(375b) Engineering Roach Killers: Population Models, Pheromone Manufacturing and Consumer Pricing Models

We address the possibility of integrating a synthetic roach sex pheromone into an existing trapping mechanism to produce a superior roach control product. This new product would be an off the shelf brand designed for private homeowners, and should be competitive with the current market leader product. It was decided to market this product in a gel form that combines blattellaquinone (the pheromone) and maltose as the attractants, fipronil as the active insecticide, and carrageenan as the gel matrix. The southwestern United States (TX, OK, KS, NV, AZ, NM, CA, UT, CO) is the target distribution area. Utility functions were created to assess the necessary characteristics of the new product from a consumer standpoint. Four characteristics of the new product were rated by consumers through the distribution of surveys. The four characteristics were: durability (how long before roaches come back), speed (how fast are roaches killd), odor, and toxicity. Each of these characteristics were then linked to an adjustable component of the new product such that shifting the composition of the product altered consumer satisfaction ratings accordingly. The resulting utility functions were then used in combination with an economics based pricing model correlation to analyze how product composition affects supply and demand, plant size, FCI, and ultimately, profit. To adress durability and speed a population model was constructed. To address the fabrication of the pheromone, plant design was performed so that the economics of the FCI and the operating costs can be assessed.