Flat chance

‘IF Tony does want some good advice, he could do worse than turn away from his Cabinet and towards his new set of self-assembly wardrobes.

”Hmmm. We seem to have a couple of bits missing”

Thanks to the work of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, as reported in the Times, microchips imbedded in flat-pack furniture could help shoppers construct their new tables and shelves in the proper fashion.

Stavros Antifakos, who leads the team of scientists, hopes that in future an LED display built into the merchandise will say whether an item has been constructed correctly or not.

He also found that there were 44 ways to put together an Ikea PAX wardrobe, although only eight ways would make the piece stable.

Speaking to the Independent, a spokeswoman for the Scandinavian retailer says: ”That’s our best-seller. Our experts reckon it’s probably one of the easiest to put together.”

And a lot easier than assembling a coalition to fight terror.

‘

Posted: 5th, September 2002 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink