The Wedge Cup

The Wedge Group is the husband and wife team of Bryan and Laurella Bergeron, located in Des Allemands, La. The start-up company has worked with MEPOL’s Polymer Division on its single product, the Wedge Cup. The company plans to market their patented product to the healthcare industry on a national and international level. It is privately-owned by Laurella Bergeron, and was founded in 2006.

When drinking from a cup, the cup can only tilt so far until the top rim hits the bridge of the nose. A person then tilts his head back in order to finish the beverage. People with disabilities that are not able to tilt their heads back have to constantly battle spilling on themselves or simply can’t finish the bottom portion of the liquid.

Bryan Bergeron witnessed this struggle firsthand with his older brother who has spinal meningitis. After speaking with various doctors about the problem, Bergeron decided to make a prototype of a cup with a wedge inside the cylinder angled down to the bottom, resulting in the contents of the cup being completely drained at a 60 degree tilt.

Solution

Bergeron contacted MEPOL’s Polymer Services Project Director Rebecca Scherff for assistance in designing and building prototypes of the cup using the FDM Rapid Prototyping machine at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Working with third party provider and MEPOL client Christian Plastics, the Wedge Cup went through multiple design modifications before a final design was chosen.

The cup has six parts that MEPOL built individually in the prototyping lab. Says Scherff, “Having a prototype with moving, working parts helps the client to analyze and test the design, recognize potential flaws, and troubleshoot problems that may arise.” In total, MEPOL built 36 parts for the Wedge Cup throughout the design process.

Once the design was complete, MEPOL tapped into its third party network again and called Tech Tooling to create the four cavity molds needed for the cup. Through the Small and Emerging Business Development grant, Tech Tooling created the following molds:

1.       Outer cup body with handle

2.       Inner cup liner

3.       Lid with spout

4.       Slide and Thumb tab

Tech Tooling then molded 150 cups to be used at the Veterans Administration Speech and Language Pathologist National Convention, which was held mid- April.

Based on the prototype and design projects conducted by MEPOL, Bergeron estimates a cost savings of $38,000.

At the conference, Bergeron garnered more than 100 leads and handed out just as many cups to attendees for further marketing studies. “We gave out cups to people from California to the East Coast; from North to South,” says Bergeron. “There was even one guy from the Philippines.”

The response was very positive. Attendees were commenting on the superior design of the Wedge Cup not only for the unique design and the 60 degree tilt factor, but also because of the flow of thicker liquids commonly given to disabled patients.

 “The cup was initially meant for people with permanent disabilities, but can also be used for temporary ailments such as a sprained shoulder or a broken neck. The market is wide open for us,” he comments.

And the applications for the product seem endless. A wedge can be inserted into a variety of liquid containers, such as cooking oils, gas cans, and chemical drums. The wedge can empty every drop in a container without having to tilt it over; the implications in safety, environmental and other common concerns within industry are endless.

“MEPOL helped us tremendously throughout this project. They helped us with funding sources, engineering and prototyping of the cups. We’re looking forward to working with MEPOL on other projects, and are truly grateful for their help. Without MEPOL, we wouldn’t have been able to get this far.”—Laurella Bergeron, Owner

Hebert Honored with National MEP Award
The Grand Ballroom of the Marriott World Center in Orlando was the stage for Cecile Hebert, marketing coordinator for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Louisiana (MEPOL), to garner a national award at the MEP National Conference, held April 26-30, 2008.

Hebert took home the Newcomer of the Year Award out of a pool of 16 nominees from across the United States. This is the second year in a row a MEPOL employee has received this prestigious award.