David Miller Product Design

28/06/2024

Today is World Industrial Design Day so what better day to acknowledge the 15 year anniversary of David Miller Product Design! Over that 15 years we've collaborated with some amazing customers, designing and developing a wide array of innovative products from all sorts of industries. We've been very grateful for their trust and support over those years and we look forward to continuing the journey, with another 15 years of successful product design!🎉

17/02/2024

DMPD is pleased to introduce Magnus Ladd to the design team. Magnus spent some time here last year getting in some work experience and has since graduated from the University of SA Product Design program. His final year project was a unique take on a hand-held portable massage device with styling based on the company Balance’s design language. He’s done some interesting work on a sunscreen dispensing machine and brings some awesome Keyshot rendering skills to the team. He’s currently going through a rapid learning curve converting from Solidworks to Creo - DMPD’s CAD software of choice! We’re looking forward to seeing Magnus’ influence on the designs coming out of DMPD in the near future.

03/02/2024

To quote the FMT website, “SmartTag is the gold standard in nozzle-based fuel management systems”. FMT’s SmartTag is a fully automated, contactless system that integrates the fuel nozzle with a unique RFID tag for a specific vehicle. The SmartTag reads the tag and reports it to the FMS (Fuel Management System)

DMPD was commissioned to design the next generation of this product with a focus on a low profile mounting configuration, ease of installation, ease of use and a robust housing/electronics package that could withstand rough treatment out in the field. For the larger heavy duty fuel nozzles, a special protective bracket was developed, along with a hand-held option. A 12V DC battery charger design was also part of this project.

https://youtu.be/guiGuJehMUI

13/09/2023

It's always rewarding when you get the first off tool samples of a design you've been working on. Hot off a new injection moulding tool are the Base and Lid part for FMT's wireless tank level monitor - a device used to remotely record and report offsite fuel tank levels. Parts look as advertised in the original prototype we created! We're looking forward to seeing the first production models in a few weeks time now these parts have been approved.

19/05/2023

Not the most glamorous of posts but slightly chuffed to walk into a public toilet in Perth and see a Uniset II cistern in use...CEO David Miller designed this utilitarian cistern back when working for Caroma in the late 2000's.

08/05/2023

DMPD recently completed the design for an update to the FMT Smartfill OPT (Outdoor Payment Terminal), essentially used for payment of fuel at unattended sites. This ‘Gen3’ product replaced their existing design, optimizing the assembly by replacing multiple expensive and time-consuming-to-assemble components with two much simpler injection moulded panels – one for the main door and one for the new printer assembly. The design had to cater for their latest 7” LCD electronics package and new payment hardware. The original powder coated steel cabinet design was updated to stainless steel for improved outdoor exposure characteristics.

04/04/2023

DMPD recently tackled this project for local startup Rangagroup - it's a 'sleeve' that straps to your arm or the silicone gun and is used for wiping excess residue created during the silicone/caulking process, instead of wiping on your pants or a dirty rag. Once the silicone had set, you simply peel the residue off the non-stick surface for disposal, and it's ready to use again!
Working closely with the customer, what started off as a multi-part design using injection moulded end caps, an aluminium extrusion and multiple straps, soon became a simple single piece injection moulding with a single wide strap. To get to the final design, multiple iterations were tried out using cost effective 3D printed prototypes. The customer has now patented the design and is taking the next steps to get the injection moulding tooling manufactured.
Special mention to Magnus Ladd for the high quality renderings - making a good representation of Velcro for these proved to be quite the challenge!

24/02/2023

We've had 3rd year Industrial Design student Magnus Ladd here for the past few weeks doing a stint of work experience. Magnus has been exposed to the world of design consulting here in Adelaide, working on some sketched design concepts, detailed CAD models, product renderings & artwork for brochures. He's even bringing his own unique experience to the business, showing off his skills with Gravity Sketch - a virtual reality 3D modelling software. It's been a pleasure having him on board and we look forward to seeing his progress as he returns back to his studies next week.

11/11/2022

It's been a while coming but DMPD finally have a website showcasing some of our best work over the years. We're especially proud of the Testimonials given by DMPD customers - there are no better advertisements why you should used DMPD for your product development projects!
https://davidmillerproductdesign.com.au/
Thanks to Isabella Dashorst from IKD for getting the site up and running.

15/09/2022

DMPD are proud to support the Butterfields Racing Team for another year. We're super keen to see the women in action, sporting their new season kit, during the upcoming Super Series. Ride hard!! 🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️

With over 20 years of experience in the design industry as a CAD designer, product design manager and design consultant, David Miller Product Design has the skills necessary to take concepts to reality, no matter the requirement.

