Team Friendship - SMITTEN Sleep System

PKG 485 - Section 4

Dr. Laura Bix

Andrew Brummitt

Ashley Hatfield

James Klopping

Gabriel Speirs

Rhonda Wehbe

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Table of Contents

SUMMARY 3

ALTERNATIVE IDEAS CONSIDERED 4

HOW THE PACKAGE WORKS 5

PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS 6

MATERIAL SELECTION & CRITERIA 6

APPLICABLE REGULATIONS 8

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS 9

LOGISTICS 10

SIZE (# UNITS/YEAR), TYPE, & TARGET SHARE OF MARKET 10

PROMOTION 11

PRODUCTION LINE & LAYOUT 12

QUALITY CONTROL PROGRAM 14

FINANCIAL 14

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS 14

WORKS CITED 15

APPENDIX 17

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Summary

The SMITTEN Sleep System is an innovative design intended to provide infants with a

safe place to sleep. This safe sleep environment is free of items that could potentially block their

airways, resulting in fewer accidental deaths. This concept was suggested by C.S. Mott

Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan, and was inspired by the Finnish Baby Box.

Finland has provided a corrugated container to new parents for decades to provide babies with a

convenient, safe bed. This program has led to the lowest infant mortality rate in the world. Mott

Children’s Hospital hopes to adopt this concept to help provide a safe sleep environment for

children less than six months. Therefore, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital reached out to the

Michigan State University School of Packaging to bring the concept to life in the United States.

Together, a sleep environment that is convenient, inexpensive, and safe can be available for new

parents and reduce the risk of infant death by suffocation.

Introduction

For many infants it is uncertain if they will survive their first nineteen months of life.

These unnecessary and avoidable deaths are due to unsafe sleeping conditions that babies are

subjected to after leaving the hospital. Michigan alone had 150 infant deaths in 2012 from

suffocation, strangulation, and entrapment. However, this is just a small number compared to the

1,160 total infant deaths in the U.S. from the same issue. According to the Study of

Unintentional Injury Deaths conducted in 2009, infant deaths due to suffocation have risen

30.0% over a ten-year period while nearly every other cause of death has declined.

Unfortunately, despite vast improvements in technology and healthcare, the infant death rate due

to unsafe sleeping conditions continues to rise.

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Accidental suffocation has raised enough red flags that hospitals are pushing for a

change. Michigan now mandates that every case of death with an unknown cause be investigated

for children under the age of two. In many cases, it is found that the death of the child was 100%

preventable if only the child had been provided a safe place to sleep. There are many factors that

contribute to creating an unsafe sleeping environment. These include poor sleeping locations and

positions, too much bedding, stuffed animals, and bed sharing with adults.

A strong design as described by C.S. Mott features safety and convenience. This includes

breathable, toxin-free and flammable materials, low crushability of walls, and washable.

(Kroeker) The product needs to be convenient and visually appealing so that parents will be

inclined to use it. To achieve convenience, the product should be collapsible. Because safety is

the main concern of the maternity box, carrying capacity, and stability are factors being heavily

considered in the design. The final product will provide an affordable solution for infant sleep

that is both safe for babies and convenient for parents to use in the U.S.

Alternative Ideas Considered

There were multiple ideas considered in the development of the SMITTEN Sleep System.

From the many designs that were brainstormed, three of them stood out as the best candidates for

the final product. These included a foldable crate, a thermoformed custom design, and a Full

Overlap Box (FOL) variation.

The foldable crate design would be an easy to assemble plastic crate as shown in Figure

1. The crate would be similar to a milk crate in structure, which includes having a handle on each

side, but is hinged at the base and snaps into itself on the corners. The crate would have had the

ability to fold onto itself to create a thin profile, about two inches wide, providing easy storage

and transportation of the box. The crate would have been sturdy and strong enough to transport a

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sleeping baby safely from place to place. The only major drawback to this concept was the

comparatively high cost compared to the other proposed designs.

