DUMAS Valrian

MAIRESSE Sebastien
LE NOC Ludovic

FILS 1243

2015

SEAT CONFORTABLY

Table of content
Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 4
Needs Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 5
The stated need............................................................................................................................ 5
The characterized need ................................................................................................................ 6
Choice & Description of the market ................................................................................................. 9
Choice of the market (multicriteria analysis) ............................................................................... 9
General description .................................................................................................................... 10
Current products and services on the market ........................................................................... 11
Current Distributor Network ...................................................................................................... 12
Current Competitors .................................................................................................................. 13
Evolution of the market ............................................................................................................. 14
Target Markets ........................................................................................................................... 14
Market segmentation and Target market segment ................................................................... 15
Marketing environments............................................................................................................ 15
Competitive analysis and SWOT analysis ................................................................................... 16
Lifecycle and Environment ............................................................................................................. 16
Lifecycle of the product .............................................................................................................. 16
Environment ............................................................................................................................... 17
Elements of exterior environment ............................................................................................. 17
Service functionsFunctional specifications .................................................................................. 17
In use .......................................................................................................................................... 18
At rest ......................................................................................................................................... 19
Conclusion: market & needs analysis ............................................................................................. 19
Functional technical Analysis ......................................................................................................... 20
Numerical calculation ..................................................................................................................... 22
Manufacturing process .................................................................................................................. 26
Design computations...................................................................................................................... 27
2

Economic analysis........................................................................................................................... 29
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 30
Bibliography.................................................................................................................................... 31

Introduction
The first men who inhabited earth were seating on the ground. Quickly, came up the
idea to use stone and then to cut tree to make the first comfortable device to sit down. Seat
was born. Since this moment humanity continually improve chairs and seats through their
design, materials, ergonomics and functionality. The main function of a seat was not always to
sit comfortably, in the past it was a symbol of power, for the king per example.

Figure 1 : Throne of Tutnkhamon in solid gold

Nowadays, peoples who work in an office are spending 80% of their time seating on a
chair. On average, during a day, we are spending 12 hours in seating position. But men like
animals need to move, as result, 75% of peoples from industrial country suffer from back pain.
In the business area, back pain represents a huge loss of money. Such an example, in Germany
70 million of work stoppage day come from back pain, in this way, Germans company lost 20
billion euro per year because of this widespread disease.

Figure 2 : a worker who suffer from back pain

Fortunately, we are now far away from the old idea that comfortable chairs imply a
decrease of productivity. So more than ever, to seat comfortably appear to be a major challenge
for our life in term of money and above all health.

Needs Analysis
The second step of a project after finding an idea is to define the project, for that we
need to know the need of the clients, so first we will get the stated need which represent the
need that the client express to us. And we will transform that in characterized need, so we will
give measurable criteria to the stated needs.

The stated need

It seems obvious that the first need of the client is to seat, but is it enough? No, others
need come with the need to seat:
- The client needs to seat comfortably for a long time.
- He needs to be able to move freely when he is sitting
- The client needs
- The client needs to be able to work efficiently on his chair
All these needs have now to be characterized.

The characterized need

Sit down comfortably for a long time

Health of
the client

The client

The chair

Not feeling any pain after a long

time past on the seat
Figure 3 : need diagram 1

Criterions

Values

Time past on the sit

Width
Back angle

X 5 hours
40cm < X < 55cm
45 < x < 90

For this need the criterions are the time past sit and criteria about the design of the chair,
because if the shape of the chair correspond with the morphology of the user the comfort will
be better.

 Moving freely

The ground

The client

The chair

Moving freely
Figure 4 : need diagram 2

Criterions

Values

Wheels
Force needed to move the chair

x < 50N

Here the criterions are the fact that the chair has wheels and force that is needed to move the
chair, because if you have to get up to move the chair it becomes useless.

 Working efficiently

The work

The client

The chair

Work efficiently
Figure 5 : need diagram 3

Criterions

Values

Rotation
Height ( to adapt to the desk)

360
35cm < x < 50cm

Working efficiency is directly connected with ergonomic, so the criterions are in this direction.
We have the rotation of the chair which allows the user easy movement to reach different
things, and the height to be able to adapt to the desk.
In conclusion we started from the stated needs and then characterized them, to get a basis data
for the future design of the seat.

Choice & Description of the market

Choice of the market (multicriteria analysis)
Importance of each criteria
First we have to determine the criterion that matters for our product. We choose The SPACE
that the product uses, the COST, the COMFORT and the RELIABILITY of the product.
Then we had to choice which one is the most important compare to the others, here is the
result:

space
budget
comfort
reliability

space
0,5
1
0,5
1

budget
0
0,5
1
0

comfort
0,5
0
0,5
0

reliability
0
1
1
0,5

total
1
2,5
3
1,5

It appears that the comfort is the most important criteria.

