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LORD SAINSBURY LAUNCHES UNIQUE SKILLS PROJECT FOR RAPID PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
12th November 2001
L to R: Graham Bennett, RPDG Project Manager from Buckinghamshire & Chilterns University College; Anthony Dunnett, Chief Executive of SEEDA; Nick Bennett, RPDG Project Manager from Portsmouth University; Lord Sainsbury, Minister for Science and Innovation; and Tim Plunkett, RPDG Project Manager from 3T RPD. |
Minister for Science and Innovation, Lord Sainsbury, joined businesses and industry representatives in the HG Wells Centre, Woking to launch the Rapid Product Development Group (RPDG). This unique group, supported by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), promotes the techniques of super fast product development to industry and education institutions.
Providing specialist skills training, bespoke short training courses and advice on rapid product development (RPD) the Group helps businesses learn the processes of RPD and the applications to their own product development, enabling them to compete more effectively with businesses overseas. It also promotes RPD as a career and as a taught subject in schools, colleges and universities.
Some 90 delegates from the South East region attended the launch, including representatives from companies involved in product concept and design, particularly small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as agencies with business links. They were able to see, at first hand, a prototype build of a mobile phone in just an hour using Thermojet prototyping technology.
Part funded by £750,000 from the SEEDA Fund for Learning and Skills, the RPDG is a new public/private sector partnership initiative which brings together Buckinghamshire & Chilterns University College, Portsmouth University and an innovative SME called 3T RPD Ltd. The Group is unique in that it is able to provide the most comprehensive range of skills, equipment and technologies available anywhere in the UK. It can help companies to become more competitive, by significantly reducing the time to market of new products by up to 70%, and by reducing errors so that manufactured parts reach the market more efficiently.
Chief Executive of SEEDA, Anthony Dunnett, in his opening address, referred to the importance of investing in skills and maintaining a leading edge in engineering and manufacture in the region. This is particularly important as the South East is the engine of the UK economy and has more manufacturing than any other region in England.
He said: "We know that in the South East businesses have made considerable investment in IT and new technologies, but have not made the corresponding investment in the skills of their employees to apply these technologies.
"Partnerships like the Rapid Product Development Group are essential in addressing these skills needs and encouraging businesses to make the vital investment in training their employees.
"The partners have pooled their expertise, and their facilities, taking the knowledge and development in the universities out to business to increase their competitive edge", added Mr
Dunnett.
In his address, Lord Sainsbury emphasised the importance of a strong manufacturing sector to the British economy and the need by companies to adopt rapid prototyping technologies, 3 dimensional CAD and rapid tooling techniques.
Lord Sainsbury said: "Manufacturers must respond rapidly to changing customer demands. Shorter product life cycles and greater product innovation driven by new technology and a more demanding consumer, place ever greater pressures on manufacturers to deliver new and improved products.
"The launch of this Rapid Product Development Group initiative will help raise the awareness of our companies to the potential of these new technologies".
The Group has made considerable progress since its establishment in October 2000. Project Manager for RPDG, Graham Bennett, spoke about what the Group had achieved so far. He said: "We are proud of our achievements. Some 250 individuals have attended seminars on RPD resulting in more than 200 companies introducing RPD techniques to improve their competitiveness. Also more than 100 university students have received education in RPD techniques and two Teaching Company Schemes have been established to promote technology transfer from universities to industry".
Mr Bennett also referred to the good links which have been established with 21 schools. He informed delegates that more than 170 school pupils had been involved with taster days using advanced computer aided design and rapid prototyping.
The launch event concluded with talks from the Head of Design for the Walters Group plc, Terry Caven, and Arlo Blair who runs his own company, Computer Aided Solutions who both spoke on the need to engage in rapid product development from an employers perspective.
Mr Caven informed delegates how he had used rapid prototyping technologies to assess the success of the design of a mobile phone wireless hands free system whereby a user just needs an earpiece but with no connecting wire to the phone.
Arlo Blair, who undertakes design work for such companies as Oxford Instruments and Johnson and Johnson, stressed that RPD is an essential tool for SMEs involved in design and manufacture giving advantages in speed, cost and flexibility. He welcomed any assistance to SMEs to utilise these technologies.
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