The custom thermoformed design cleverly named Hips Don’t Lie, is a plastic, collapsible

box (Figure 2). However, unlike a regular box it was bowed in on one side to sit comfortably and

ergonomically on the mother’s hip when transporting the baby box with the infant still inside. It

would have also had openings near the top for handles. The plastic would have created a durable,

sustainable, and waterproof product to help with cleaning when necessary. The bottom was solid,

with the smaller sides folding in for ease of transportation and storage when not in use.

Another package design that was considered was a corrugated container with the quality

of a Full Overlap (FOL) box and a Center Special Slotted Container (CSSC). The material would

have been coated in wax to ensure the strength of the box lasts and would make the box easier to

clean. The bottom of the box would have contained flaps meeting in the center from the width

direction and two full flaps from the length direction. This was designed to increase the strength

by providing three layers on the bottom of the box. The top of the box does not have width flaps

and only contains the full-length flaps. However, these full length flaps are cut at a diagonal to

reduce the amount of corrugated used (Figure 3). This design would have also incorporated

handholds so that the box could be carried with one hand.

How the Package Works

The final design for the SMITTEN Sleep System is composed of four components: an

inner tray, a Polyurethane foam pad, a sleeve and an outer tray. The inner tray is placed inside

the sleeve to hold the baby and the foam mattress pad, while the outer tray is placed on the

bottom and surrounds both the sleeve and inner tray to keep the sleeve in place. This design

makes it impossible to carry the system with the child inside, preventing the baby from falling

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out and getting hurt. The sleeve will be collapsible so that it fits into the outer tray along with the

inner tray, creating a convenient, easy to carry full system package. (Figures 4-7)

Protection Requirements

The most important objective for the sleep system is to provide a safe sleeping

environment. According to the representatives of C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, the Sleep

System needs to be a convenient, breathable, portable, stable, and flammable system. The last

criteria may appear unusual, but a safe sleep system should have the ability to burn quickly and

disappear in the case of a fire, rather than resist combustion. This is to prevent children from

receiving severe burns from slow burning materials close to their skin and clothing. Other

protection requirements that were taken into consideration include using a toxin-free material

and that is water-resistant to prevent degradation. In addition, the SMITTEN Sleep System is

designed to be free of any other objects that may be encountered in a bedroom such as blankets

and stuffed animals that may cause strangulation or entrapment. (Kroeker)

Material Selection & Criteria

There were several criteria that had to be taken into consideration when selecting the

materials used for the SMITTEN Sleep System. In order to meet the requirements that were put

in place by C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, such as breathable, and durable materials, a

doublewall corrugated BC-flute with a cascaded wax coating was chosen for the inner tray, outer

tray and sleeve. The foam mattress pad is located inside the inner tray and composed of

polyurethane.

The decision to use corrugated board was made because it is a cost-effective and feasible

material. Instead of limiting this system to only B-flute or C-flute singlewall the collaborative

decision was made to use BC-flute doublewall to take advantage of each of their positive

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attributes. B-flute was chosen because it has high flat crush resistance and provides a good

printing surface, and the C-flute is closest to the baby because of its positive cushioning

properties. This flute combination provides excellent all around performance and is commonly

used for shipping cases where a high level of protection is required.

While there are several advantages to using recycled materials, it was decided that virgin

fibers would be far more beneficial to use in the production of the Sleep System. Virgin

materials are used to help eliminate the risk of contamination from post-consumer waste from the

recycling stream. Additionally, tensile strength is related to the strength of the fibers, their

surface area, length, and fiber bonding properties. The more the material has been recycled, the

shorter the fibers become; this results in a lower tensile strength and an overall weaker material.

Each time a material is recycled, not only does the tensile strength decrease, but burst strength,

folding strength, and density are all decreased as well.

