Loading Dock and Garbage Facility Renovations Design Project
Design Task
The executive director of Adath Israel Congregation, Mr. Bernie Rabinovitch, has requested our design team, a group of University of Toronto students enrolled in Engineering Strategies and Practice II, to redesign the current loading dock located behind the facility so that it can be utilized both as a garbage disposal and delivery site.
Why is there a need for renovations?
Currently, the loading dock is used only for garbage disposal, with deliveries entering the building through the side entrances, at the inconvenience of building personnel and visitors. The objective of this project is to develop a design which will alleviate this problem while facilitating more efficient garbage disposal and product delivery.
Final Design Proposal
After devising five alternative designs that meet these requirements, the design involving the creation of a second entrance to the loading dock from the side to allow deliveries to come in through the side wall was chosen through the use of a weighted decision matrix as it best reflected the objectives of the project. The proposed design has been approximated to cost in between $ 7,000 and $ 12,000, with capital costs primarily overshadowing the calculated budget.
Current State
Proposed State
The Project Plan
The following diagram is a work breakdown structure of the project, outlining key areas including how the Problem Definition and background research were broken down.
Life Cycle of the Proposed Design
Below is an illustration of the life cycle diagram of the proposed design:
What I Learned From the Project
As a first year engineering student in Engineering Strategies and Practice II, I have learned a lot from working with a well coordinated group and from my interactions with a real life client outside the university environment I became familiar with during first term. From these experiences during this term, I have had the chance to improve three important attributes: my writing skills, my communication skills and my ability to work in a team.