We can only speak from our experience of the business community, we know, in the Sheffield City Region.
We have had a good year (not quite our best but still good) but, more importantly, our pipeline of future work is fuller now than it has ever been (of which a lot are clients coming back to us for more design work i.e. they are starting to spend again).
Sheffield Chamber says they have had a record number of applications for export licences in Q1 this year too.
Many of the businesses we work for and companies that supply us are all telling us that they have been really busy in Q1 as well.
Traffic in and out of Sheffield, at peak times, continues to be as busy as ever.
So where is the recession actually taking place?
We are not saying that our economy is booming, but it certainly does not feel like a recession from our perspective?
Our advice is ignore the politicians, and their political pundits, and lets all concentrate on what we do best; developing innovative products and services that customers want to buy.
Fripp Design and Research are proud to be members of the Biomed Sheffield Healthcare Sector Group.
The current Government has a completely different view of how Government supports and engages with the SME business sector.
Whereas the previous Government had a ‘top down’ approach (i.e. initiatives and support came via Government appointed agencies such as Yorkshire Forward and Business Link), the current Government has a ‘bottom up’ approach i.e. they are looking to the regions to advise and tell Government what it needs and wants. The conduit to communicating this to Government is the LEPs.
In the Sheffield City Region the LEP is appointing a number of sub groupings based on the SCR priorities; one of which is Healthcare.
Biomed Sheffield is being formed as the group which advises (lobbies?) the Sheffield SCR LEP on Healthcare priorities for our region. Therefore if you are involved in Healthcare and want to ensure our region receives the maximum support, possible, from central Government, we advise that you get involved. The greater the involvement, the greater the influence we will have.
There is a launch event taking place at the AMP Technology Centre on Tuesday 27th March starting at 12:30. For more details please contact philippa.hedley@creativesheffield.co.uk
As this is National Apprentice Week we thought we would ask Beth, an Apprentice at Fripp Design and Research what her experience has been to date. What follows are her words verbatim.
“I have now been working at Fripp Design & Research just over a month now, and I absolutely LOVE IT!!
I personally thought at first that I would not like/enjoy the admin role once I started, but I was definitely wrong.
I do such a variety.
At first I hoped that they wouldn’t give me as much work to do as I was new and was learning. They gave me quiet a lot to do but always told me if it was ever to much I was just to tell them. Me been me, I didn’t want to tell them, as I would of thought that I wasn’t up to their standards. Luckily, I was just been silly and got used to all the different jobs and now I do them without even thinking. If I ever did think that it got too much I would definitely tell them because they know that I am learning and they wouldn’t want to see me struggling.
I was so scared when I first started thinking that I wouldn’t be able to do all the work but once I had been here a bit longer and start getting familiar with the jobs they become more easier and if I ever forget how to do something the managers will always point me in the right direction once again.
I am now getting familiar with clients and it is making me feel more comfortable when talking to them.
They staff and managers have made me feel so welcome and a part of their team.
I get a long with all the staff, it feels like I’ve always worked here with them. They don’t treat me as an apprentice, they treat me as an employee which is a nice feeling.
I am so glad that Fripp Design & Research picked me to be part of their team as I have learnt so much already and will hopefully learn a lot more in time.”
We feel the same way about Beth. If Beth is typical of those wanting to take up an apprenticeship, then the future is bright for UK PLC.
3D Systems have just launched www.cubify.com which is a direct competitor to Materialise’s http://i.materialise.com.
Both systems allow consumers to create & upload 3D Print files and get them printed.
Although we applaud both organisations desire to open up the market for 3D Printing, we do have some reservations about creating a B2C market for the technology at this stage.
For aesthetic models, we believe the opportunity might work; albeit the quality expectations vs costs, might put consumers off in the medium to long term. However, for consumers who want functional models, we do have concerns about product failure and the impact this might have on the consumer (3D Printing is after all, right now, a prototyping technology).
There are also lots of patents in the area of 3D data capture and printing too. So, whether your a patent attorney or litigation attorney, these could be prosperous times…we sincerely hope not and wish 3D Systems and Materialise well with both projects.
The issue of access to credit for SME businesses is topical at the moment so Fripp Design and Research would like to give our perspective on it.
A key reason why the banks got into so much trouble is that they allowed their gearing (debt to equity ratio) to get too high i.e. they lacked the asset coverage when things went wrong (and, hence relied on the tax payer to re balance their balance sheets to bail them out).
Quite rightly, the Government insisted they repaired their balance sheets, ensuring that their gearing ratios were kept within an affordable level (i.e. they could meet future liabilities) so the tax payers liability was removed.
One of the indirect consequences is access to credit, on risk acceptable terms, from the banks.
Our business could take on more debt to expand some of our projects more quickly, which would result in us paying more corporation tax (further down the road) and employing more people. However we choose not to because the banks have to (which is a little different from wanting to) take security on the loan (for the reasons described above). As we do not need to expand our business any quicker than we are and we do not want to take even greater risk through secured lending, we choose not to expand our business, more quickly, at this time; which means we are not employing more people and we will not be paying more tax.
We guess there are many other businesses similar to us too?
The Government have tried pumping money into the economy (through printing money calling it ‘quantitative easing’) but all that has happened is the money was bought by large corporates to add liquidity to their balance sheets (which we suspect is to build up cash reserves for future acquisitions) and did not find its way into the ‘real economy’.
