Keene State’s Sustainable Product Design Class Goes Home for the Holidays
Senior Justin Feldhusen and members of his manufacturing 400 class in the Sustainable Product Design and Innovation (SPDI) program at Keene State helped solve the problem of people looking for a nice and innovative gift during the holiday season. His capstone class, consisting of 13 students, with guidance from Professor Charlie Sheaff, came up with a novel pen that they not only sold, but manufactured as part of their course assignment.
“We looked at several items, but the pens were really fascinating,” said Feldhusen.
According to Feldhusen, who took part in the manufacturing process and served as the “company’s” marketing and sales manager, the pens were made from exotic woods around the world, including Brazilian Cherry and Chakte Viga wood from Central America.
Starting from scratch, the group contacted a company in Philadelphia that provided them with the pen blanks (wood blocks) and accessories needed to manufacture the pen sets. Members of the group each took part in the manufacturing process, all done with hand tools, which involved putting the wood on a lathe to shape the pen and drilling a hole to insert the ink cartridge. No one enjoyed the hands-on experience more than Feldhusen.
A fourth-generation firefighter, Feldhusen, went to Mascenic Regional High School and earned his associates degree in firefighting from Lakes Region Community College in Laconia. He worked in several trade and manufacturing jobs and before deciding to go back to school. Feldhusen said his work experience has benefited him in the classroom. “It helped me out tremendously,” said Feldhusen, who also worked for two years at Hitchiner Manufacturing in Milford, NH before enrolling at KSC. “I got a lot of hand-on experience and learned about team building.”
The pens, which sold for $15 each, come in two distinct styles: a bigger fun-line and a more traditional slim-line model. After manufacturing a few prototypes to get the process down, the team was ready to unveil and sell their product. “The game plan was to market them as a Christmas item, something fancy that you can bring home to your parents,” said Feldhusen. “Justin brought a lot of experience into the class, and was engaged in many aspects of the project beyond his responsibilities,” said Sheaff. “He brought many ideas about tools and process ideas, in an effort to make the manufacturing go more efficiently. He was very dedicated to the manufacturing project, and proved himself to be a real leader. His commitment, and dedication to the project will serve him well when he is seeking employment.” Feldhusen reports that his group sold 58 of the 63 pens they made and gave the five remaining pens to the faculty members who helped them with the project.
Feldhusen will graduate this May from Keene State along with his younger sister Megan, a psychology major. Feldhusen will be selling himself instead of pens in hopes of landing a manufacturing job. “My dad says the most important thing is to market yourself, and I think I put myself in a position to get a good job,” he said.
