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PORTFOLIO - INFANTINO

Feasibility Analysis - Cost and Manufacturing

  • As Product Development Engineer at Infantino, one of my primary tasks was to evaluate early concepts for cost and manufacturing feasibility and work with the design team to refine designs before submitting to the factory for cost estimates and prototyping, saving significant development time (20%) and cost (30%)

  • Examples of projects that made it to market include:

    • Push & Pop Musical Light-Up Mini-Vac

      • Initial Cost Feasibility focused the team on what was achievable for feature and cost targets for this plastic electronic toy

    • Sensory Stacking Rings​

      • Used a unique mix of new parts and existing components from other products to achieve design and cost goals​​

    • Musical Mirror Pal

      • My Cost Feasibility template helped focus the cross-functional team early to define appropriate feature and cost targets before prototyping, saving 2 months in development time​

    • Squeeze & Teethe Terry Tail

      • Implemented cost savings techniques from other projects to stay on target

Complex Mechanism Design

baby mat with a flexible bar arching above and baby toys hanging from it

  • One challenging project involved creating a new mechanism for a rotating toy arch in a baby gym.

  • I managed a freelance CAD designer, prototyped, tested, and worked with the factory to refine the design to ensure it met safety, manufacturability, and cost requirements.

  • 3-in-1 Deluxe Magic Arch Sensory Development Gym

left: baby laying on their back on a colorful mat and smiling while looking up at toys hanging from a bar above them. Right: baby laying on their tummy on the same colorful mat with the toy bar arched in front, gripping a toy mirror and smiling.

SOURCING

A smiling raccoon plush toy with a circular body and gel white, blue, and green gel beads in the middle.

  • I was instrumental in sourcing sensory gel bead material for an innovative baby toy that passed all safety testing.

  • Before I stepped in, a decision had been made to use liquid instead of gel, and development was taking excessive time and money with little progress.

  • Alternate design had safety and quality challenges that were time consuming and costly - testing alone was at least 30 days.

  • I salvaged the project and reduced development time by at least 3 months, resulting in the product going to market.

  • Seek & Squish Sensory Pal Raccoon was the first of a line of similar products, including the seasonal Seek & Squish Sensory Pal Santa.

A toy plush smiling Santa character baby toy made of red fabric for the body, arms, and hat, and white for the hands, beard, and hat trim. The body is s circle shape with the center showing blue and white gel beads.

Cost Improvement -
Fox High Chair

  • Worked with factory to simplify manufacturing processes of EVA foam padding, resulting in minimal aesthetic changes for $15k in cost savings in the first year

  • Used customer reviews to identify additional areas to improve usability and verified with user studies:

  • Made improvements to the tray attachment mechanism

  • Improved footrest assembly and instructions

  • Re-evaluated deco placement on slick surfaces that wore off during normal use

  • Cost improvements were implemented in the next generation character version - Raccoon

left: Original Fox High Chair in Toddler Chair mode Right: Cost-Reduced Fox High Chair in Toddler Chair mode. Some slight differences in colors and painted areas can be noticed between the 2 images..

Consumer Centered Cost Improvement - Carrot Teether

Left: image of an orange carrot teether toy with green stem handles. Right: Smiling baby gripping a similar looking carrot teether and putting it in their mouth.

  • Some customer reviews noted that the teether was too big for baby

  • Reduced overall thickness while maintaining all other aspects of the design

  • More than $50k cost savings in the first year

    • Reduced material and shipping costs

    • Strategic sourcing also contributed to cost savings

User Research

  • Designed and conducted user research with babies and their caregivers on a variety of products, including baby gear, gyms, toys, and assembly instructions

  • Documented specific design questions for new and existing products to validate design decisions and to uncover new insights

  • Trained the product development team on how to facilitate without bias and document responses to open-ended questions

  • Consolidated and summarized responses

  • Shared insights and conclusions with internal teams

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