Cardiff University provide successful support for Maddox

The Company

A Welsh design company, Maddox Design have created a range of chair backs suitable for use in office furniture, wheelchairs and automotive seating. Maddox, based in Chepstow have developed an innovative chair back which incorporates a self adjusting lumbar support. Costing British employers an estimated £500 million a year, back problems are a major cause of absence from work with poor seating often being blamed. Nick Williams of Maddox explained, "the seat is designed to encourage constant, good posture.We consulted occupational therapists, physiotherapists and ergonomists about the design and have created a chair back which encourages good posture and healthy sitting”.

Left: Nick Williams of Maddox Design with a scale prototype of the revolutionary chair back.

The University

Maddox Design first approached Cardiff University via HELP Wales, with a hand crafted prototype. From this model, CAD data was generated by reverse engineering (RE) in the MEC's metrology lab. From this data the MEC were able to create three different forms of chairback for Maddox - one for use on office chairs and another two for wheelchairs applications. Prototypes of each design were then built on the MEC's EOS P700 which can build models up to 700 mm x 380 mm x 580 mm directly from the CAD data.“The standard and accuracy of the prototypes was excellent” said Nick,“they enabled us to demonstrate the innovative support and range of application that this seat back can provide”.

The Results

Prototypes of the chair back, produced at the Manufacturing Engineering Centre (MEC) in the School of Engineering at Cardiff University, have been viewed by healthcare, office furniture and automotive manufacturers in Europe and the USA. Upon his return from the USA, Nick Williams of Maddox Design was very pleased with the positive reaction the models had received, “the aesthetic and functional qualities achieved by the MEC's prototypes were an invaluable sales tool” he commented.Working with the MEC, also enabled us to attract funding from HELP Wales, reducing our costs at this critical development stage by 50%”.

Maddox Design is now fine tuning the chair back ready for production by its newly-formed sister company, Ergonamics, based in Cwmbran.

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