Possessing skills, such as initial design concepts, detailed 3D CAD modelling, prototyping, testing and evaluation, tooling procurement, packaging and final production logistics, ensures David Miller Product Design can meet and exceed client expectations.

We are delighted to continue our relationship with David Miller Product Design for the 2022/2023 season.

27/07/2022

One of the things we get the most satisfaction from here at DMPD is seeing a simple concept sketch turned into an actual functioning item, even for something as simple as a basic 'test case'. Air Diffusion Agencies required at least 5 of these cases to distribute to multiple stores to allow staff to test components of their Platinum Elite Zoning System. Using an off-the-shelf plastic hard case, combined with a laser cut plywood base and a collection of 3D printed components, the functional components of the Platinum Elite system can be easily swapped out and tested as required in a neat, compact, easy to assemble, robust and portable package. Thanks to SANE Makerspace for providing the laser cutting services on the plywood bases.

29/06/2022

It’s World Industrial Design Day today so it would be remiss of me not to post today! This is a very simple example of what Industrial Designers do. The customer has a very basic aluminium part that they use frequently (approx. 10,000/yr) in one of their assemblies but immensely dislike making it. Cumbersome lengths of aluminium extrusion have to be ordered in, cut to length using a noisy, dangerous drop saw, then set up again to drill the holes through both sides. There would be ways to simplify and automate this process using the original aluminium material, but for me, the more cost effective option was to design a single piece polymer part that drops straight out of an injection moulding tool, (4 at a time!) ready to use. And whilst you might think that making a polymer replica of a metal part is not complicated, the skill is to do it in a way that can be effectively moulded and makes the tooling simple to manufacture and therefore cost effective for the customer. We’re now working on a few other projects with this customer along a similar vein of converting labour intensive metal fabricated components into single-piece moulded parts that we hope to share soon.

24/05/2022

Another DMPD project hit the market recently - FMT's Smartfill Gen3 product. In a similar vein to their OPT product, this device is used for managing remote fueling systems around the world. DMPD was responsible for the design of the robust custom injection moulded cabinet and all the internal mounting hardware to suit their new 7" LCD screen, electronics modules and off-the-shelf payment hardware. There's a few other exciting project on the go with FMT that DMPD will be keen to share in the coming months so stay tuned! Product development is alive and well in Adelaide! 😎

01/04/2022

Taking advantage of a customers recent marketing shot to show off a design DMPD worked on recently. This is the FMT Smartfill OPT (Outdoor Payment Terminal), essentially used for payment of fuel at unattended sites. The brief was to bring together their existing electronics package, an 'off-the-shelf' metal cabinet with payment and printer hardware, to create a clean looking, simple to use and easy to manufacture product. With relatively low volumes, most of the components were a mixture of CNC machined and fabricated aluminium, with laser cut stainless steel facias and an innovative injection moulded receipt outlet. This was the first project DMPD worked on with this customer and it impressed them enough to start collaboration on the next generation of this product (to be featured soon) and a number of other exciting projects.

29/03/2022

A new toy arrived in the DMPD office last week. This should come in handy for prototyping!

16/01/2022

Happy New Year followers and welcome to 2022! It's been a while and DMPD has been plugging away on a few great projects that are not quite ready to be revealed yet, but in the meantime, a small side project has reached conclusion and illustrates a very simple sketch-to-production pathway. This one piece, injection moulded Base Plate part was required to mount a couple of disassociated components up in the roof space for Air Diffusion Agencies' Platinum Elite Zone Control System. Simplicity of installation was the key criteria to ensure installers are not discouraged from using the part and ensure the components are mounted securely and neatly in the roof space. Both components require no fixings to attach them to the Base Plate, they just clip into place making the installation really fast and simple!

15/10/2021

Playing around with some backlit signage for the 'office' (using Phillips Hue globe for these photos but planning on custom LED backlighting!)

07/09/2021

We're busy working on a few new projects that we can’t wait to show here but in the meantime, David was feeling nostalgic after recently catching up with a few people from University days. This 2nd year project required students to use a 0.5m length of 4mm diameter elastic cord to propel a 1kg bag of sugar a distance of at least 15m. David designed this lightweight, low rolling resistance, low frontal area, propellor driven vehicle, which also utilized the bag of sugar to pull on a rip-cord attached to the rear axle to get the vehicle moving, assisting the propellor drive. Note that the large rear wheels are vinyl LP’s and the front wheels are CD’s!