Last Minute Woes

Ben and Anna discussing how to fix the grater

Having spread out all our tools and materials in the backyard of the guest house, we hoped that today everything would come together, but we ran into a big problem: there wasn’t enough interaction between the head and the shaft, which caused the new graters to rattle significantly. After discovering the problem in the morning, we spent the rest of the day trying to devise a fix with whatever we had available. As the hours went by, hopes were fading, but thankfully we found a working combination of parts that we could use for a non-chattering machine. By the end of the night, we had the sealant drying and the grater ready to go. Contrary to its successor, Auntie Akosua’s grater gave us no problem as we finished its repairs. Before leaving for the follow-up village trip, we will grate some cassava to break in the two machines.

Jianhan filing down the head

Unexpected design consideration: After applying shea butter to lubricate the chute, dozens of ants swarmed to investigate, yet a few hours later they left without a trace. 

We created a makeshift yet effective grater head level and used it to determine where the head needed more weight.

Race to the Finish

It’s Friday, a.k.a. the last day the ITTU workshop is open before we return to the villages. The whole team has been running around getting last minute repairs and fabrication done before testing. The new graters are coming together, but there is still a lot to be finished. Ideally we’d like to spend tomorrow grating so that we are confident about the new design before shipping it. Auntie Akosua’s repairs are also underway and will likely be ready to grate tomorrow as well.

Also, last night we met with George Obeng, a KNUST Director with whom we’ve been working, and informed him of growing demand for the graters as well as its well testing new name. George seemed pleased with the work done and looked forward to the expansion of production. 

Irene working on grater assembly.

Graters leaving the workshop 

Shop Time

Sorry I’ve been quite for so long. The last three days have been one long continuation of discussion, fabrication, and data gathering. Over the nights we've been debriefing from our village trip. To recap, we did the following:

• Officially sold one grater to Samuel and gained knowledge of more potential customers

• Took Auntie Akosua’s grater for servicing

• Co-designed on a press with our three grater owners

List of tasks for the week at ITTU

Samuel’s grater purchase meant it was now imperative that we have a working version of the new design. On top of that, Auntie Akosua advertised the grater to 2 or 3 more prospective customers, so we’d like to have at least one extra machine to potentially sell. With the constant help of the whole team, Irene and I have been working day in and out at ITTU to complete the new machines. We took a brief break on Tuesday to check out a metal workshop called Obeng Engineering in Suame Magazine with Ben. There we met Nana, the very busy supervisor of the plant, who gave us a tour of the extensive facilities. They had many interesting capabilities that we will consider as we plan to scale up. Otherwise the tech team has remained in the shop.

Business team learns how local fufu producers use their grater

On the other hand, the business team has been all over Kumasi testing assumptions about the market segmentation and business model. Particularly, Julian, Anna, and Jianhan have been visiting chop bars (high volume restaurants) to get an idea about the business and the need for a grater. They have also been investigating the usage of mobile money payments in Ghana and banking process for starting small businesses. There have been some promising leads for opening the market to chop bars. However, the team decided to wait on supplying a grater to a chop bar until we are more confident about the longevity of the design (especially since the grater is untested at this point).

The task of refurbishing Auntie Akosua’s grater also occupied the tech team’s time. When inspecting the machine on Monday, we noticed that her motor sounded worn out, and after further assessment, we decided to modify the whole grater. The changes we made were to stiffen the grater and balanced the head.

The press co-design gave us a wealth of information for the next iteration of the press and also a clearer vision of the women’s values. Early in the week we were hoping to deploy presses during this trip, but the grater quickly has become a fulltime commitment. We plan to take what we’ve got back to Needham and return in January with a press to deploy (possibly earlier if we send the materials to Asante). But for now, we have to get these graters working.

Meeting at Obeng Engineering to introduce the grater 

Julian grinding the chute plunger down to size

Off to the Villages (Part 2)

Although Auntie Akosua, our other PKK grater owner, couldn’t come to the co-design session yesterday, she arrived bright and early to see the highly anticipated press. We explained the interaction to her as Auntie Ama returned, and then we opened both presses. As soon as Auntie Ama touched the now dry cassava, she danced and remarked on how dry it was. Auntie Akosua was also impressed with the results, and both women thought the single lead screw press outperformed the other.

