1 Client                                      BAK-RAK   2 Product Description The BAK-RAK fits onto a standard  European tow-ball, and has many advantages over a roof mounted luggage rack.  Loading is much easier without the risk of injury in lifting loads to head height.  Petrol consumption due to increased drag does not occur since the load is sheltered in the dead area behind the car. There is not the awkwardness in manoevering and  reversing a trailer.  The rack folds neatly out of the way when not in use and can be easily dismounted when only required periodically. Although unique to Europe, similar racks are common in the US. Attachments are available to facilitate the carrying of bikes etc.   A family of racks is  planned, to cater for specialist applications and initial distribution in the UK will be extended throughout Europe.. The initial BAK-RAK is to be built as a simple cargo-carrier, made of stainless steel with fitted lights etc. It will have a fitted canvas cover and hard-points for fitting a vertical stile that will be supplied with the rack and store within it. The stile will allow the support of bikes, skis etc. with the appropriate accessories. 3 Critical Issue                       The manufacturing costs were too high to yield target margins for the welded frame & cast ball locking and fixing mechanism and the frame. 4 What we did An initial `discovery’ meeting was held to look holistically at all the areas  – market, product, manufacture and funding to confirm that the critical issue was indeed on of cost reduction – the ostensible problem does not always turn out to be the critical one.  We then held concept generation and design for manufacture workshops to identify ways of eliminating the complications in the ball locking and fixing mechanism. The expensive casting wareplaced by  a cheaper & simpler fabricated plate solution. We also identified both potential proprietary and bespoke solutions for the frame. Options were then assessed and a solution chosen after several prototype iterations. This was costed, suppliers identified, and mechanically tested for proof of concept.

5 Outcome

The new concept proved successful, enabling efficient manufacture and the cost has been reduced by 60% and the company has recently announced a significant amount of interest and orders for the new product.

6 More information

Contact Don Rickard at Innovation-Direct on 024 76 572 505                                                                November 2002