Mr. Foldy

The transport of empty hangers to and from distribution centers and stores within the Goodwill network is an issue that causes great hardship for the company. During the shipping process, many hangers become tangled, and as a consequence, break. Tangled hangers need time spent on them in order to be untangled, and broken hangers need to be thrown out. The untangling process wastes time, and money, while throwing out broken hangers wastes resources and money. In order to optimize and improve this inefficient procedure, we have meticulously split the entire process into specific segments. With this split in mind, we brainstormed numerous ideas, designed (and tested!) a number of prototypes, and finalized our last prototype to show you in this report. To try and be fun and memorable, we’ve named our design “Mr. Foldy,” due to the folding nature of the design. Additionally, Mr. Foldy comes with a specially designed storage box that optimizes storage and transportation space efficiency. To comply with Goodwill’s rigorous sustainability requirements, Mr. Foldy and his storage box will be made of a biodegradable plastic that breaks down quickly in the correct environment (but maintains composure in the standard operating procedure). The goal of our final design is to help Goodwill save time and money while also being an ecologically responsible alternative to traditional plastic hangers.