The team broke into groups and inspected each of the deployed machines for repairs. At this time we were able to ask for opinions on direct seller business model, branding, and payment methods.  Auntie Akosua seemed very receptive to becoming a direct seller and even informed us of other women in the area interested in buying graters. After asking final questions, collecting data, and inspecting graters, the team left PKK for Adumkrum. Here we showed graters and presses to Auntie Howa, our first grater owner. This visit shortly became a village affair as several men and women gathered and discussed the merits of each machine. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay long, but we learned more about the community dynamics during co-design and the influences of peers on the decisions of our customers.

Before returning to campus in Kumasi, we stopped by Odumase again to give a brief demonstration now that the power had returned. The women present quickly became comfortable with using the grater and appeared satisfied with the cassava, while we confirmed a return trip on Sunday to deliver their own grater. Finally we headed home, tired but satisfied with the amount of knowledge and data gained that would shape the course of action over the next week.

Auntie Akosua presses a bag of cassava with the single lead screw press.

Auntie Howa! Although under the weather, she’s happy to see the machines we've brought.

Irene and Anna demonstrating the 2 lead screw press for Auntie Howa.

Off to the Villages (Part 1)

First village visit! After breakfast, we hopped into the tro tro and drove to Odumase, a village completely new to us. Jerry, one of our translators and the coordinator of the meeting, introduced us to Samuel, the chief. After introductions, we explained our venture and product, but were unable to actually grate because the power had gone out. Nonetheless, Samuel had seen one of our graters in another village called PKK and was still willing to purchase a machine. We struck a deal and were able to interview 2 gari processing women in the village before leaving for PKK.

Our first demonstration in Odumase

In PKK we met with Auntie Ama, a current grater owner who has long awaited our return with presses. Although slightly under the weather, she happily interacted with our prototypes, giving feedback and critique as she pressed freshly grated cassava. After using both presses, she slightly preferred the single lead screw option due to its comfortable height and strength. We left both machines to press overnight with the plan to inspect the results in the morning. We then retired for the night, but not before a 7 inch lizard jumped onto Julian, at which point four of us spent ten minutes chasing it out of the room.

Village Prep

This was our final day of prep before travelling to the villages. In the morning we bought supplies and created a schedule for our village trips before Asante arrived. A longtime partner of the ADE Ghana project, Asante has been working on sight with our team, and throughout the semester he designed and built a press with 2 lead screws using materials locally gathered. He brought his press today, and we compared its capabilities to that of our own (which has only one screw). At the end of the day, both produced remarkably dry cassava in mere hours and seemed ready for inspection and feedback from the gari producing women.

Our first press test last night

Ruptured sack from the force of the single lead screw press

Time to evaluate the results

First Full Day!

Today we drove to the Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit (ITTU) workshop in Suame magazine to finish preparation of our village press and grater demonstrations. Irene, Anna, and I co-designed with Francis—one of the workshop’s chief technicians—and fabricated pieces to complete the press prototype. During this time, we also grated cassava and finished fitting grater heads to the new motors. Meanwhile, Ben, Jianhan, and Julian found the Sokoban wood village and purchased wood that the sellers claimed was used in all presses. When they returned to the workshop, we concluded with the modifications before heading back to the guest house.

First day! Team heading out to ITTU.

On campus we pressed cassava in our prototype for the very first time had a few immediate reactions and design considerations. First, the nut of the handle bottomed out on our lead screw because our spacer was too small. Next, juice began to seep through the bag all crevasses of the press, some even getting trapped in a small basin for the duration of the experiment. Lastly the bag ripped at the seams and some cassava spilled from the press. At this point we left the experiment to sit overnight as we discussed possible design changes for our next iteration.

Choosing boards for the press at Sokoban.

(Left to right) James, William, and Francis. Chief technicians at ITTU who helped us immensely in our efforts

Laying out ideas for legs of the press