Farming industry

Fumibag

Fumibag is a backpack sprayer designed to facilitate the work of fumigation in crops and productive farms in Colombia, improving workers comfort and efficiency.

Goal

Develop a product that facilitates the work of farmworkers in Colombia, more specifically in the Antioquia region.

Completed

2013

My role

User experience

Research

Manufacturing

Teammates

Andrea Martínez

Juan José Casafús

Juan David Mejía

Context

The Agriculture Industry is a fundamental pillar for the Colombian economy. Statistics from DANE (National Administrative Department of Statistics of Colombia) highlight that:

4.9 million people work in farms

However, despite the number of people in this sector, they don’t always have the best tools.

The problem

We conducted interviews with users, which allowed us to understand their context, obtain information about the most frequently used tools and their experience performing their daily activities. We discover the sprayer was the most mentioned tool and the workers experience using it wasn’t pleasant at all.

After the analysis of the interviews, we made a comparative table of the products mentioned by the users and confirmed that the manual sprayer was the product to be redesigned.

…The sprayer and the scythe are the most difficult tools to use, because the physically wear me, the sprayer due to its weight and the need to frequently press the button and the scythe due to its weight and sound.

2

I would like to improve the manual sprayer, since it bothers me to use it frequently for 8 hours, also its handle is damaged and it is necessary to improve the system to have better functionality.

1-(1)

After a day of work I end up with my hands scratched and beaten by the bushes and with pain in the arm from the manual sprayer.

3

Ideation

Before developing any idea, we created a PDS (Product Design Specification), which covered the most important requirements that the design had to meet, from aspects of performance and functionality to ergonomics and safety.

Then for the ideation we start from a morphological matrix, which allows us to discover unusual associations for the product.

Morphological Matrix

Solution

Our solution was a backpack sprayer, designed to allow the user to optimize their work with increased pumping in a more compact and lightweight design. To ensure better ergonomics, it has adjustable straps and a structure that provides greater lumbar support.

From design reference to final design

Testing with users

In order to evaluate and check if the functional and ergonomic needs found were solved in the creation of the new product, we developed a test protocol, that includes functional, human factors, stetics and indicative factors tests.

Project Learnings

Don’t assume, ask!: Creating a solution for an industry in which none of the designers had any experience, it was essential not to start from assumptions but from the real experiences of the users.

So intuitive that you don’t need a manual: Tools such as PDS and constant interaction with the user allowed us to always keep in mind the importance of creating a product that from the first moment could be used without needing a manual, especially due to the context and how often it should be used.