SILO is a concrete barbecue surround for the standard grill, designed by Fu-Tung Cheng to add some presence to the standard Weber while insulating it and keeping it out of reach from children. Some added functionality with a flip-up food prep board.
Concrete molds with curves are tough to build, so we developed a foam form-kit to make it easier. The form kit has been used in the training curriculum at CHENG Concrete and was for sale online.
It was more or less a disaster. You might call it sabotage. Nobody bought the form kit. It wasn’t promoted at all, and most of them sat in the container and ended up getting wet and were thrown away.
For me it was really a shame, because it’s one of the first projects that I worked on at CHENG Concrete where I actually put the full range of my industrial design skills to work – producing cut files for the foam cutter, specifying hardware, taking photos, building the whole thing in 3D models and producing very detailed Step-By-Step instructions to ship with the kit…
All I got to hear about was how it cost X amount of money to produce and we’d have to sell them for X amount to break even. That’s when I first noticed the internal rift…
Date: 2011
Project Background: Fu-Tung designed and developed this BBQ surround with the lead fabricator at the time. The original molds were constructed from wood and were difficult to build.
My Role: Take dimensions from the finished piece and create 2D cut files for the foam cutter and 3D models to develop Step-By-Step Instructions. I was responsible for sourcing hardware, plastic liners, packaging, and then putting the kits together and getting the product up on the online store.
Metrics: Total failure in terms of sales. It weighs about 400 lbs. and is a huge hassle to move around (but it won’t tip over in the wind like the standard grille). It’s a nice looking piece though, and people respond well to it at the various trade shows it’s attended.