Design(ing) Manufacturing Collaboration The Case of the Furniture Sector in Uruguay

In Uruguay, collaboration between designers and manufacturing companies remains limited, largely due to the historical separation between the academic sphere and the productive sector. Design has often evolved within theoretical or cultural frameworks disconnected from industrial practice, while companies have focused on short-term production needs rather than long-term innovation. This book seeks to bridge that gap, presenting a design intervention aimed at creating spaces for exchange and collaboration between those who design and those who produce. Through an in-depth analysis of the Uruguayan design landscape and manufacturing sector, the authors explore both the barriers that hinder cooperation and the opportunities that emerge when new product development becomes a shared process. Focusing on the furniture industry, where small-scale and semi-artisanal production foster experimentation, the book highlights new ways to connect creativity and industry. The intervention takes shape in the development of a collaborative tool (EnCo), conceived from insights gathered directly from both design studios and manufacturing realities. Drawing on these perspectives, the tool aims to strengthen communication, foster collaboration, and support joint innovation during new product development. This book offers a concrete direction to build a collaborative dialogue space between Design and manufacturing realities for making the development of new design products more efficient.