2010 will be a challenging year for the UK economy as widely reported.
However Fripp Design and Research are cautiously optimistic. Our business is a balance of client work and the development of our own IP.
Our IP developments are focused on essential requirements/distress purchase products which are neccesities, even in recession.
We have plans for further recruitment in 2010 and are looking for bigger premises too.
Without wanting to be too political, when the recovery takes place, it will be SMEs who will drive that recovery forward…if every small business took on one extra employee, then unemployment would be eliminated altogether.
To all our customers, suppliers and stakeholders, a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010 (personally we’d settle for 2 out of 3…there is no price you can put on happiness and health).
One of our Directors was in Leeds pitching for a Design Project yesterday and the client had a mentor assigned to them from the Design Council. During a ‘question and answer’ session, the mentor asked “Is this project going to be exciting for you or are you going to treat it as just another design project?” To be honest, it took aback.
Irrespective of who the client is and the value of the contract, we undertake every project with the same passion and drive to exceed our clients expectations. As we have a team of designers, they all get the opportunity to participate in a variety of projects keeping our design skills ‘cutting edge’ (excuse this; we are based in Sheffield after all!) and their enthusiasm for the design challenge.
It might be the mentor was thinking of ‘one man band’ design companies or, more likely; a £1 in the north is, at least, worth twice as much as a £1 in the South…or is the Design Council getting blasé?
As sponsors of Bromley Technologies, we thought you might be interested in this:
“Shelley Rudman gets Gold in Italian Job
Shelley Rudman securing her first World Cup gold medal of this season, in a stunning return to the Cesena track near Torino where she won her silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Despite battling flu-like symptoms and a slight hip injury, Shelley threw down the gauntlet to her competitors with a strong first run which saw her hold a 0.23 second advantage over 2nd placed Marion Trott of Germany.
Her competitors came back at her in the second run, but Shelley pulled out a track record run of 58.71 seconds to win by over 0.3 seconds from Trott second and Melissa Hollingsworth (Canada) in third.
The win moves her to the top of the World Cup Standings after three rounds.
“I am so happy with this result and to take gold and beat the track record is such a fantastic feeling. I had two really consistent runs but manage to clean up the second to gain the extra speed. A Gold here after my Olympic silver at the last games is a real step forward and I still have to keep the focus. Having Ella out here has really helped me to relax and keep focussed and my feet on the ground. I will enjoy today then Its back to the program and the next race.
Shelley uses a sled developed as part of the Formula Ice programme by fiancé Kristan Bromley’s company, Bromley Technologies Ltd, based at the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) on the Rotherham – Sheffield border.
The next round of the World Cup takes place in Winterberg, Germany on the 11th December”
It’s great to see an innovative business gaining a real, quantifiable competitive edge…congratulations to the team.
Fripp Design and Research are very grateful of a company called inspiral which helped get us started back in 2005.
I received this from their MD yesterday and he asked if we’d be kind enough to publicise it for them:
“The Swedes are coming…
Accidental Leaders and Managers training courses from leading digital media educator Hyper Island
Hyper Island (www.hyperisland.se) widely regarded as the ‘Oxbridge of
digital media training’, has teamed up with Inspiral to bring their unique
brand of management training programmes to Yorkshire in early 2010. The Accidental Leaders is for company CEOs and founders, whilst the Accidental Managers is aimed at rising stars that are now or soon‐to‐be in management roles.
Inspiral will be hosting three events in December to launch the programmes.
The first will be at Round Foundry in Leeds on Wednesday 9th December, York
Science City on Thursday 10th, and Electric Works in Sheffield on Friday 11th.
Places are free, but limited. Reserve your place now at:
http://www.eventbrite.com/myevents?org_id=343896
Full details about the training programmes and launch events can be found at
www.inspiral.biz or get in touch with kath@inspiral.biz
The Accidental Leaders development programme and the Accidental
Managers training programme are run by Hyper Island and Inspiral with
funding from Train to Gain’s Enhancement Fund and supported by Skillset and Screen Yorkshire.”
We received notification that the Advanced Manufacturing Park, where Fripp Design and Research are located, is to get a new tenant:
Sheffield set for nuclear research centre
The government has outlined plans for a new Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (NAMRC) to be built in Sheffield. The facility, which will be helped with £10m of funding from Yorkshire Forward, will be based at the Advanced Manufacturing Park. It will be led by the University of Sheffield in partnership with the University of Manchester, with Rolls-Royce as lead industrial partner. Furthermore, Rolls-Royce’s civil nuclear facility, which will manufacture and test components for new nuclear power plants, is also to be developed in South Yorkshire. The development is expected to directly create 300 jobs and hundreds more in the supply chain. Tom Riordan, chief executive of Yorkshire Forward, said the investment “cements our position as a centre of excellence for manufacturing, securing and creating jobs now and in the future.” Rosie Winterton, minister for Yorkshire and the Humber, added: “Yorkshire and the Humber has real potential in advanced engineering and materials and in being a world leader for research and scientific development – and in the commercial exploitation of new technologies.”
One of our founding Directors did his degree in Applied Physics, specialising in Nuclear Physics, so is watching this development with a high level of personal interest!
Working alongside our current design team in all areas of industrial design and engineering design through to 3D CAD for manufacture, the successful candidate will be expected to be an ambitious and enthusiastic engineer with strong practical skills and experience of design for manufacture and assembly using multiple production techniques and materials.
High degree of competence with SolidWorks is essential and a strong knowledge of other CAD packages would be useful.
Ideal candidates should have an entrepreneurial streak as we are a young company seeking new opportunities to develop and licence products designed in-house. Good communication skills and being at ease presenting concepts and designs directly to clients is important to the job.
Essential:
• Design related engineering degree
• High competence with SolidWorks
• Conceptual thinker
• Practical skills
• Experience with design for manufacture and assembly using multiple techniques and materials
Ideal:
• Presentation skills
• Desktop publishing skills
• Photoshop experience
• Entrepreneurial
• Experience of Rapid Prototyping
• Experience with 3-Matic
Desirable:
• Experience with tooling design
• Comfortable with networking
• Basic sales experience
starting salary £18,000 apply to www.frippdesign.co.uk.
No agencies please; a key part of any designers skills is the ability to research and pick up the phone and ask questions. If they need an agent, they would not be any good to us!
Fripp design and Research are pleased to welcome our latest team member; Jackie Haslam. Jackie joins to add strength and depth to our sales function, providing an inavluable interface between our designers and customers.
Jackie’s specific focus is to work on Innovation Vouchers; a service where SME businesses can get up to £3K of innovation in design and research, fully funded.
Welcome Jackie!
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