The team had to work fast because excavation, using steam pumps, can be done only between late spring and early autumn. The product clearly needed more visual appeal in its repackaging. The targeted new buyers would be less likely to respond to the same sort of utilitarian, almost clunky look that often appeals to government and scientific types. The intended new customers were businesses such as highway contractors, building renovators, and firms providing underground location and mapping services to utility companies. Ove Industrial Design Ltd. Both companies are based in Toronto.
Plastics permit molding complex parts in quantities small or large, as needed.
Plastics also allow for curved, ergonomic, and visually appealing shapes nearly impossible to match in machined metal. Esthetic refinements, such as compound curves, were impractical. Besides being less flexible in design, machined parts are slower and costlier to make than molded parts. Combined with our own redesign that reduced the box count in a typical system from five to one, the total packaging costs were reduced by an order of magnitude. We came down to one box from three main components and two antennas.