

 

Do you have a product you want to bring to market? 

Contact the AME team online today

We’re fully confident that the AME design team’s work adds value to VIOA’s project. The product development has:

 

• Been fast - Concept to prototype took less than six months

 

• Been thorough – Through the collected insight, explored new ideas and functional prototype designs, we optimised the format of the world’s first fully mobile UVC steriliser

 

• Been consumer-focused – By learning from consumers’ feedback, we ensured the design considered ease of use and transportation (the steriliser now weighs less than 29kg)

 

• Been cost-effective – We optimised the design and manufacturing process to help it meet the target cost. It was vital for the first fully mobile UVC steriliser to have an accessible price point too.

Mark White, General Manager at VIOA says:

“Immediately after outlining a potential product to address the issues brought about by the coronavirus, we approached AME to ask if they would partner with us to make the idea a reality. Having recently worked with AME on an unrelated product we knew what their broad skill base could bring to the table.

We have worked very closely with AME and adopted a ground up approach to development, considering; performance, form, ergonomics, ease of use and manufacturing.”

 

If you’d like to find out more about VIOA, visit the company website: https://vioa.co.uk/

 

What’s next in this product design?

We’re pleased to announce that the VIOA UVC steriliser is now in the mechanical prototype phase.

Once it’s been fully tested by consumers, we’ll support the team at VIOA with the final design. Feedback from testing will be accessed and adapted to the prototype after which the AME design team will work with the manufacturing partners to prepare the product for volume manufacture.

 

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