We recently attended a seminar of Yorkshire based Manufacturing Businesses; the focus being on the future of manufacturing in 2010. One of the key messages that came from the seminar was the general opinion of the lack of support by the Government for the UK manufacturing base.
It occured to us that some of the audience were missing a fundamental point. Manufacturing is a consequence of doing something; the something being Innovation. If the UK had, purely, a manufacturing base then we would simply manufacture widgets at a more economic cost than our competitors…and as we all know, the cost base in Asia means we can never compete in simple manufacture.
Fripp Design and Research have a number of product in development which we, originally, wanted to licence; but this has proven to be problematic. Therefore we will manufacture our widgets…does this ‘pidgeon hole’ us as a manufacturer? We hope not; our business is built on Innovation and we understand the need to constantly innovate to give us that competitive edge.
From our experience, this is what the vast majority of UK ‘Manufacturers’ do…they Innovate to give their customer ‘value add’ and are paid by delivering widgets which the customer buys.
Maybe the Government (irrespective of its colour) needs to rethink the term manufacture; The current Government understands the need for Innovation and has invested significantly in Innovation (which we have benefited from) but still uses the term manufacturing when, in fact they mean Innovation.
In other words, the term manufacturing is irrelevant…we need a new term…”Innofacture”…”Manuvate”; whatever it should be…you read and saw it here first!
Fripp Design and Research supply Innovation Vouchers in the Yorkshire, Humber and North East regions of the United Kingdom (we hope to supply other regions in the future; unfortunately some regions exclude private sector organisations which is a real shame…but that is for another blog!).
An Innovation Voucher is worth up to £3000 and we do get asked what can be achieved for £3K.
The new site concentrates on a specific type of product development we refer to as 3D Rendering. It is a process which takes a clients idea, forms a brief, involves extensive research, concept/sketching and CAD to create photorealistic imagery which is put into real world context and scenarios. We often call this first stage prototyping as it gives the client and their stakeholders a very cost effective way of understanding the features and benefits of what is being proposed.
To find out more about 3D rendering from Fripp Design and Research, please visit www.3d-render.co.uk.
We’ve recently applied to participate in a residential workshop being run by the Technology Strategy Board on the development of Plastic Electronics. They are particularly interested in the views of the design community and we would like to get involved.
As always you have to fill in war and peace for the TSB but have you ever heard such a daft question in your life and we quote:
The demonstrator workshop requires intensive , interactive work with strangers over 3 days in a residential setting away from the familiar territory of work or home. Please outline your suitability to this setting and what you expect to gain out or participation. Maximum 700 characters (approx 100 words).
This is our reply:
This is a ridiculous question. If you really have to ask this question, then I question the quality of participants you will get at the workshop. If this stops my participation…so be it!
It would seem to us that the TSB is out of touch with the realities of running SME businesses in the UK…Maybe we should feel scared to pick up the phone and speak to a potential client in case he says no and we, then feel offended…perish the thought!
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