FedEx Foot Courier Design Project
Introduction
This was a group project assigned in ME 3890. Two other engineering students, and myself were tasked with designing and developing an initial prototype for a new cart for FedEx foot couriers in high traffic areas. Our goal was to create a cart that was easy to maneuver, weather-proof, and easy to store.
Background
FedEx foot couriers across the country do not currently have a standardized cart to deliver packages. Instead, they use varying push carts, dollies, or custom built, heavy carts, to complete their delivery routes. This contributes to damaged and lost packages, as well as route delays. In high traffic, urban areas, these carts must also be unloaded from a delivery vehicle in a swift and timely manner to avoid parking fines, and reduce the risk of package theft.
Project
On our team, I made all design drawings, aided in construction, and acted as the financial and materials manager. After meeting with our customer, we came up with a few initial design concepts.
We decided to pursue the first design shown above. This was an open frame design with heavy-duty canvas sides that could be pulled up by the courier to access the cart’s contents from all sides.
During early construction, we came up with the idea to make the cart collapsible to make storage easier. To do this we made telescoping vertical supports to reduce the cart height by 50%.
After further communication with the customer, we decided to make the front, back and top of the cart solid. Over-sized packages that did not fit inside the cart could then be stacked on top. This would also allow for a sturdier cart that could also support a locking mechanism. Instead of rolling/pulling up the canvas siding, we built a sliding mechanism so that couriers would not need to continually bend over to access packages. A smaller compartment was also added to the front to house any envelopes or delivery paperwork.
Our work on this project has resulted in a continued relationship with the FedEx logistics team and this class. Future students will be tasked to continue work on this cart to eventually make a final, distributed product.