Chocolate Products

Chocolate Products
Project Type

Process Improvement

Challenge

Chocolate Products is a small Niagara Falls-based family business providing its customers with a variety of custom-made chocolates. One of the products, a decorative, edible chocolate straw, is made through a long manual process run by one employee, hindering the possibilities of increased production and therefore revenue.

Solution

The research team designed a prototype to allow the operator to pour the chocolate onto a drum so that a blade could manipulate the chocolate into straw forms. Using CAD software the design the prototype, the team created engineering drawings, and provided specifications to the company, to outsource the components to build the machine. All employees at Chocolate Products will be able to use the prototype to build the chocolate straws, allowing the company to be more competitive in the decorative chocolate market.