However we believe there is an innovative solution to the Problem (which is what our business is all about).
The Government runs a great scheme for unsecured funding of businesses called the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, but the criteria for qualification is very tight. If the Government were to expand this scheme, relaxing some of the eligibility criteria regarding personal assets, then businesses, like ours (and we are sure thousands of others too), would be prepared to borrow to expand their business. This would create liquidity in the real economy and would help to achieve the Government’s objective of getting the economy moving.
The beauty of this is that the tax payer is not having to find real money. It is simply underwriting some of the risk to grow the economy. We’d certainly impose penalties on banks who end up lending to businesses that then, as a consequence, fail so they are incentivised to still lend on sound business principles; what we’re suggesting is relaxing the need for personal securities for the entire line of credit required.
Don’t get us wrong, the lending criteria should remain the same i.e. the need for the money has to be sound; what we are suggesting is the Government share some of the risk (with the business owners) once the lending criteria has been met. The businesses benefits through growth and expansion. The Government benefits from jobs, growth and improved corporation tax revenues (and for exporting businesses, improved balance of payments).
Wishing everyone a happy Xmas and a prosperous 2012.
Thank you to all those connected with Fripp Design and Research; our team, our customers, our suppliers and all those organisations that help and support us on our journey.
See you in 2012
It is with great sadness that we have been informed of the death of Ray Jepson.
Ray was one of the great UK Designers and we were very proud to have known him.
What made Ray stand out from the crowd was his passion for all things Design and all things Designed in Sheffield.
His legacy to the Sheffield design community will live on; passion, creativity, never accepting the norm & enthusing all who will listen about the importance and value of design to the wider community.
Our thoughts and condolences go to his family and friends at this very sad time.
We are pleased to announce we have recruited our first apprentice, Bethany Plumtree, who starts working with us today.
We interviewed many candidates and Bethany stood out from the crowd.
Why?
Bethany thoroughly researched about Fripp Design and Research before she came to interview, she knew all about our clients and what we do.
Fripp Design and Research pride ourselves on attention to detail and the importance of doing thorough research on client projects, so we were delighted with her in depth knowledge about us.
We look forward to helping Bethany to develop her work skills and welcome her to Fripp Design and Research.
It has recently been announced that 3D Systems have acquired ZCorporation for $150M cash.
If this is the case, the management team, lead by John Kawola should be congratulated.
Fripp Design and Research are experienced users of ZCorp. We have two ZCorp 510 machines, in house, and have bought and sold a number of ZCorp printers. We also own a number of ZCorp related domain names too. We also have a 3D Systems V Flash 3D Printer too.
The reason we congratulate the management team is this:
1. From our experience, many buyers of ZCorp machines are offloading them in favour of alternatives (particularly Objet). Although the newer cartridge based machines are simpler to use, the post processing is not popular with users.
2. The reseller channel to market is saturated with too many resellers chasing too little business (this is one of the reasons why we stopped reselling ZCorp) and is still, immature (i.e. it is easy to replicate)
3. Despite what ZCorp say, ZCorp is rapid visualisation, not rapid prototyping
4. It is our understanding that one of the key MIT Patents, underpinning their 3D Print methodology, is now in the public domain
Given the above, why would 3D Systems pay so much money?
Don’t get us wrong, we love ZCorp technology (we are developing new patent protected ways of rapid manufacturing with their printers), but we question why 3D Systems have paid so much for ZCorp.
We can only conclude that they have bought access to new, developing IP, which will allow the creation of full colour RAPID PROTOTYPING 3D Printers. If this is the case, then this is a technology the market will want to see.
Our worry is, though, that ZCorp have done a fantastic selling job (hence the congratulations to the management team) which 3D Systems might come to regret. The knock on affect is that it might starve them of cash, which might affect their own R&D activities; which could affect the market development of 3D Printing/Additive Manufacture.
We will watch, from the sidelines, with interest!
Press Release – For Immediate Release
Channel 5’s Gadget Show Select Fripp Design and Research for an Exciting Retail Product Development
Fripp Design and Research, based at the Advanced Manufacturing Park, Sheffield were tasked with designing and developing a new technology product for Channel 5’s Gadget Show. As part of the project Fripp Design and Research used its concept and Computer Aided Design skills to develop a prototype of the complex and ambitious product that had to function and look the part for the show.
The team delivered and managed a collaborative project with several local partners to ensure the brief was reached within the extremely tight timescales.
The Gadget Show airs on Channel 5 at 8pm on Monday the 31st of October so be sure to tune in to show your support for a real local Designed In Sheffield success story.
About Fripp Design And Research
Sheffield based Fripp Design and Research specialise in Product Design, Concept Design, Industrial Design and Rapid Prototyping. The design team are Masters Graduates in their specialist subjects. The company use Solidworks, Rhino, Bunkspeed Hypershot, Magics and Mimics software and own a ZCorp 510 3D colour Printer.
The customer base is broad; from blue chip companies to individual inventors and entrepreneurs.
In addition to client work, Fripp Design are involved in a number of in house product developments ranging from DIY to healthcare.
The company’s contact details are:
Fripp Design Limited
The AMP Technology Centre
Brunel Way
Sheffield
S60 5WG
www.frippdesign.co.uk
T: 0114 254 1244
Press contact:
Sue Roberts
sue@frippdesign.co.uk
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