| The Trip to the Dentist just got better
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Inside this Issue
Design 1st Selects Winners of 2010 Ottawa Technology Venture Challenge
Aurora Coral’s sustainable coral production method took home the top prize of $10,000 with TWPC’s small wind turbine system and Aduvo’s Smart-Home System receiving the runner up prizes of $5000 each.
Hiring the Best Talent Design 1st is proud to announce Matthew Ferrarin has joined the team. A graduate with Distinction from the Carleton University School of Industrial Design, Matthew has been honing his skills recently by working in New York City for the past four years on commercial and medical device design.
Zip Line – Design 1st at Play In the fall of 2009, the Design 1st team went on a afternoon excursion to the ziplines at Adventure LaFleche.
Design 1st
has played a key role behind the scenes in our clients’ success. Learn
more about our contribution to the launch of their products.
The Design 1st Resource Center has a wide selection of interesting and relevant topics for your reference.
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The air driven dental handpiece, better known to patients as “the drill”, is the mission critical instrument for over 150,000 dentists across North America. However dental handpieces have been based on a drill design dating back to the 1800’s. ProDrive Systems wanted to revolutionize the dental industry by improving the handpiece to provide better performance and an improved experience for dentists and patients.
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| “We partnered with Design 1st because they were able to provide a solution to overcome the complexity of factors impacting our unique chuck and bur system design. Their considerable design expertise and manufacturing knowledge was critical in problem-solving and expediting us to working prototypes. We also relied on them to create a test system so we could collect the data to prove our superior performance. Design 1st’s work behind the scenes helped us to be the leading dental technology company revolutionizing our industry.” | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Richard St-Pierre, President and CEO ProDrive Systems Inc.
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| The
design challenge was substantial given the key internal components of
the upgrade can be balanced on a finger nail. Starting with prototypes
of the innovative grooved bur, Design 1st began an extensive review of the industry-leading chuck designs, breaking down and testing existing product. The Design 1st team identified an innovative feature to the industry
- by using a second groove, dentists could extend and lock the bur for
variable length cutting. Design 1st also identified a manufacturer that
had the precision capability in Canada. The dynamically balanced
assembly required extremely repeatable manufactured components. Today
1000’s of units per month are produced as ProDrive ramps up to meet
growing market demand. In June, ProDrive was awarded the Best of Class Award for Emerging Technologies by the Pride Institute, a leading practice management research and consulting company in the dental field. ProDrive was also referenced in the prestigious Clinicians Report. The Report captures the observations of hundreds of new products and concepts each year by a team of in-house staff, field evaluators, and owner evaluators. These evaluations identify a concept, technique, or product that is faster, easier, better, or less expensive than previously available options. In the July 2010 report on “Can Air Turbine Handpiece Performance Be Improved?” ProDrive’s hand piece was evaluated and received high overall marks as one of the Highest Rated Products.
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Design 1st had a lot to do with the product development of two highly innovative products that made it to this year’s Superbowl 2010 - the We-Vibe® from Standard Innovation and a visual aid used by Stevie Wonder called the Color Teller™ from Brytech. Both examples prove enjoyable products create a positive emotional reaction with the user and these types of products sell. From an idea on a napkin sketch, Design 1st provides clients with enclosures and mechanisms starting with concepts and continuing with detailed 3D CAD engineering and analysis, prototypes, supplier introductions, 2D CAD design documentation, product packaging and brand graphics across all major industries. Their expert team of designers and mechanical engineers develop solutions for entrepreneurs, start ups and corporations of all sizes who are looking to provide innovative and useful products to their markets. Using a project management approach Design 1st fits in quickly with any development team. |
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| Design 1st Inc. | 314 Athlone Avenue | Ottawa, Ontario K1Z 5M4 | Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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