On Thursday, February 17, the members of the Kent School’s Inventor’s Club and Girl’s Engineering Club took a five-minute bus ride to CREW Design Inc., here in the town of Kent.  The incorporation is made up of a large combination of different sectors: marketing, engineering, design, advertising, and manufacturing.

When we first arrived, the founder of the company, Glenn Carlin, greeted us with much enthusiasm.  He led us downstairs to show us the engineering and design room, containing advanced 3-D printers and a multitude of special tools.  We explored the lower level of the building, and Mr. Carlin showed us the different materials he uses and explained their efficiency in both cost and strength.  

When a student asked about whether the design crew manufactures everything in America, Mr. Carlin said that this used to be the case.  With China’s cheaper costs and higher efficiency rates, Mr. Carlin switched over to using Chinese manufacturing.  He stated that China has the most advanced tools, and the manufacturing that cost China very little would cost America a fortune due to our lack of these advanced tools.

We were led back upstairs where Mr. Carlin talked about how, when working in design, the environment must always be taken into consideration.  He passed around different materials that he has been testing with his partner, Walmart.  We felt materials made out of rice, corn, and other eco-friendly plastic substitutes.

Mr. Carlin made it a priority to stress to us that there is no reason for the use of new plastic with all of the recyclable plastic accumulating in the oceans and landfills.  He explained that plastic is recycled and pressed into pellets according to color, clear being the most valuable.  America wastes a great deal of plastic relative to China, which makes a strong effort not to waste any.  Mr. Carlin highlighted that though the Chinese have many pollution problems of their own, there is a lot that we can learn from them.

The most exciting part of the tour was seeing the “Show Room.” This room contained most of the products that Mr. Carlin and his crew have worked on.  He has partnered with Victoria Secret, Nestle Waters, Burton, Bose, General Mills, Pepsi, Blue Buffalo, and numerous alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverage companies and famous shoe companies.  CREW Design mostly works on displays for companies wanting to advertise either their new or old products.  Mr. Carlin explained that companies either tell him they need a nice display and leave all the designing up to his crew, such as Blue Buffalo, or companies have extremely specific instructions on how they want their display done, such as Bose.

This trip sparked a new view of innovation that none of us have come across before.  Mr. Carlin taught us that our inventions don’t always have to be the “next best thing,” but can be the little things behind the scenes and still be just as successful. He exclaimed that it is never too late or too early to follow your dreams, and if you have an idea of inventing something that you think is useful, odds are someone else will think it’s useful too.