Designers shy away from snap-fits

Many designers are still reluctant to move away from traditional fixing methods

– even through they could save a fortune by doing so. This is one conclusion from a recent web seminar on the principles of cleaner design, run by Envirowise. “Designers don’t have enough confidence in their own designs,” said Rob Holdaway, a design specialist who gave a live web demonstration on the principles of cleaner design. “They still use glue instead of snap-fits because they don’t think their snap-fits will pass the drop tests.” Hot on the heels of the Envirowise web seminar, a similar one – this time run by the UK’s Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN). The seminar covers similar ground to the Envirowise event, but is more concerned with bringing delegates up to date with the Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive. Speakers include Andras Toth of the European Commission, Aidan Turnbull of consultancy Environ, and Professor Martin Charter of the Centre for Sustainable Design.