NU 12 by Mike Ligayo - New Design for Tech Pen

Prof. Jorge,

Below is my NU12 for week of April 24, 2012.

Thanks and Best Regards,

Michael T. Ligayo

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Pilot V5 Sign Pen Cap Problem

The Pilot V5 Sign Pen has been my favorite writing material since high school. It has been with me through a lot of exams, several contract and job offer signing and many other activities that involve writing. The pen has been so comfortable with me that even if I try using other pens, I always go back to what I am used to.

The Pilot V5 Sign Pen has been in the market for more than 15 years now and it seems that it has been doing really well since it continuously stay in our favorite bookstores. Some of the really good features of this writing material are:

·         Comes in five colors – black, blue, red, green and purple

·         Ink release is pretty consistent with the same clarity in every pen stroke

·         Usable until the ink runs out (does not dry even if not used for a long time as long as the cap is closed)

·         Cap does not get loose easily

·         Elegant looking with the its bright silver aluminum cap

·         Lightweight, making it really easy to handle

·         Has the right body radius for easy grip but does not easily break

·         Made of durable material

·         Relatively inexpensive for the quality of writing that you get (just slightly above PHP50)

Figure 1 shows an overview of the pen.

Figure 1. Overview of the Pen.

The Problem:

Though the pen has been very efficient to use, it also has failed me several times. This is when the ink oozes out of the small hole / circle on the pen cap causing ink stains on my clothing (which are very difficult to remove, some are even so heavy that it is already permanent). I initially thought that this issue is only being encountered by me but, after asking people who use the same pen (loyally), I got the information that they also encounter the same issue. Further to this, it causes some buyers of this pen to try-out other writing materials which might have the same benefits without this problem. Obviously, this can potentially cause lose of market share.

Dissecting the problem, we need to look closely on the composition of the cap. Figure 2 shows the different parts of the cap. It is composed of 3 parts, which are named cap sub-part 1 to 3 for the purpose of this paper. What happens is, when cap sub-part 3 is being used / inserted on clothes to have it hanged, it causes portions of cap sub-part 2 to move. Looking closely, cap sub-part 2 is only inserted into cap sub-part 1 (not welded or melted). This causes cap sub-part 2 to move when it is being forced by cap sub-part 3. Unfortunately, cap sub-part 2 goes all the way inside the cap (to approximately ¼ of the total length of the cap) and secures the ballpoint, which is the main writing material and where the ink of the pen comes out. Thus, the main problem of the assembly is its design and assembly make-up.

Figure 2. Different Parts of the Pen Cap.

Proposed Solution:

The problem can be solved quite easily. All there is needed to do is to combine the plastic injection molding of cap sub-part 1 and cap sub-part 2. While this is being done, cap sub-part 3 can be embedded / molded with the 2 sub-parts. (This process is possible in plastic injection molding.) Thus, it is not like it is being sandwiched by the 2 sub-parts, rather it will be part of the cap body itself. The effect of this re-design on the pen would be the following:

• There will be no hole on the plastic cap where the ink can ooze out. This is since cap sub-parts 1 and 2 will be molded as one. This ensures that even if the ink ooze because of other reasons (such as expansion of liquid ink due to heat), it will not cause any clothes stain. The ink will be confined on the cap itself.
• The aluminum handle (cap sub-part 3) will be sturdier even if it is being inserted on thick paper or cloth. This is since it is being held by seamless plastic.
• Since most probably, the injection molding insert will come out of the other end (where the pen is being inserted), the barrel of the handle will tend to taper making this other end smaller. (This is an effect if hot plastic is being molded, thus, one end is smaller in radius than the other by a small value, usually in micrometers.) This allows for better insertion of the pen and making it secured better into the cap.

The only downside of this solution would be an investment on the re-design of the plastic injection molding tool. For semi-precision tools, such as this, it will cost around PHP150K (based on a cost estimate of an expert injection molding engineer) to change 1 cavity of the tool. With usually 32 cavities for this size of plastic product, the total investment cost would be at around PHP4.8M.

Business Benefits:

PHP4.8M seems to be big investment for a pen which costs only about PHP53.00 per piece. However, the cost being paid here is consumer benefit. One out of 20pcs of this pen fails for this issue. There are even cases when consecutive pieces (at least those that I bought) failed. (This is potentially a batch issue.) The only thing that keeps me with this pen (and at least those that I know who use this pen) is the fact that is it really highly efficient based on the good features described on the first part of this paper. Considering the re-design to resolve this problem would make it a “near perfect” pen. Combined with its current cost, this would greatly help make the pen stay in the market longer (and probably attract more consumers).

In order to minimize the cost impact, the producer can wait for the time when mold reaches maximum life (approximately 1M shots) and change with the new design. This way, the impact of the cost can be minimized since based on maintenance requirements, the mold tool insert will really have to be changed after the tool life. 4