Better By Design
Industry
STEM Toys
Location
India
Year
2025
Service
Problem:
BBD had developed the concept and initial designs for its cardboard and plastic Slotties construction kit, but the product was not ready to sell. The existing manufacturing process made it too expensive to produce consistently, while improvised connections, visible tape and uneven finishing reduced durability and the quality expected from a commercial children’s product.
Solution:
We redesigned both the toys and the way they were manufactured. The cardboard geometry, slots and component layouts were refined for cleaner, more economical production, while purpose-built plastic motor mounts, connectors and shaft extenders replaced improvised attachments.
The result was a more durable, intuitive and visually resolved system that children could assemble and experiment with easily—while giving BBD a product that could be manufactured consistently and brought to market at a viable cost.
The Design
Journey
BBD began with a strong construction-play concept, but the existing toys were not commercially viable. Production costs were too high, the cardboard lacked the required durability, and tape-based motor attachments damaged the material and created an unfinished result.
We redesigned both the toys and their manufacturing process. Cardboard geometries, slot dimensions and layouts were refined for cleaner production, while purpose-built plastic motor mounts, shaft extenders and connectors replaced improvised attachments. Testing with children helped us improve strength, ease of assembly and compatibility across different configurations.
Manufacturing required equal attention. Although several vendors could produce similar components, the precision needed for consistent slot connections, moving parts and moulded pieces demanded the right machinery and production expertise. We analysed vendor capabilities and identified a suitable manufacturing partner capable of maintaining the required accuracy at scale.
We also established manufacturing guidelines and quantitative quality-control criteria for every component—defining what should be measured, acceptable tolerances, and clear conditions for accepting or rejecting pieces after production.
The result was not only a redesigned product, but a complete production system that enabled BBD to manufacture consistently, control quality and bring the kit to market at a viable cost.
