A story of vehicle design
This is a story of how we created a new skid-steer loader concept for XCMG (Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group), one of the largest construction equipment manufacturers in the world. It is a story of creating a vehicle design that is not just a wild idea and a pretty picture, but holistic solution that is made for humans and optimized for manufacturing.
It is a story of how we do vehicle design at Edea Design.
What
XCMG wanted a premium concept for its next generation skid-steer loader. The concept was expected to express XCMG’s brand values and to provide a top-of-the-class user experience while being optimised for manufacturing.
Edea was chosen as XCMG’s vehicle design partner from a pool of top global utility vehicle design studios.
Client: XCMG
Year: 2023-2024
How
We executed the project using our proprietary Design Puzzle™ toolkit: by acquiring profound user understanding, by applying future foresight methods, and by utilizing our expertise in materials and manufacturing methods.
The result of the project is a concept that sets the direction for XCMG’s future lines of construction machines.
Services: Concept Design, User Insight, Prototyping, Design for Manufacturing
Laying the foundation
In order to design for the future, we had to see where the world stands now. We benchmarked several skid-steer loaders and other construction machines — both from XCMG and its competitors. We observed the vehicles’ usage by professional operators and operated them ourselves. As usual, this enabled us to identify the most essential development points.
Sketching it out
Based on our analysis of the vehicle and its cabin — with a focus on efficiency, ergonomics, comfort and safety — we explored and sketched out solutions. Each idea was designed to fulfill and exceed the product requirements and to address the issues identified in user studies, competitor benchmarking, and anticipated future developments. One idea was selected as a basis for further development.
Real-world ergonomics
We validated our design by building a quick 1:1 mockup of the cabin interior at our model workshop, including adjustable seating, joysticks controls, buttons, switches and nozzles, and the cabin door. The mockup was tested by operators of different sizes.
Virtual reality
In addition to the physical cabin mockup, we also created a VR model of the entire vehicle. Such a model is especially useful for assessing visibility from within the vehicle’s cabin. However, a virtual prototype cannot replace a physical mockup for the sake of assessing ergonomics within the cabin.
Hiding the unnecessary.
Exposing the important.
Over a few rounds of iterations, we developed a holistic concept that expresses functional, human-centric design. The concept builds on basic shapes and parallel lines for a clean and understandable appearance — hiding the unnecessary and exposing the important. The result is a modern, coherent vehicle design that represents the next generation in construction machines.
Rich in detail
The machine was designed to have details which are both rich and meaning. The distinctive hexagonal grill can withstand collision damage. The same hexagonal element can be found in the XCMG logo and the window guards.
Efficiency meets comfort
We designed a more generous opening angle for the door, with a new shape and a non-parallel hinge line. Ingress into the cabin is easier than before. The newly designed interior provides superior comfort, efficiency, and visibility from within the cabin.
Designed for manufacturing
We designed the skid-steer loader for ease of manufacturing and maintenance. As an example, the roof and side walls of the cabin are formed from a single bent sheet of metal. The cabin can be easily fixed and removed using basic power tools.
Colour variants
We designed the skid-steer loader concept to accommodate different colouring schemes. They don’t just highlight the effect of colouring, but also show how well the design works on different schemes. This is highly relevant for co-branding.
The Edea Design approach
The XCMG skid-steer loader concept follows the Edea Design tradition of combining a human-centric approach to ensuring manufacturability from the start, all the while making sure that the client’s brand gets the attention it deserves.
Besides XCMG, we have done the same for numerous utility vehicle brands like AGCO, Cargotec, Hyster-Yale, Lundberg, Sandvik, Valtra.
Maybe we can help you bring your utility vehicle design to the next level?