Market
Then we had to the customer, we made three different groups:
- A: Old peoples and workers which work on a computer. (they can stay in a sitting
position for more than 8 hours per days)
- B: Waiting room (Hospital, administration). The time spends seat down is usually less
than 1 hour.
- C: Schools, restaurants. (they do not have so much money to spend on a seat and the
time spend seat down is between 1 and 3 hours)
After that we had to decide of the importance of the previous criterion on the customers.

space
budget
comfort
reliability

A
4
6
10
10

B
5
8
7
6

C
8
5
8
10
9

 Target market
Finally with some calculation we can find the target market :

Space
Budget
comfort
reliability
total

A
1,5
15,6
42,5
10
69,6

B
1,87
20,8
29,75
6
58,42

C
3
13
34
10
60

It appears that the target market is the group A which is compose the old people and the
worker. Both of them have different needs, and we finally decide to choose the worker because
after read some documentation we saw that have good seat at work is a matter that is
increasing a lot these last years and it will concern us soon.

General description
The office furniture market is very stable. Indeed companies need to replenish stock
continually to satisfy their workers. Nevertheless commercial offer is higher than demand. In
this prospect, sellers have to innovate and propose new solutions if they want to survive in this
competitive market. Fortunately, office chair that is our target device have the wind in its sails.
As a Proof of that, a study make in US, which show an increase of the sales in the office chair
sector.

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Figure 6 : US furniture production

Capital purchase criteria in office chair market are:

Price, many companies buy branded products to save money.
Ergonomics, back pain is a major issue for workers, an ergonomics chair protect
his owner from such diseases.
Payment deadline, potential buyer want flexibility.
Design, an attractive design takes part in the comfort aspect.

Current products and services on the market

Low ended products
-Price below 150 .
-No adjustment can be made with backrest, armrest, and headrest.
-Without wheels.

Mid range market

-Price beetween 150 and 400.
-Intuitive to operate from setting the seat height, depth and
tilt through to adjustment of the armrets and backrest.
-Wheels which allow users to moove easly.
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-Anti-transpiration cloth.

Up market or high-class
-Price between 400 and 900.
-Elegant design.
-Synchronised mechanism ensures a wide range of adjustment
option for the users weight and height (we can say that the seat
interact with the users body).
-Quality materials.

Luxury and prestige

-Price above 900.
-Handmade and made to measure.
-High quality materials.
-Gas actuator.

Current Distributor Network

A recent study made in Romania, Show that the most use way to sell office chair is
through reseller like amazon.

Distribution Network

23%

Reseller
51%
26%

Great distribution
Direct selling

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Current Competitors

Figure 7 : Furniture companies

Clients' repartition
30%

Private individuals

70%

Professionasl or
companies

Figure 8 : Clients' repartition

The office furniture market isnt dominated buy a small group of companies. Companies
are very diversified and come from every country in the world, as we can see on the following

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diagram. Recently, traditional sellers have to compete against e-merchant who profit from the
new trend, which consist to buy using Internet.

Evolution of the market

Three points must be notice about the evolution of the office chair market:

Aestheticism and design are parameters, which become more and more important for
customers. Indeed, a recent survey made in France show that only 14% of French people are
satisfied about their office design. The new trend is aerial and light designs with pale colours. To
stay on course companies have to be very attentive about the design of their new devices.

Environmental aspect and sustainable development. Nowadays clients attach great importance
to environment. Companies do the same; they establish environmental policy to please
customers. In this way, office chair manufacturer should make research about biomaterials to
fulfil clients desires.

Health and wellbeing, its a new fashion in developed country to be very careful about your own
health. As the result, ergonomics to reduce back pain is a crucial point for clients.

Target Markets
Many studies show that potential customers, in majority, are coming from professional
sector.
A closer study about professional customers demonstrates that they are mostly large
companies.

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Professional Clients' repartition

20%

Large companies
50%

Mid-sized companies
Small companies

30%

Figure 9 : professional clients' repartition

Market segmentation and Target market segment

There is one watchword about market segmentation: Proximity. In a sector where there is
strong competition, to be near the client is a key to survive. To achieve this goal companies
divided their selling sectors as much as they can to keep a geographic proximity with theirs
clients. This strategy is highly effective with mid-sized companies or small companies.

Marketing environments
Micro environment:
Office chair manufacturers make a lot of research about ergonomics and design.

Macro environment:
Countries in development need more and more office furniture. And the development of the
tertiary sector also increase this needs of office furniture.

15

Competitive analysis and SWOT analysis

Thanks to the need analysis we have decided to conceive an office chair. Now after this
market analysis we can see if our product is well placed or not in the market. To determine this
we can use a SWOT analysis.

