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About me

I have a curious mind which dwells in the intersection between technological optimisation and human-centric systems. The future excites me for all the challenges yet to face and the people yet to meet.

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About me

I grew up in Johannesburg, studied undergraduate studies in Cape Town, and a masters at the TU Delft in The Netherlands. I am someone with a broad range of interests who seeks to develop meaningful relationships across cultures. I get excited by new challenges which use technology to aid human-centric services and systems. I am a highly ambitious and self-motivated person who values a strong moral compass. I love getting to work in teams where people are not afraid to take risks and go against the grain. While I am result-orientated and strive for efficiency, I equally value lightening the mood for good team morale. I enjoy developing new ideas while translating them into stories that motivate teams to create change and work towards a unified vision. Being able to translate an abstract or complex concept into an understandable and relatable story is a challenge I always eagerly await. Currently residing in Vienna, I eagerly await even more challenges that lay ahead!

Strengths

Projects

Projects

Take a look at a few of my recent projects.
Due to confidentiality agreements some elements may be vague or omitted.

Transavia

Innovation 4.0 in supply chains

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Optimising processes to reduce waste - resulting in increased profit. A focus was also on employee empowerment in the technical department.

Ford

Designing for GenZ

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Designing a concept to make Ford a "cool" and accessible brand for GenZ

City of Cape Town

Using vacant land

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Designing the best solution for local residents surrounding vacant land. Currently attracting illegal activities, the project aimed to create a safe and interactive, communal space.

Other business case collaborations:

Transavia

With a focus on Industry 4.0, the supply chains within Transavia's technical department was the area of design intervention. The concept aimed to reduce wastage (time) caused from missing/incorrect tools, inefficient procedures and poorly prepared systems. It also aimed at supporting and empowering mechanics who needed to be retained in a market of limited supply. This also helps increase profit through quicker turn-around time of plane maintenance. 
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Ford

The project brief was to design something that would make Ford "cool" and attractive for Generation Z. The research findings led to the concept of a car sharing service made personal. The service has social features, while being designed around sharing a car with friends or like-minded people based on  demographics and online profiles. This would be a fully integrated system - the interface would be as simple as messaging a friend.  The strategy is to ease the transition into self-driving cars and to lessen the intimidation of car sharing. This makes driving a complete experience rather than just a means of getting somewhere. Take a look at the concept summary poster...

The project brief was to find an area of intervention within the CBD of Cape Town with the theme of security or connectivity. A vacant lot was found which was being used for illegal activities and made surrounding residents feel unsafe. The concept was to turn this into an area which would allow people to socialise, children to play and provide a sense of safety. The concept is an area which uses slanted angles to allow there to always be seating for full sun, full shade and partial shade. There are motion and sound sensor lights which not only deter unwanted activity at night due to drawing attention to an area, but also to act as an artistic piece to start conversations. 

City of Cape Town

Resumè

Education

Work Experience

Extra Curricula

Interests

This concept involved the tracking of tools, task preparation trolleys containing all needed parts and tools for a shift, interactive maintenance manuals, managerial overviews, direct ordering of parts and tools, task selection and shift scheduling optimisation. The technology used is designed to work with current procedures while providing some options for growth in the coming years.
Transavia
Ford
Cape Town
Resumè

Let's connect!

+31 6 8283 7997
+31 6 8283 7997

Kate Smith

Contact
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