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Developing Food Trolley for A Hilly Outdoor Restaurant

This is a warm Monday night in the end of dry season in our tropical country. I turn my notebook on and connect it to the internet. A little wind from my electric fan accompany me writing something to the world.

This night I decide to share one of my work in October 2010, when I was studying in Politeknik ATMI Surakarta. As a student of mechanical and machinery design engineering, we have a big portion of designing practice, so my work I want to talk about is also a designing project. Our project called "Product Designing and Developing", and our job was improving a certain product be better than before. We must finish this in 2 weeks and present this to some professional design engineer of our Academy factory.[1]

The first step was arranging the team. There were 14 students in our class and the maximum member of the team was 3. So there were 2 team that consist of 2 member only. We randomized the class member and I became one of the chosen that worked in 2 member team. My partner was Dwi Angga Waskitho, a friend that had a great record as a black star of the academical system same as me. He's known as his diligence for submitting absence, and I was the sleeping star that could be fallen asleep easily everywhere and every time. As a result, we often finished our work in slower time and mostly our instructors underestimated us. No matter what they say, I believed in our strength and I was sure that I could make a good work.

Picking an Inspiration
It came in a short time that we decided to think that it's good if we develop the food trolley produced by our Academic Factory. We both used that food trolley some days before as a waiter in a graduation ceremony of our senior. This simple nice trolley is very strong but it make any noise in rough way and it difficult to be kept going straight when there's a step in the way. This is the picture of the trolley.


Developing the Ideas 
How brilliant he is, two head is better than one head, so we collecting head. Haha. Of course we were not. We just picking some ideas from anybody about our topic, especially the professional designer of our academic factory. Beside collecting ideas, we also asked a confirmation if the topic was good enough to be chosen.

Mr. Patrick, a designer of Work Fabrication Department in our Academic Factory, was one of the person we asked for advice. Hearing our explanation about our project to improve the food trolley, he challenged us to make a food trolley that it surface can be kept horizontal when it climbing a slope. His ideas came when he was in a natural restaurant on a foot of Merapi mount, seeing a waitress had a hard work to keep the food and drink stay nicely on the trolley. We accepted his challenge and developing any ideas how to make it work.

Making the Story Short 
I think my story will become too long if I don't cut it, so I cut it now and I'm proudly present our hard work  through a video that was a part of our successful presentation.


This is a picture of our design that may help the reader that won't see the video above.


As an end of my story, I will say thanks for your attention. Next time I'll complete this article with any technical information.


[1] Our Polytechnic was designed as a production base study, so we studied and practice manufacture skill in our real factory that produce furniture, mechanical and machinery.

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