|
|
|
|
|
13/05/2010
 Email to a friend
 Comment on this article
|
Paul Fanning speaks with Andrew Redman, owner, Realise Design.
 Q: How did you get into the engineering industry?
A: Like a lot of engineers, it started at an early age. Dad was a marine engineer, so it's kind of in the blood. We've also got an artistic streak in the family, so it's always been a mixture of the two. So I suppose in the end, product design is about the only place I can exist in this world.
Q: What does your role involve on a day-to-day basis?
A: Because I'm running the consultancy, no two days are alike. It ranges from setting marketing strategy and discussing search engine optimisation for our website to dealing with the latest design issues for a client. I'm out and about a fair bit, have quite a lot of meetings and for around 40% of the time I'm in front of the computer working on the CAD. I'm still in a position to be hands-on and hopefully that always continues because that's key to me.
Q: What are some of the projects you are currently working on?
A: There's quite a broad range, actually. We're doing everything from helping companies to rebrand, to a new launch of cosmetics, which is quite exciting to designing a device and system to train bees to detect explosives, which is very exciting. It's quite a mix.
Q: What is the most interesting project that you've been involved in?
A: It's probably what I call our '40 days and nights in the desert' project. It was a 30m carbon fibre camera mast called Vortex and it takes a TV or film camera and does a vertical tracking shot right from eye level. So it can zoom up 30m and then do a 360 all-round view from there. The point really was to make something portable that can be taken to all sorts of sporting occasions. It's being used by Formula One, it's been outside Buckingham Palace and it'll be doing the London Marathon. That was a really exciting project.
Q: How has the industry changed since you first started?
A: I think the technology for doing the job is the main thing: things like CAD and rapid prototyping. Also the collaboration and communication that's possible over the internet has made a massive difference to the way we work. And the knock-on effect of that is that everything happens so much faster.
Q: What are the big issues facing industry?
A: There are three big ones: the first is China. It's an old story in manufacturing, of course, but I'm now getting bombarded by people sending requests regarding rapid prototyping from China. They're really scaling up.
The second thing is the level of talent in this country. It's a huge issue for us. To be a centre of manufacturing excellence, we've got to have a critical mass of good people. One of the things we're incredibly bad at in this country is creating the right impression of our industry and attracting young people. Basically, the youth in this country just doesn't see manufacturing as cool. We've got to be a lot more savvy about it as an industry.
The third thing is the environment. It's about engaging with government and getting them to see this as a massive opportunity rather than just a cost. This is where we can actually compete on the world stage bigtime and I get so frustrated that progress is so slow.
Q: How do you see the industry going forward?
A: I think we have to look at the environmental opportunities. We're going to have to create that as an area of expertise. I think it's going to involve a lot more global collaboration, but also a lot more local, high-value relationship-building
|
|
| |
Author
Paul Fanning
|
| |
| |
|
| |
This material is protected by Findlay Media copyright 2012.
See Terms and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the sales team.
|
| |
|
|
| |
To comment on news stories or blogs you need to complete our 60 second registration
process. Once completed this then allows you to download any and all white papers,
register for e-zines and access our detailed supplier directory for FREE.
If you are all ready a registered user then enter your e-mail address and login.
You will need to have logged in prior to entering your comments in the boxes provided.
|