Made in Africa: Design of a bicycle production

Made in Africa: Design of a bicycle production

Meesters, E.I.

Kuipers, H. (mentor)
Zijlstra, J.J.M. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Industrial Design

Master of Science Integrated Product Design

2014-03-21

This research is done for the NGO CooP-Africa. Coop-Africa offers people the opportunity to improve their own situation by making bicycles accessible for them. A bicycle allows people to cover a distance four times quicker than on foot; with the help of a bicycle they can transport five times more freight. This allows entrepreneurs to transport their trade in order to make a living, doctors to visit more patients and children to go to school. The project was to find a solution for three detected problems: 1. The quality of the currently available bicycles in Uganda is poor. 2. Although there is a high demand for various types of bicycles, there are mainly big, men’s bicycles on the market. This problem affects especially women and young adults, who do not fit the big bicycles. 3. It is expensive to import bicycles from outside Uganda. A twofold solution has been found: a new frame model is designed especially for African women, and a production plan to be able to set up a series production in Uganda. This production creates work and quality control. Apart from that, less costs have to be spent on import taxes.

industrial production
emerging markets
bicycle design

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f312ecfa-a16b-4eab-a1f0-d9b5f6891adc

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2014 Meesters, E.I.