Educational Intelligence: A Smarter Solution

In the early days of personal computing, the first SMART Board, connected to an LCD panel and a computer running integrated programs, was designed to function as a large display screen for a PC — a hi-tech replacement for the traditional chalkboard. The idea was that a teacher in a classroom would be able to use the whiteboard and system to control the entire operation from the interactive whiteboard display itself, which would function as both a computer monitor and mouse. The touch-sensitive display connected to a computer and digital projector to display an image of what is currently on the computer screen. The teacher could then control computer applications, using touch-control directly on the display. Almost 30 years later, SMART has produced and sold their interactive, digital boards for hundreds of thousands of classrooms worldwide.

When SMART began the engineering process to design their latest model, the company turned to ALV as a collaboration partner to finalize the design of their prototype to fit the demands of mass production. At the beginning of production, the new SMART Board’s estimated annual run was 500 sets per month, with a total of 5 separate components for each set.

“Within two weeks of starting production, they doubled their order to 1,000 sets per month, and we were able to meet the demand,” say ALV Managing Director Thuy-Van Campbell. “By the end of the first three months, we had been asked to increase production to 5,000 sets per week, an increase of over ten-fold from their original order! Happily, we were able to go all out, dramatically increasing our production capacity. As a result, they were able to sell ten times as many units as they had originally predicted.”

“We were glad to help!”