Strength

Weakness

Ergonomics
Well design
Ecological
Innovative device

Price
Congestion
Weight

Opportunities

Threat

Market in expansion and stable

New ecological and healthy trends

Competitive market
Market in perpetual change

Figure 10 : SWOT table

Further to this analysis, we can guess that our product can be viable on the market. His
profitability will depend on our faculty to adapt quickly at the market. Namely, we have to really
conceive ergonomics, well design and ecological products. Without this, because of
competitors, our device will disappear and collapse for sure.

Lifecycle and Environment

Lifecycle of the product
The life cycle of our product is divided in these phases:

Conception:
It is done by computer on CATIA with all the strength of material studies.

Production:
The production is ensuring by SOKOA every pieces are done manually. The leather comes from
DECOCUIR in France.
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 Marketing:
In this phase of the life cycle the product will be sold in internet like Amazon and in great shop
like DARTY. It will be advertised on internet and on TV.
In use:
A user is sitting comfortably on the chair and can move without standing-up

None use phase:

The chair is staying at the desk.

Destruction and recycling:

Parts of the chair are reusable and can be eliminate easily.

Environment
The environment is an office with a desk, maybe some tables, printers and furniture.

The principals risks are the food and drink that the user can consume while sitting and the
shocks with the desk or other furniture of the office.

Elements of exterior environment

For our product we have a great competition there are many competitor as explained in
the market analysis. In order to sell our product in Europe we have to respect some government
policies like the ISO standard. Our product is not subject to any type of natural forces. The chair
market is in development, technological changes are made every day.

Service functionsFunctional specifications

We had to imagine the product in use and think about all the critical parameter that can
be a problem. So we thought about our product in two phases of his life cycle. For our product it
was pretty obvious that the two phases will be in use and at in rest.

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In use
To represent this function we used a functional analysis diagram, here is the result:

USER

GROUND
FP2

Work
activities

FP1

Swivel chair

DESK

FC6

NORME

ENVIRONMENT

Figure 11 : functional analysis diagram

MF1: allow the user to work comfortably.

MF2: allow the user to move without standing up.
Wheels
CF1: have to be stable.
More than 4 wheels
Diameter of implementation of the wheels > 500mm
CF2: must be adapted to the user body.
Height 35cm < x < 50cm
Width 40cm < x < 55cm
Back angle 5 < x < 45
CF3: has to adapt to the desk.
Arm height x < 60cm
CF4: must resist to the environment aggression
CF5: must respect the norm.
Norms: EN-1335, EN 13761(only recommendation), 90/270 CEE (concerning the work
in front of a computer screen)
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At rest
For this phase it was easier because there is no big difference between the two phases. Actually
only CF3 come back to allow the user to put away the chair under the desk.

Conclusion: market & needs analysis

We saw that there is a real need for comfortable and ergonomic chairs. Many studies
show that sitting for too long can bring diseases. We found that people are passing most of their
time sitting at work so we had found our target.
There are lots of concurrent but our segment is growing up and people are more and more
likely to buy comfortable desk chair.

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Functional technical Analysis

Now that we have a general idea of our product we have to define it, below you can find the
technical analysis diagram where we define each part of the chair and the technical function
that link each parts.

Figure 12 : Functional technical diagram

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Each technical functions are explained and characterise below.

N
FT1

FT2
FT3

FT4

FT5

FT6

Expression
Ensure chair Stability

Fit into actuator body

Adjust the chair height

Criteria
1. Number of wheels

Level
Limit
5 (to have an hyper
static
mechanical
joint with the ground)

2. Cylindrical joint for

each wheels

(speed rotation of the (+/- ) 10 %

wheels) > 1060 rpm

3. Mechanical
strength for each
wheels

> 1,5 Mpa

(+/-) 5 %

1) Axial pressure

P > 1 bar

(+/-) 5 %

2) Seat width

w [ 450 ; 500 ]

3) Seat depth

d [340 ; 440]

4) Seat height
compare to the
ground
Ensure the backrest 1) Back angle
inclination adjustment
2) Backrest width

h [390 ; 450 ]

3) Backrest height

h [450 ; 500 ]

Ensure the
adjustment

4) Elastic resistance
armrest 1) Width between the
two armrests

2) Minimal height for

each armrest
compare to the
seat
Ensure the headrest Headrest height
adjustment

[0; 31]
w [350 ; 480 ]

=175 Mpa
w = 450 mm
h= 200 mm

h [10 ; 30]

