Interior design of a sleigh for transporting people in winter times : Final thesis with focus on Industrial design, Ergonomics and Manufacturing

Abstract: The purpose of this project has been to further develop the ergonomic comfort andextended use of a concept sleigh early in development by Bombardier Recreational Productsin Finland. Their concept already featured a modern looking exterior design with a largewindow, innovative doors that gives of vibes of a modern sports car. The original conceptalso has multifunctional benches that allows storage and a prone position. The goal has beento deliver my final concept in the shape of a 3D-model with the new features. Side goals wasgiven besides the ergonomic improvements, these were to make the sleigh fit on a 3.5-meter trailer along with a snowmobile and see if components from other products producedby BRP Finland, Rovaniemi, would be ergonomically beneficial to the sleigh while notaffecting the dimensions in an undesirable way. The process of this project has been basedon three main phases namely Inspiration, Ideation, and Creation. The first phase focused onexploring the market and the users of similar products with the help of a competitor analysiswith sleighs suggested by the company. During the Inspiration phase an academic study wasmade where relevant knowledge was collected. That was for example to support thisdevelopment with information about how the users and stakeholders should be involvedduring an Industrial design process. Very useful information about ergonomics andanthropology aspects was discovered and applied. A form was sent out to users where it wasshown that the passenger comfort was the most important aspect of a sleigh. The secondphase was focused on development of new ideas that were spawned during two workshopsand sketching methods. The third phase, Creation, finalised the concepts and throughmatrices the best concept was selected based on criteria taken from the user’s interest andother aspects of the sleigh like the side goals of the project. The result of this project wasconcept Virgo, which is a concept based in BRPs original design with features spawned andevaluated during this project. Much research and reiterations has gone into thisdevelopment to arrive at minor improvements to bring great customer value to the sleigh ifimplemented when it becomes available on the market