In order to address the requirement of waterproofing, it was decided to cascade the

corrugated board with a wax solution on the inner and outer facings of each component. Adding

a wax coating to corrugated board is one of the most popular types of water-resistant treatments

(Finishing (Coatings & Treatments)). Not only is wax a great barrier to water, it also works to

prevent the corrugated board from wicking. Cascaded wax coatings are used for food packaging

because they are tasteless, odorless, nontoxic and inert: making the system safe for a baby to

sleep inside. (Twede)

Polyurethane foam was chosen for multiple reasons. One reason is that it is soft to the

touch but is also extremely durable. Polyurethane foam is also very supportive and comfortable

and is commonly used for furniture, bedding and cushion seats in the automotive industry. It is

also used in packaging to protect extremely sensitive products. Since safety is highest priority of

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Team Friendship, Polyurethane foam was decided to be the best option for the SMITTEN Sleep

System.

Applicable Regulations

The SMITTEN Sleep System is not the typical baby crib, therefore the regulations

pertaining to this unique system will most likely come from multiple sections within different

sets of standards and codes for similar products. The closest products to derive regulations from

for use with this system are those pertaining to non-full-size baby cribs. A large majority of the

necessary applications that will be involved in regulating this product will come from standards

published in the Code of Federal Regulations and can be found under 16 CFR Part 1220, which

is the Safety Standard for Non-Full-Size Baby Cribs section ("ECFR — Code of Federal

Regulations."). The SMITTEN Sleep System meets the size criteria to be considered a non-full-

size crib, as well as the required criteria to be considered a collapsible product. Since the

SMITTEN Sleep System meets both of these specific criteria it can be categorized as a part of

the Portable Crib group.

Some of the requirements of 16 CFR Part 1220 include regulations that can be found in

parts of the ASTM F 406-10a with certain additions and exclusions that may be applicable to the

SMITTEN Sleep System. ASTM F 406-10a is a combination of the Standard Consumer Safety

Specification for Non-Full-Size Baby Cribs and the Standard Consumer Safety Specification for

Play Yards ("Non-Full-Size Baby Cribs Business Guidance."). One of the regulations is in

regards to specific opening sizes that require mattress support systems. As a result, it was

decided that the SMITTEN Sleep System would feature a mattress made of Polyurethane foam.

Lastly, another set of regulatory laws in place for this product are those created under the

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). One of the main laws in this act that

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would relate to the SMITTEN Sleep System is the law that is in place to improve recall

effectiveness. This law requires companies to send out product-registration cards with their

products, maintain contact information of registered products, and requires manufacturers to

permanently place their name and contact information, model number, and date of manufacture

on each of their products ("Consumer Registration Cards for Durable Infant or Toddler

Products."). This is definitely an important feature for the SMITTEN Sleep System to have

because in the event that there was product recalls it would be an efficient way to make sure

defective products could be quickly located.

Environmental Considerations

The SMITTEN Sleep System will attempt to be as sustainable as possible, while also

meeting all of the necessary criteria requested by the SMITTEN team. The corrugated material

used in the design cannot be a completely made of recycled material, however, the medium of

the corrugated system can be composed of recycled fiber since it never comes in direct contact

with the child.

The material used to make the system is wax-coated, rendering it non recyclable. The

material also comes in direct contact with people, so this would be an extra precaution requiring

attention to avoid contamination in the recycling stream. For example, if the product comes in

contact with biohazards such as blood, it cannot enter the landfill system because it is a potential

health risk. If the product is only exposed to saliva, urine, and feces it may enter the landfill

because those substances are not considered to be medical waste ("Environmental Health &

Safety."). Sleep Systems that do come in contact with blood or other biohazards will have to be

disposed of correctly according to local guidelines within the disposal region. Generally, bio-

hazardous waste is incinerated allowing it to be used later for energy. Even if the consumer

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chooses not to take the initiative of recycling the system, corrugated containers only last for

about three months in landfills on average before degradation begins. (Sabel)

The foam mattress pad will be made of Polyurethane foam, which was chosen partly due

to its degradation capabilities. It can degrade with the assistance of certain bacteria found in soil

(Howard). The foam mattress pad will be able to maintain its shape while in use, but once

discarded and introduced into the landfill system it will begin to decompose. Environmental

concerns were thoroughly thought out during the entire design process and were a large factor in

all of the design decisions.

