One of Interseat’s core beliefs is to be a leader, not a follower. Just because something hasn’t been done before - it doesn’t mean that it cannot be done. Read our most recent case study below on how we provided Southbank TAFE with a technical but simple solution to a long term pain.
Southbank TAFE had a retractable seating system that was simple and time efficient to open and retract, however once opened, it then required the time of 12 people to go on and individually fit a tablet onto each and every seat prior to the system being used by students. A tablet is a miniature desk that attaches to the seat, much like the one pictured along with this article. This process would take almost an hour each time. The tablets also had to be removed again, prior to the seating system being fully retracted. This caused a lot of headaches and consumed a lot of valuable time. These manual handling issues were becoming of great concern, and Southbank TAFE needed a solution to this problem.
Spotless Group Operations Manager Mr Rick McDonald explains: To go back a few months, I came to Interseat with a concept idea only of how to potentially automate the seating and negate the need for my Maintenance team to perform hours of manual handling tasks, in removing fixed tablets, physically lifting and folding every bank of 3 chairs, then do the reverse for set up.
Interseat’s design team set to work and provided an intelligent solution to save time, manual processes, and a lot of headaches. Interseat’s team designed from scratch, a retractable tablet which formed part of the seat, so that it could be used either with, or without the tablet in place. The new design now means that the setup and pack down process of the new seating system requires only 1 person, and takes only approximately 2 – 3 minutes. This system is also fully automatic in retracting the tablets and seats so it takes no manual work from this dedicated employee.
From whiteboard design to full engineering drawings, prototype materials, and finally a working prototype seat, took approximately 12 weeks. This project had a seal of approval with only two modifications form the original prototype.
Interseat is now able to supply a seat, with tablet option that will make any auditorium look smart and professional as well as being super comfortable and usable by left and right handers alike.
Rick and his team are more than happy with the result.
The system has proven to be not only a massive labour time saving initiative, but also and more importantly reduces risk to my team through manual handling, and the potential for lost time injuries associated with these types of tasks
