Designing our own Computer on wheel "Stinger Cart"

[timothyf001]

Problem

Hospitals nurse mobile computers AKA "Stinger Carts".

A AIO on wheels, some with and without medication drawers. I would like keystone to be able to create a better version of this cart. As any tech that has ever worked on one will tell you they are not that easy.

The AIO currently used is made poorly, Problems ranging from unable to find drivers to smoking and I have heard the AIO catching fire. I know of few times of battery charging stations causing fires.

The design that has drawers (pictures coming soon). Drawers get stuck, keyboards fall off and mouse trays bending.

Anytime that a tech has to work on one of these it is very time consuming. Say an actuator goes out and needs replaced. In order to replace you have to remove the back plate and that would be fine if you did not have to take the sides off, disconnect everything, remove the heavy drawers (sometime with no help) just to get the back off. Switches located in the back of each drawer (Requires removing back panel to replace) often break and is just a poor design. Battery trays have a board in the bottom used to communicate current status of the battery and supply power to the AIO (as well as drawers if equip). They are difficult to work with and you always take a risk when assembling or disassembling them in breaking board inside of them.

Manufacture also has poor/horrible support. We have sent AIO in only to get back missing part or not even touched (we marked one before sending it). There cost for one of these is nuts somewhere around the $6000 range (so I've heard).

Proposal

I would like to see if we as keystone could design and make our own version to sell to these hospitals. One with a style of back where you as a tech are able to take it apart in section. Drawers that have dividers (huge complaint from nurses on the floors). Better AIO with known drivers thus windows would have the driver already packaged in the OS. Channel on the back for all cord. hydraulic for AIO to be moved up and down with out moving the entire thing up and down.

I also feel that we would be able to provide better support (Consider a good amount of our techs will be the ones repairing them). With keystone communication abilities it would be very easy to get support when needed from anyone. We would also be able to provide better warranties and considering they refresh once every 4-5 years depending on location it would have a great ROI.

I would like to hear others thoughts on this.

[s1037989]

@timothyf001 , this is really great. You've put a lot out there. I'm not sure where to focus yet, so I'll start with my instant responses:

Design. These carts are hideous. How important is it that they be Apple stylish? Surely not at all, but surely it can have a little aesthetic appeal...! Anyway, regardless of it's visual beauty, a cart needs to be designed. Need a designer. John Shreve may be an excellent resource for this.

Engineering. Similar to design, but the focus is on all the pain points you described. It can be engineered better. Need an engineer. Perhaps John Shreve can connect us? I'm sure everyone in Keystone has some engineering friends that can give a referral. There's companies that one could go to.

Manufacturing. Engineered in USA, manufactured in China. :) Whatever, that's fine. But, as I understand it, working out such agreements with manufacturers overseas isn't exactly easy. It's a process. Just need someone to negotiate and do the necessary dance with the businesses and governments as necessary. Alternatively, perhaps John Shreve can connect us with his furniture manufacturer contact. Big manufacturer. Not sure if / how we / John would be able to get them to work with us, but, worth a chat...

Cost. I'm not doubting you, @timothyf001 , but man I just find it so hard to believe that this could possibly be in the $6,000 ballpark. That's a $2,000 AIO at most, a $400 POS (the vulgar kind) cart, and perhaps a pretty proprietary and critical power source. Give them a very lucrative $2,000 for margin (nuts!) and that's a $1,600 power source (nuts?) Likely the power source will need to be designed from the ground up. Will also need engineering for the add-ons like medicine drawers.

Sounds like there is very little competition. Sounds like the product is necessary and in relatively high demand. Sounds like the product is costly and that buyers are willing to pay high dollar for it. Sounds like there's some serious ROI there.

Support. That's a no-brainer. We can nail that.

Hydraulics. Ok, that may add some cost to the cart. Not a ton, surely? But what do I know?

Current line of business. I, personally, am all about getting behind solid business plans. This business plan makes sense from our mission statement point of view. It's a particular challenge because it isn't anything that we currently have any skill, expertise, or experience with. It's completely out of our comfort zone. There might be a general conception that we are a service company, not a product company... Obviously, this is a true statement. But I would challenge that notion, specifically that we must stay that way for, what, legacy reasons? Because that's what we know best? Adapt or die, right? I'm not saying that we should adapt from a service company to a cart manufacturing company... :/ Or even from a service to a product company. Service is important, it always will be. But it just might make sense to also be a product company; product is more scalable than service, yes? Product can help fund better service, perhaps? Better product can help negate service, in the sense that better product means less to have to service, which means, ultimately, better experience for the client -- our ultimate goal.

Here's a twist approach... What about treating it like Ford Mustang Cobra / Boss / Roush / Saleen / etc or aftermarkets like that, and buy these in bulk from Enovate (the manufacturer) and then "sup 'em up"? Fix what's wrong. Add some appeal. I'm not saying that's cost effective. I'm not saying it's easy. Not even saying it's a good idea. Just putting it out there. Get everything out on the table, leave no stone unturned.

Great work, @timothyf001 ! You, too, Chris, wherever you @ are.

[timothyf001]

I view as we are in the health field I couldn't see why this would not fall in to our reach. We already sell products to our customers. Now granted these prepackaged and we are mostly just a middle man but I look at this a chance to make a lot more than pennies on the dollar. I would not look in to buying cart from Enovate cause they are to limited. The motherboard on these things can only support 4gb RAM. HSHS standards are 8gb and it is not like we can just throw a 8gig stick in cause the board does not support it.

As far as making a sister company and calling it something like Keystone-Carts I guess we could go that way or something like that but that makes me look back at the name change we just did and I don't see why this type of product couldn't be covered under one of them.

My thoughts on the cart was to get a contract with a manufacturer like HP for the AIO's. after making some sort of motion detection sensor that would control the display. Even if that is nothing more than a USB device. As per the drawer system I do not see why we couldn't use something like a raspberry pie for that? it has I/O on the board that can be used to unlock the drawers or activate a actuator what would lock and unlock the drawers. As far as the stand is concerned we would need someone to fabricate something ( I might know someone that can help with blueprints and the design) we would just need a show to take it from paper to reality.

[timothyf001]

Oh forgot as to design I am sure that does not matter the newer model look different. I sure as long as it is functional and we put together that wont care.

[timothyf001]

real quick so don't forget we can do the power something like UPS style

[timothyf001]

@s1037989 I was wondering if there was any progress?

[s1037989]

@timothyf001 Nothing yet. Need more engagement. We can schedule a KIL to start at 8a once and you can come out to talk with us about your idea. What do you think about that? How about Wednesday, April 27, 8:00a CDT?

[ehumes]

Just my two cents... There's a ton of competition in the "COW" space already. Howard, Flo, Stinger, Metro, Hill Rom just to name a few off the top of my head. And they are all large companies trying to create competitive advantage. I'd encourage additional research before we dive in. Perhaps, Tim would be willing to build a matrix of features and manufacturers. That might help us identify any gaps which aren't being filled. The Flo cart in our office has hydraulics. The Howard cart that we turned into a scarecrow (named "Howard") for halloween had a built in motorized lift to set the height appropriate for each user. Etc... Otherwise, I LOVE this type of thinking (Tim), and feel like there may still be opportunity in this area.