Industrial designers with an impressive skill base

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 2, 2001

Designsolutions currently comprises a team of six industrial designers with an impressive skill base and vision that is already proving very attractive to a variety of clients

Open your mind, then fill it with this...

A long time ago at the turn of the Millennium a crack team of designers and associated enlightened minds saw the world was an ugly place and came together to make it beautiful again...

By challenging the mediocrity of the proletariat drones, they imparted products with emotion and character.

They made a difference ...where were you? Designsolutions comprises an enigmatic bunch of guys - off the wall, yes (as their mission statement implies!) - but very focussed.

In today's world of new technologies and concurrent co-development the Designsolutions team is striving to achieve the ultimate in quality.

Not just quality of product and service - but Quality of Thinking which they firmly believe equals Successful Design.

"It is our belief that, as designers, we are the storytellers of product realisation - but in order to create our magic we need to intimately understand the customers and end-users, their needs, motivations and aspirations in order to suggest product solutions.

By creating active alliances and introducing new collaborative ways of working, where the procurement process is geared toward key partnership rather than competitive tender, not only can we achieve better designs, but also reduce timescales, increase understanding and manage risk." These are the thoughts of Chris Gurr, Designsolutions' head of design.

Chris sees his role as primarily concerned with developing a design consultancy that is consumer-led, based on solid management principles and integrated into mutually beneficial partnerships.

His vision is of cohesion with product design, embodied in the Product Realisation Plan (PRP) - an innovative approach to the product development process, unique to AME.

This product realization plan has been specifically developed by AME to coordinate its comprehensive skill base.

By operating a unique 'gated' product development framework it enables clients to have full involvement in every development decision.

Offering all of these disciplines in an environment where they can run concurrently gives Designsolutions a considerable advantage over traditional design consultancies.

Initially working with three seats of the well-respected Pro-E CAD system as its main design tool, the division quickly established itself and began to enhance the existing reputation of AME - offering consistent high quality products and services.

However, the team recognised that there was an element of repetition in their work that was extending the whole design process.

"In many companies design can be the slow link in the product development chain," comments Paul Howell, managing director.

"To avoid this we decided to develop a 'rapid design' approach to industrial design by bringing in techniques from AME's Prototypesolutions division, i.e achieving fast time to market by maximising resources." DesignSolutions realised this by upgrading its CAD capability to include a complete Pro-Engineer Industrial Design Module, which incorporates CDRS, Pro-3D paint and advanced photo render.

"From conception to production there is now a continual use of the same data", explains Chris Gurr.

"Because the data is intrinsically linked throughout it gives continuity and can therefore make significant savings on time to market as well as cost." Designsolutions currently comprises a team of six industrial designers with an impressive skill base and vision that is already proving very attractive to a variety of clients.

Between them they have experience of working for a diverse range of well-known clients.

As well as product design they have also driven packaging design and graphic design projects - and are looking to expand further into all these areas.

Designsolutions is capable of delivering a total 'design for manufacture' service with an emphasis on high levels of flair and creativity and driven by an exceptionally original and progressive Quality of Thought.