Logistics

The SMITTEN Sleep System will be shipped to the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott

Children’s Hospital on 32” x 30” pallets. The best option for palletizing is a non-interlocking

five column pallet pattern two layers high for a total of ten packages per load (Figure 8).

Unfortunately, due to the shape and size of the SMITTEN Sleep System, the cube efficiency of

the pallet is 78.3% but the area used of the pallet is 91.7%. A 53' foot semi-truck trailer can be

loaded with 126 pallets if they are stacked in two layers. Since the hospital will most likely not

have a vertical pallet lift or fork truck the Sleep Systems will be unloaded by hand, so the pallets

will need to be shipped in one layer for easy unloading. This will only allow for 63 pallets to be

shipped per truckload and that would equate to a cube efficiency of 42.25%. Assuming that a

trailer can be rented for $2,000.00 it would cost $3.18 per unit with the trailer packed with one

layer and $1.59 with a trailer layered two pallets high.

Size (# Units/Year), Type, & Target Share of Market

The SMITTEN Sleep System belongs to its own unique market and because of this the

target market will be relatively small. Initially the target share of this market will only consist of

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the birth center and maternity ward at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital,

as they are trying to market to new parents that will be having their child at the Children's

Hospital. The hospital delivers approximately 3,800 babies annually ("Birth Center at Von

Voigtlander Women's Hospital."). This market has the potential for exponential growth based off

this system’s early success and whether or not it proves to provide a safe sleep environment,

decreasing the number of infants who die because of unsafe sleeping conditions. The system

could easily be expanded to other hospitals and eventually become commercialized to retailers at

the state and national levels. C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital currently has the entire market share

in the United States for this unique product category as it is the only hospital that is testing and

prototyping this product. There are no other direct competitors for this type of product in the

United States, but the concept for this product is not new as it originated in Finland and is still

being used there today. Since this unique sleep system is a new concept in the United States the

closest competition is the companies that produce cribs and bassinets. C.S. Mott will have the

entire market share with this product, but should expect to compete with cribs and bassinets until

similar products become available in this unique product sector.

Promotion

To help promote the idea of this product, an informative workshop will be held in the

maternity ward. This will be held on the first and third Saturday of each month to show the

benefits and how to utilize this product. Expecting parents will also be given information about

this in the form of a pamphlet while touring the facility as well as a letter sent out after the

second trimester. This letter will inform parents on safe sleeping practices and how to utilize the

product to ensure safe sleeping habits in the household. All of this information will also be

available on the C.S. Mott’s website. Additionally, the product has a high budget and a low cost;

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therefore the extra funds will be applied to a marketing campaign highlighting the dangers of

unsafe sleep. Making the community aware of the problem is the first step in correcting it.

Specifications

The SMITTEN Sleep System is designed to hold and support an average child while they

are sleeping from birth to six months. There is a range of weights that a child can be during that

time period. To accommodate for such a wide range of ages and their respective weights, this

package will be constructed of 200#, BC-flute doublewall corrugated board. The reason for using

a Mullen rating for the corrugated board is that it will require a consistently similar product

throughout multiple companies, due to the regulations surrounding how a corrugated sheet can

be produced. The SMITTEN Sleep System will also incorporate a cascaded wax coating to

ensure that it is more resistant to water. This is a crucial need for this system because of the

amount of use that the SMITTEN Sleep System will encounter. The inner dimensions of the

inner tray will be 29” x 17” x 4” (Length x Width x Height) with a blank design of 46 ¼” x 24

15/16 and the outer tray inner dimensions will be 32+1/16” x 18+13/16” x 4+5/16”. The sleeve has

outside dimensions of 30+3/16” x 18+3/16” x 12” with the blank design measuring 96+5/32” x 12”.

