This report treats a product development project conducted in the course Degree Project for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Innovation and Design Engineering, MSGC12, at Karlstads University. The course is a part of the faculty of heath, sciences and engineering. The report is written by the student Elin Berg, the supervisor of the project is Kristina Gullander and the examnier is Leo de Vin.

The assignment is provided by Support Design, a Swedish company in Sunne that manufactures and distributes ergnomic chairs. The chairs are mainly sold to clients working in the dental and medical markets, but also office workers. Customers often sit on the chairs for long workdays, and several users sometimes perform precision work that requires relief for the arms and shoulders. Today, Support Design does not manufacture its own armrests but buys these from the US and China.

The aim of the project is to develop an ergonomic armrest for dental operator chairs where the target group is dentists, dental hygienists and dentist assistants. The armrest should have functions that relieve, provide support and are flexible in order for the user to change the working position. The purpose of the project is to expand the Support Designs business by introducing its own armrest production. Eventually, this would give the company competitive advantages, facilitate logistics and result in better margins.

The work process follows the methods that are part of a product development process. The phases of the project are project start, project planning, research, product specification, concept generation, concept selection, sub-report, design, final prototype, opposition, presentation, and exhibition. The research is the most important phase in identifying the user's needs, thus developing ergonomic armrests that fulfill the necessary functions.