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Numerical calculation
Here are explained all the calculations that we made to size the chair.
FT1 calculation
We consider that the normal speed for the chair is 4 Km/h:
So thank to this formula =
We choose r = 2,5 cm
We find = 424 rpm, with the rotation speed of the wheel
We use a security coefficient s of 2, so finally, we find = s = 824 rpm
We consider a maximum weight on the chair of 300 Kg, so each wheel has to support 60 kg. Its
represented a normal force of 600N in each wheel.
Or, =

We choose S (contact surface for each wheels) = 4 2

As the result, =1,5 Mpa.
FT3 calculation
The chair weight is 10 Kg, so the actuator has to produce an axial force of 100N, which imply:
=
Here, =

2
4

We choose d= 6 cm, so S = 28 2
We found P = O, 5 bar
We apply a security coefficient equal to 2 so P = 1 bar
Hypothesis:
We model the seat plate as a parallelepiped (P) with these dimensions:
H=10 mm
L=450 mm
l=340 mm

22

To use the bean model, we make a strength material study only on a section (P1) of this part
with these dimensions.
H=15 mm
L=450 mm
l=10 mm
We consider a maximum weight on the chair of 300 Kg, So on the seat there is a total load (W).

With:
F = 3000 N
= = 0,153 2

We obtain W = 19608 2
We convert this surface load in linear by multiplied by l so we obtain W = 8823 N/m
For P1 its represent a load of 260 N/m (P1= P/34)
So finally we have W = 260 N/m
We choose E (Young module) = 210 Gpa
The bean section is a square:
Here a = 15 mm

=
= ,

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=
= ,

We use this very simplify model for strength materials calculation:

We can now make the calculation with : = 2 :

=

( )2
2

And the maximal stress is:

=

=175 Mpa
The seat plate Material must have an elastic resistance > = 175
We can also calculate the deformation f:
2 (2 2 + (2 )2 )
=
24
24

And the maximal deformation for x =L:

3
=
= 0,7
8

This maximal deformation appears to be reasonable.

25

Manufacturing process
Now came the question of the way to get the parts (buy or made them by ourselves).
The wheels and the actuators are standards parts, the arms rest and the wheels shelf are made
by foundry and are subcontracted, the steel plate is made in our workshop. And the seat, the
backrest and the head rest are also subcontracted
Then we made the process of assembly of the chair that we are making at our workshop:

Assembly

Arm rest

Assembly

Back rest

Assembly

Seat
Steel plate

Assembly

Bending

Actuator

Packaging

Assembly

Product

Wheels
shelf
Assembly
Wheels
Figure 13 : Assembly process

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Design computations
Here is the final design of the chair; we obtained it by using all the data that we got from
the service function analysis and technical analysis.

Figure 14 : Final look of the chair

The chair is composed of 7 parts (Pictures come from our CAO model):
Wheels

27

Wheel shelf

Actuator

Seat

Backrest

Armrest

28

Head rest

Economic analysis
Finally we did an economic study to see if we will be profitable. First we search the price of each
standard parts and we approximate the one that we are making.
Components

Price TTC

Wheel
Arm rest
Plate
Vis CHC 10
Actuator
Wheel frame
Seat
Back rest

7.5
17-21
7.36
0.44
16.5
13
43
67

Total price: Tc=231.64

Sell price: 350
Then we did a little computation to calculate ours benefits.
Month
March
April
Mai
Jun

Sells volumes
0
100
200
300

0
100
300
600

Production volumes
200
200
200
400
300
700
300
1000
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July
August
September
October
November
December

350
350
400
400
350
400

950
1300
1700
2100
2450
2850

400
400
400
300
350
350

1400
1800
2200
2500
2850
3200

And the last chart shows the evolution of the benefits:

Evolution of the expenses and benefits

1200000

moneys (euro)

1000000
800000
600000
400000

expenses
200000

benefits
0
0
-200000

10

12

months

As we can see we will start to be profitable around the fifth month.

Conclusion
This project shows us that it is hard to carry a project; here we are still really far from the
first prototype. But in another hand it also shows us that you do not need a complicated idea to
come off with a profitable project.

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Bibliography
Analysis of the market of offices furniture suppliers:
http://www.chefdentreprise.com/Chef-d-entreprise-Magazine/Article/Fournitures-de-bureaufaites-JOUER-LA-CONCURRENCE-23922-1.htm

Analysis of the market of offices furniture suppliers:

https://lyrecovsofficedepot.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/analyse-du-marche-des-fournituresde-bureau/

Ergonomic study:
http://www.kloeber.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Downloads/brochures/Ergonomie_fra_201008.pdf

Chairs: First element of ergonomic in an office:

http://www.infoburomag.com/revue_data/ibm201203/sample.pdf

Office furnitures between prices, ergonomic and design:

http://www.decision-achats.fr/Decision-Achats/Article/Mobilier-de-bureau-entre-esthetismeprix-et-ergonomie-43171-1.htm

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