Production Line & Layout

The production line for the SMITTEN Sleep System will be similar to that of the typical

corrugated box production facility. BC-flute doublewall corrugated sheets will be produced and

purchased from an outside supplier that creates affordable sheets that are of high value and

quality. A corrugator inside of a production facility will produce these sheets and then a system

of rolling conveyors will transport the sheets to a Flexo-Folder-Gluer machine to print any logo

or design that C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital may want on their product. Then the SMITTEN

Sleep System components will be cut out of the blank sheets using pre-purchased cutting dies.

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Cutting dies will only need to be purchased for the inner and outer trays. Attached to this

machine will be a constant airflow system which will carry the excess cut up pieces of

corrugated board to a compression device that will tightly pack the waste corrugated board to be

recycled later. The cutting dies for this system will require minimal setup time for production

crews and should not be costly since the cutting area is not too large for each component. After

the components are cut from the blanks, the Flexo-Folder-Gluer machine will then glue the

sleeve on the glue joint and that component will remain knocked-down. After the components

are cut from the blanks each component will be taken to a cascading wax machine in a room off

the line to have a wax coating applied to the inner and outer facings. Each of these components

will be placed onto slip-sheets so they are not damaged on their way down the conveyor. Then,

they are stretch wrapped using an Orion semi-automatic stretch wrapper and loaded onto a 53'

foot semi-truck trailer and sent to a fulfillment center. This fulfillment center will erect the inner

and outer trays, place the sleeve in the outer tray and then place the inner tray over the sleeve,

closing the system for wrapping and shipment to the University of Michigan. Since this entire

production system would require a rather expensive capital investment by the University, it

would be more cost effective for them to outsource this process through a company that can

produce quality products for a more reasonable price. A company that produces the quality of

sheets desired at an affordable price is Packaging Corporation of America (PCA), which is

located in Grandville, MI. The system of production and fulfillment of assembly is something

that PCA already uses with their current customer base. This program can be applied to the

SMITTEN Sleep System promptly with minimal changes to the process. The components would

be cut and coated in Grandville, MI and then sent to Livonia, MI for assembly and warehousing

if needed.  

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Quality Control Program

The majority of time spent for machine setup will be used making quality checks of the

cutting-die alignments to ensure that each of the cutting dies are lined up and within

specification. This ensures that the components are produced correctly, and that they will all

come together to form the SMITTEN Sleep System correctly. There will be a specific number of

components required at the start, middle, and end of each production run to be taken aside for

quality checks of the print, die-cuts, and overall corrugated board quality. There will also be

quality checks of the produced sheets coming from the corrugator. These quality evaluations will

be made every hour and they will check for delamination of linerboards from mediums and

overall quality of the corrugated board sheets produced.

Financial

The initial investment of machinery will require such a large capital investment from the

University of Michigan that such a low production volume of this system and high overhead

costs make this an impractical system to produce in house at a new facility. A more realistic

option would be to have a local or regional fulfillment center complete the production and

assembly tasks for this system and then ship them to the hospital as needed or warehouse any

extra products. The material, production, and logistics cost estimate a per unit cost of $15.14,

which is under the goal of the hospital representatives who wanted the purchase price not to

exceed $25.00 to $30.00. (Figure 11 & 12)  

Conclusions & Recommendations

    The SMITTEN Sleep System gives parents confidence to allow their children to sleep without

fear of suffocation or strangulation. It meets the requirements of the SMITTEN group and could

be implemented within a short timeline. Team Friendship recommends that C.S. Mott Children’s

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hospital run focus groups and collaborative studies to see how the SMITTEN Sleep System is

perceived by expecting parents. If the community accepted it, the next step would be a small-

scale trial and then have a focus group with those users. The small-scale trial should use a

fulfillment center such as Packaging Corporation of America, which can run these components at

an affordable price (Figure 13-16). If they found the sleep system beneficial, large-scale practice

should follow. When using large-scale practice, University of Michigan should consider

purchasing machinery themselves and running their own products.

Works Cited

Adams, Mike. Large Tray Pricing. Digital image. N.p., 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

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Adams, Mike. Small Tray Pricing. Digital image. N.p., 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

"Baby Durables." Mintel.com. Mintel Oxygen, Sept. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. <http%3A%2F

%2Facademic.mintel.com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu%2Fdisplay%2F677827%2F>.

