The group was assigned a Breville sandwich maker for this assembly activity. The toaster was designed with six major structural components with the main handle connected to the top two lid components, this design is to prevent consumers from accessing in attempt to fix the internals themselves which was deemed hazardous. This however proved to be a difficult part to remove to gain access, which could be rather inconvenient for repairs. Various other parts were also discovered to be difficult for the team to disassemble there was great variety in differently sized screws and fasteners including many which required the team to destroy parts to gain access to.
There were more than 30 different fasteners use, as well as at least 3 material parts known to the group that could not be recycled efficiently, i,e greased or glued wires etc.
The resolution was to simplify the fasteners used by unifying most fasteners in areas which doesn't have much potential dangers (i.e electrical) which would make the assembly line more efficient and also reduce the use of permenant adhesives used on the product.
The group decided to change the outer top shell to an independently fastened part which inst connected to the handle hence simplifying the access for repairs. However to still prevent consumers getting into dangerous components themselves, special tool screws are recommended (unconventional screw heads). Various other parts i.e the base of the product was also simplified to enable the product to be disassembled without having to wreck any parts.
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