Supple Library Furniture

At The Public Works, we operate a line of library furniture called Supple.

When I stepped into the role of Lead Design Engineer the company had already created general designs for most products. However, as different libraries ordered specific products many of these designs had to be largely modified, and old CNC files used an older software and therefore I also created new CAM files for the entire line of furniture. When a supple piece has been ordered the client gets to choose from a variety of materials and colors for each aspect meaning each product is unique and there has to be constant communication with different vendors. I not only redesigned and programed cut paths for all products but worked with suppliers to ensure we had the necessary parts for each piece which I got to assemble with my team by hand.

Another unique aspect of these projects is the shipping. Each product needs a custom crate that I got to design and assemble. During this I modified out crate design process to have a general SolidWorks file that included the baseline crate design and was easily editable with equations, including CAM files that would automatically modify to the new design. This lowered the time we spent around packaging by nearly half, and has been a great experience to see how different designs effect how well the product is treated in shipping while minimizing padding material.

From this I learned a lot about designing products for high use environments, redesigning products to be visually the same but be easier to manufacture and assemble, and designing highly efficient packaging.

Below are a photos of the finished products in various libraries around the Denver Metro, a children's bookshelf nearly done with assembly, and the CAD files for one of the more popular shelving units.

Supple's website can be found here.