"Birth Center at Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital." University of Michigan. C.S. Mott Children's

Hospital, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.mottchildren.org/our-locations/mott-vv-labor-

and-delivery-birth-center>.

"The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA)." U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Consumer Product Safety Commission, 6 Dec. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

<http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Regulations-Laws--Standards/Statutes/The-Consumer-Product-Safety-

Improvement-Act/>.

"Consumer Registration Cards for Durable Infant or Toddler Products." U.S. Consumer Product Safety

Commission. Consumer Product Safety Commission, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

<http://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Durable-Infant-or-Toddler-

Products/Durable-Infant-or-Toddler-Product-Consumer-Registration-Cards/>.

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"ECFR — Code of Federal Regulations." ECFR — Code of Federal Regulations. U.S. Government

Printing Office, 28 June 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?

SID=4d8e9819e34d67874450dc07793c3be6&node=16:2.0.1.2.58&rgn=div5>.

"Environmental Health & Safety." Biohazard Waste. University of California, Merced, N.d. Web. 10 Apr.

2014. <"http://ehs.ucmerced.edu/hazardous-materials/waste/biohazard-waste>.

Finishing (Coatings & Treatments). Fibre Box Handbook. Comp. Fibre Box Association. United States of

America: n.p., 2005. 3.23. Print.

"Flexible Polyurethane Foam." Flexible Polyurethane Foam. N.p., N.d. Web. 10 Apr.

2014.<"http://polyurethane.americanchemistry.com/Introduction-to-Polyurethanes/Applications/

Flexible-Foam>.

"Folding Storage Crates-Set of 2." Improvementscatalog.com. Improvements Catalog, 2014. Web. 1 Apr.

2014. <"http://www.improvementscatalog.com/imp/308703?cm_mmc=GooglePLA-_-

GarageStorage-_-2014-_-450295&code-....

Hendrick, Laurie. Pack Assembly Cost. N.p.: n.p., 14 Apr. 2014. XLSX.

Howard, Gary T. "Recent Developments in Polymer Recycling." Issuu: Recent Developments. ISSUU,

N.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://issuu.com/researchsignpost/docs/fainleib/223>.

Kroeker, Amber. "SMITTEN - The Infant Sleep Box." PKG 485 Lecture. School of Packaging, East

Lansing. 15 Jan. 2014. Lecture.

"Materials | E, B, C, BC and EB Flute Profile Corrugated Board." Saxon Packaging Limited. Saxon

Packaging, 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.saxonpackaging.co.uk/index.php?

option=com_content&view=article&id=17&Itemid=133>.

"Non-Full-Size Baby Cribs Business Guidance." U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Consumer

Product Safety Commission, Oct. 2008. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Business--

Manufacturing/Business-Education/Business-Guidance/Non-Full-Size-Baby-Cribs/>.

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Sabel, Randy. "The Green Space: Trash Degradation Exposed." Energy Insights: The Green Space.

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articleID=12095&accountID=2586>

Twede, Diana, and Susan E. M. Selke. Cartons, Crates and Corrugated Board: Handbook of Paper and

Wood Packaging Technology. Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.: DEStech Publications, 2005. 191, 192,

269, 406, 408, 409, 413, 414, 525+. Print.

Appendix

Figure 1 Foldable Crate ("Folding Storage Crates-Set of 2.")

Figure 2 Hips Don’t Lie

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Figure 3 Petco Box

Figure 4 Collapsed State

Figure 5 Components of Sleep System

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Figure 6 Assembled

Figure 7 Overview

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Figure 8 Cape

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Figure 9 Inner Tray Specifications

Figure 10 Sleeve Specifications

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Figure 10 Outer Tray Specifications

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Figure 11 Financial Worksheets

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Figure 12 Financial Spreadsheet

Figure 13 Sleeve Pricing (Adams)

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Figure 14 Large Tray Pricing (Adams)

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Figure 15 Outer Tray Pricing (Adams)

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