The InFact Team Blog
Crystal Ball Gazing
By Shaun Craill
I can imagine I’ll be looking back at this recession in a few years time and I’ll be kicking myself about missed opportunities that are right in front of me right now. Crisis, risk and opportunity seem to always come together as some sort of excitingly scary three-some. There is no doubt that the current economic situation has created the conditions of crisis, which means that in response, the new opportunities should now be rising to the top of people’s consciousness. Reactions will vary depending on whether you are a ‘glass half empty’ or ‘glass half full’ kind of person. The trick is to work out which opportunities are the ones to go after, given that most people’s risk radar is now set to maximum.
Design Thinking
Why & When Should We Ask Questions?
By Doug Ollivier
It’s the Kiwi attitude to get in there and just do it, yep she’ll be right… and while there’s a good chance it will be right, it might take a little longer than first anticipated with a few bumps along the way. Design is uncertain! If we already knew the answers then design wouldn’t be as exciting as it is, and solutions would be the same as they always were.
With uncertainty comes risk, but uncertainty can be turned into understanding by simply listening (asking questions) and thinking (exploring ideas). If we take a step back early on and ask some simple questions the development process can be faster, more targeted, and more creative.
red dot Award
InFact / AgResearch Collaboration Internationally Recognised
Every year we submit to awards programmes both nationally and internationally with the purpose of exhibiting the work of our people, our industry and our country. We are proud to receive international acknowledgement for the significant effort that our team here are InFact make to producing a viable product of excellence. We know we have to compete on the world stage and it is part of our commitment to our clients and staff that we understand where we rank alongside the best in the world.
Thank you to AgReserach, John Allen, Stephen Goldson and Ian Boddy and to the team here for your support and effort in achieving this prestigious award.
About red dot
This year, the red dot design concept awards received a total of 2,733 entries from 56 countries. The red dot was awarded to 206 concepts, and the red dot: best of the best to 15 concepts. The large number of quality entries rendered the competition’s selection process particularly tough; winning the red dot is therefore an outstanding accomplishment. Read more on the red dot website >
UniServices Wireless Power
Taking Proven Technology to the World
We all know that the future of transport hinges on the success of electric vehicles, with the effort involved in charging them being one of the factors that may hold them back. What if recharging could be done effortlessly, safely and quickly, without having to plug anything in?
UniServices from New Zealand has been the international expert in inductive power transfer for the past 30 years and have developed their technology to a point where they can charge electric vehicles over a 250mm air gap. This year’s EVS24 electric vehicle symposium in Norway provided the perfect platform to take this technology to the world.
InFact helped by designinging and delivering a system of enclosures that would tell the story of safe power transfer, ease of use and convienience, while meeting the tough mechanical, electrical and thermal requirements of a safe high energy system. For more information on our involvement as well as photos from the show, read the full case study >
Skellerup Quatro
An Industrial Design Case Study
It’s always exciting when one of your designs hits the stores. Well, we’re excited because Skellerup has just released their latest gumboot, the ‘Quatro.’ A high tech, highly comfortable gumboot pitched at the latest breed of New Zealand farmers.
For more information on the project, take a look at the full case study >
For the official Quatro website visit http://www.skellerup.co.nz/quatro/
The Value of Design in New Zealand
A Discussion of Profitability and Design
My involvement with the BetterbyDesign D360 D:three team (a Deloitte, pHd3, InFact partnership) delivering assessments to New Zealand’s growth manufacturing export companies has clearly shown that industry needs DESIGN more than I ever thought it did. How do CEO’s plan to deliver more to the bottom line when the incremental improvements have already been made – lean, kaizen, costdown, marketing campaigns, advertising, redundancies?
The PROFITABILITY problem for the CEO today can be solved by DESIGN.
Design – Survival of the Fittest
Over the last few months I have been dipping into Taschen’s weighty review of influential designers and design movements of the twentieth century. It has been an enlightening read covering the best work of selected individuals and their influence on the design movements they created and shaped. I gained the impression that emerging design movements often showed a graceful and intelligent evolution from what had come before. The continuum of change is not immediately apparent when individual pieces of design are examined in isolation, but when viewed as a whole it can be seen. It suggests a process of design evolution that is almost biological, as new ideas, fashions, materials and trends compete for survival.
Still Time to Claim R&D Tax Credits
Despite the fact that National repealed Labour’s R&D tax credit with effect from the 2009-10 year, many businesses are forgetting, or failing to realise, that they can still claim a significant amount of cash as part of their 2008-2009 tax return. This financial injection can make all the difference for businesses and, especially in a recession year, shouldn’t be overlooked.
Sleek New Touch Panel, a Winner for TL Jones
In the last year we have been working with TL Jones Ltd on the design and development of several new elevator technologies. One of which, the T1, is an integrated touch operating panel that replaces traditional mechanical buttons with a sleek and robust touch sensitive interface.
The New Zealand headquartered company, part of the Halma Group (UK), was one of the pioneers of infrared elevator door sensing technology. They received an R&D grant from the Foundation for Research & Technology to help fund the development of the projects.
InFact, Deloitte & pHd3 Team Up to Deliver Design360 Assessments
In the eleven years since he established InFact Nigel Sharplin has earned a growing reputation as an active advocate for design inspired innovation in New Zealand. When Better by Design opened a tender for Design 360 service providers Nigel partnered with Deloitte and pHd3 to form the D:Three team and entered a successful bid to carry out design assessments for qualified businesses on Better by Design’s Design Integration Programme.