Hyderabad: Even as big furniture stores are making in-roads in Hyderabad — Ikea being one case in point – the products that are being procured are mostly from international suppliers which are impacting the local carpenters.
With this idea in mind, the Telangana government’s initiative to encourage prototyping enthusiasts, T Works has designed and fabricated crib which can be easily learned by any carpenter to push it for mass manufacturing. While the institute has provided the three cribs to District Hospital in Sircilla, the long-term plan is to make the design, research, and technology available for carpenters to make it reach a larger audience.
“The woodworking industry is going through a transformation in terms of designs, fabrication, and constructions being done on computers. However, the Indian carpentry ecosystem has evolved much and that is where we think an institute like T Works can play a key role. Our main aim is to bring our new design elements, technology, and fabrication methods using advanced computer technology so that they can make international products. As the first step, we have developed and demonstrated the crib which is low cost and can be easily transported and assembled,” Sujai Karampuri, CEO, T Works told Telangana Today.
T Works also plans to either collaborate with local carpenters or teach the fundamentals of the entire process of making the crib to make it locally and manufacture it in large numbers. According to Karampuri, by next year, the institute plans to start a program for local entrepreneurs and teach them the fundamentals of modern technology of woodworking.
Crib sans nuts & bolts
Developed using the CNC (Computer Numeric Control) routing, the crib has no nuts and bolts and can be fitted together easily. The crib – which can be used as a rocking cradle or a static bed – has been designed in-house. Using the CNC routing, the team has to first design the cradle and feed it into the machine and then program it in such a way that the machine replicates the design and provides the finished product in a short time.
“The crib does not have any nuts and bolts and works on the press-fit model wherein certain tolerances of the joints are used to assemble and even disassemble it. Using rapid prototyping, we can mass manufacture and mass customize the product without much hassle. The prototyping of the crib went through numerous iterations before we finally zeroed in on the design and specifications that have been provided at the hospital,” said Anand Rajagopalan, director of operations, T Works.
