Creating an Opportunity in the Mass Manufacturing of Wood-Based Furniture

IKEA is a globally recognized manufacturer of wood-based furniture, but a persistent problem has been in the take-home-assembly aspect. Many users have expressed frustration at the complexity of assembly, and the resulting amount of time it takes until the furniture is ready for use. Worse still, some users don't assemble the furniture correctly, leading to potentially hazardous furniture, or, at best, a shortened useful life. The core of this problem is the myriad of fasteners and fittings that accompany the furniture.
We have designed a new assembly mechanism to address the difficulty of assembling furniture. By focusing on four goals, we have been able to reduce assembly times for IKEA's iconic LACK table by a factor of thirty, and removed the need for fasteners or even tools. Our design principles focused on: 1) Rigid fastening, 2) Intuitive, instruction free assembly, 3) Fast assembly, and 4) a Tactile user experience. Our RIFT assembly mechanisms use these simple requirements to provide users with a positive experience when assembling their furniture.
Moving forward, we plan to deliver added benefit not only to the end users, but also to IKEA by redesigning the furniture with sustainable materials to replace petroleum-based composites. We seek to revolutionize IKEA's furniture by minimizing its environmental impact and simultaneously provide a positive user experience.