Current Steelcase Work
Steel Storage & Wood Panel Accessories
2023 to Present
I led the engineering for a comprehensive steel storage refresh, delivering two novel designs alongside performance and cost optimizations across the existing portfolio.
I also designed and engineered the steel support bracketry for a transaction top on a soon to be released premium wood panel system.
Steel Storage
I spent one and a half years on a steel storage refresh project for Steelcase’s Universal storage line. I designed the first undermount pedestal in the portfolio with a proud steel door and modernized a legacy steel shelf. I also decreased the production cost of our slim pedestal design by 20% while adapting it to fit the rest of the Universal portfolio visually.
What did I learn from this project?
Design of sheet metal products from concept to manufacturing
Cross collaboration to balance cost, functionality, and user experience
Testing and iteration to learn from failures and refine concepts
Sheet metal fabrication and prototyping
Undermount Pedestal
The only undermount pedestal that we offered was designed by Steelcase’s small custom studio team and not our standard product development group. I was tasked with creating this product for our standard portfolio, which required specific details.
Unlike the existing design, this product required:
A proud square steel door to match Universal storage
No visible fasteners
A removable back panel to improve internal paint coverage
Lower manufacturing cost
After multiple iterations, my design proved to be:
More manufacturable
Lower cost
Aesthetically novel to the market yet visually consistent with the rest of the portfolio
Slim Shelf
The Universal shelf is an overbuilt legacy design. I modernized it with a slim, sleek aesthetic tailored for personal storage.
Existing Universal Shelf
New Slim Shelf
My design is only two parts: a thicker plate to provide strength and rigidity, spot welded to a thinner plate to fit into Answer panel slots. My design is drastically cheaper, more aesthetic, and just as functional.
I ran FEA simulations in Creo to calculate stress concentrations and test failure modes before creating physical test samples.
The thinner plate is inset to create the illusion of a single piece appearance from the user’s perspective.
Slim Pedestal
As part of an insourcing effort for the slim pedestal line, I re-engineered the base from four unique parts to two, achieving a 20% cost reduction through part commonality. I further expanded the portfolio by introducing two new configurations—a pencil drawer and a door-front version—to complement the original full-height drawer design.
Existing Slim Pedestals
My Slim Pedestals, with new pencil drawer and door configuration
The primary cost savings came from my updated base design.
I reduced the number of unique steel parts for the base from 4 to 2, resulting in a 20% cost reduction.
Transaction Top
I designed the support bracketry for a new premium wood panel system. These brackets accommodate both wood and customer-owned material (COM) transaction tops for administrative and reception applications.
Since the transaction top flexes from 30” to 96” wide, I developed data-driven fastening logic to manage the increasing functional loads. I used free body diagrams and a custom moment calculator to determine the required screw counts, then combined these findings with Instron pull-out testing. I then performed physical prototype testing at worst-case conditions to finalize the engineering rules for the system.
