STICKY SITUATION Avani Patel Phil Bagley Kamile Berenyte

PROBLEM STATEMENT Women’s shoes that have flat, smooth bottoms do not provide any resistance to sticky gum. In 1871, the gum production escalated with the patent of a gum manufacture machine; today, over 374 billion sticks of gum are made yearly, and when not disposed of properly, gum becomes a sticky situation. Women in urban areas have agreed that they hate it when there is gum stuck on their shoes as evidenced by the amount of responses to the online search “I hate it when gum is stuck on my shoe.” Although there are many answers on how to effectively remove the gum from your shoes, there are no solutions on how to keep the gum from sticking to the shoe.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSEProvide flat women’s shoes with a gum resistant material to protect the bottom of the shoe.

GANTT CHART

JUSTIFICATION

Methods Custodian Personal experience Articles

City spends $230,000 a year “Gum hard to remove once stuck to a solid

surface” – SBWire Web Surveys Expert responses

PAST AND PRESENT SOLUTIONS/COMPETITION

MARKET RESEARCH- TOOLS Survey Focus group Informational Interview Personal Observations

Where: Downtown Chicago andStratford Square Mall

EXPERT INPUT Material/Science Engineers Chemists Designers 3M

SURVEY RESULTS

145; 43%

194; 57%

Gender

Male Female

under 16 16 to 22 23 to 29 30 to 36 37 to 43 44+0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Age Distribution

MaleFemale

Age Group

Num

ber o

f Peo

ple

6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 10.5 11 11.5 12 12.5 13 14 15+0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Men and Women Shoe Sizes

Male Female

Shoe Size

Num

ber o

f Peo

ple

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9+0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Pairs of Shoes Acquired /yrMales v. Females

MaleFemale

Pairs of Shoes

Num

ber o

f Peo

ple

Yes No0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Have you ever had gum stuck on your shoes?

Male Female

Num

ber o

f Peo

ple

Yes No0

20406080

100120140160180200

Do you think it is a hassle to remove gum?

MaleFemale

Num

ber o

f Peo

ple

Chart A shows the total female population surveyed of 194 women. As the pie chart displays, 90% of the women answered Yes to the question “Have you ever had gum stuck on the bottom of your shoe?”

Chart B then takes the population of 175 women that answered Yes to the question and subdivides them by their response to the question, “Do you think it is a hassle removing gum that has been stuck to the bottom of the shoe?”

As the pie chart displays, 96% answered yes, they think it is a hassle.

90%

10%

Females

Yes

No

Have you ever had gum stuck on the bot-tom of your shoe?Total: 194Yes: 175No: 19

96%

4%

Do you think it is a hassle to remove the gum from the bottom of the shoe?

Yes

No

Chart C then displays the responses to the question, “Would you buy our product?” taken from the population of women that have had gum stuck to the bottom of their shoe and think that it is a hassle removing it, therefore having a population of 101 women.

So for our estimate, 52% of women would be interested in buying our product.

60%

40%

Would you buy our product?

Yes

No

BRAINSTORMING POSSIBILITIES

    Problem Statement IdeasCriteria Weight Idea 1 Idea 2 Idea 3 Idea 4 Idea 5 Idea 6 Idea 7 Idea 8 Idea 9Product will be able to prevent gum from sticking to the shoe.

3 

4 4 2 5 5 3 3 2 4

The product can be accomplished in the given time.

2 2 4 1 2 3 2 2 1 2

The product can be made with the available resources.

3 2 4 1 1 3 1 1 1 3

The product is marketable.

1 5 5 3 2 4 3 3 3 3

Product is affordable. 1 4 4 1 3 4 2 2 2 4Materials used are durable.

2 2 4 3 4 1 2 2 2 2

Product has appealing appearance.

1 5 2 1 2 1 3 3 2 2

Product is slip resistant.

3 5 5 4 1 2 2 3 1 4

Product is water resistant.

3 2 4 2 5 5 4 4 5 4

Product is testable. 2 3 5 4 4 4 3 3 1 4Adjustable to shoe size.

1 1 4 2 2 2 2 2 1 1

Adjustable to shape of the sole.

1 1 4 2 2 2 2 2 1 1

Total Score   69 96 52 66 74 56 63 44 72

SELECT AN APPROACH

Idea 1- Sticker Idea ( Multiple layers of slip-resistant material that peel off when the gum is stuck to it) Idea 2- Cover Idea ( Rubber sole that stretches around the shoe and can be removed from the shoe when the gum is stuck to it) Idea 3- Sensor Idea ( signals the walker of gum on the ground) Idea 4- Resistant material Idea (on the bottom of the shoe with slip resistant on the edges of the product (Teflon Fabric)Idea 5- PVC Glove Idea (glove material on bottom of the shoe that resists gum) Idea 6- Liquid Idea (Rubber sole with slots that fill with PaveSaver)Idea 7- Liquid Idea (Rubber sole with slits that fill with PaveSaver)Idea 8- Hydrophilic Idea ( A stick on layer that collects water, making it difficult for gum to stick to)Idea 9- Resistant Material Idea and Sticker Idea Combined (only one layer of gum resistant material on bottom of the shoe that can be peeled off)

DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS1) Performance2) Customer Needs3) Safety and Legal Issues4) Materials5) Global Environment 6) Product Life and Durability7) Ergonomics8) Target Cost9) Size and Weight10) Operatory Environment11) Aesthetics

BUILD PROCESS AND PROTOTYPE

TESTING PLANS

TESTING RESULTS

REFINE

FINAL SOLUTION

SUMMARY/ LESSONS LEARNED