Wood Trimming Tool

Are you clever enough to design an innovative machine that can decrease the time spent by the workers to  trim Henna wooden branches in half ? Would like to facilitate the production process for these families with limited income ?

A call for mechanical engineers to design an automatic  trimming device for Henna wooden branches used in the production of beach umbrellas and garden lamps to reduce the processing time of the  current manual techniques that cause a lot of injuries to the workers for a chance to win 30,000 EGP as a reward provided by the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology in collaboration with Al Tadamun Microfinance Foundation. Please read on for more details!

Background:

Henna wood is widely used in many products such as beach umbrellas, fences, pergolas, garden lamps, and many other products.In order to manufacture such artistic products, the branches must pass different processing phases:

• Soaking in a basin containing salt and water for up to 5 days, allowing the fibers to absorb sufficient amount of water thus increase the elasticity and avoid breakage during forming various shapes

• Trimming  of excess little branches which is currently done manually using knives and subsequently takes a lot of time and effort and causes a lot of injuries to the workers.

Al Tadamun Microfinance Foundation is interested in supporting such projects and having an impact to improve the quality of life of families with limited income. It started in 1996 as a Group Guaranteed lending and Saving pilot project developed by the Egyptian field office of Save the Children USA, in partnership with the local NGO Women’s Health Improvement Association. In 2009, Al Tadamun Microfinance Program was registered as an independent NGO. In 2015, Al Tadamun obtained the license no. 1117 for practicing microfinance.

 

The Challenge:

To design an innovative machine to trim Henna wooden branches in order to process them in half the time spent while using knives and  protect the workers form a lot of injuries .The submitted solutions must fulfill the following requirements:

• Capability to process large quantities of branches. ( optimum 60 branches / min)

• Low maintenance.

• Low operating cost.

• Safe to operate.

• Friendly interface

• Can work up to 8 hours.

Reward and Conditions:

The winner will receive a reward of 30,000 EGP to implement the solution in cooperation with  the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology and Al Tadamun Microfinance Foundation, according to the following conditions:

1. The solution should meet the aforementioned criteria;

2. The solution should include a clear plan of action including implementation stages, timeline, required tools/materials, estimated budget, and technical support required (if applicable);

3. The reward will be given in installments, in accordance to milestones set by the innovator(s) according to their plan of action;

As per our platform Terms and Conditions, in case the intellectual property rights are not registered, the innovator should include the minimum details required to judge the technical validity and feasibility of the solution without full technical specifications.

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