A Look Back in Events: Engineering Design Show 2018
By: Ehsan Abedi
Product Designer
24th October 2018
The Engineering Design Show (EDS) exhibition was packed with over 220 exhibitors offering different areas of expertise and services. Being Plextek’s first time attending the show as exhibitors we were keen to show our creative and technical capabilities, observe how the industry is changing and exemplify how we can help others adapt to these changes.
Power of being genuine
As designers and engineers at Plextek, we are rarely involved in selling our capabilities but this proved to be of our benefit at the engineering design show. A lot of industry events are filled with slick salesmen who can sometimes intimidate or detract attention of designers, engineers and others looking to solve their own problems. As individuals untrained in selling, I found that by simply being our natural selves we felt that people at the show could chat to us genuinely and naturally on a range of matters.
We had great pleasure in meeting many like-minded engineers and designers which we hope to collaborate with. And they themselves faced a massive variety of problems, in everything from developing new wind farm technology to difficulties in intricate medical device development.
Breadth and depth in design & development
Plextek’s capabilities across the whole design and development process and history of working in a diverse range of sectors mean that we were able to interact with a lot of people at the show and think which experts within Plextek would be able to help them overcome their specific issues.
So how is the design engineering industry changing?
With a diverse range of exhibitors, workshops and conferences at the Engineering Design Show, it was possible to make observations on how the industry is changing.
Rate of change
Many people I met at EDS thought that the current rate of technological change is beginning to exceed our ability to adapt. This signifies how important it is for companies to implement a collaborative approach and ensure they are able to evolve and adapt to these rapid changes.
Automation
The technology on show at EDS demonstrated some of the major advances being made in automation. There was a range of mechatronic devices on show and it is easy to see how these technologies could be implemented within robotics and for the automation of more production processes.
Newer and more effective rapid prototyping technologies were also on show, which are continually making it cheaper and easier to rapidly design and test ideas to help inform the usability of the final products.
User Centric Design
Whether it is a small component being optimised for assembly or a final product optimised for comfort and usability, user centred design is clearly becoming more prevalent.
Designers in close contact to users are likely to build a sense of empathy for their users and hence develop more pleasing products.
The implementation of user centred design methods means products: reduce misuse, are safer to use and meet a user’s expectations and requirements. This in turn can lead to increased product sales and a reduction in the costs incurred by customer services.
