Roast Dinner With all the trimmings

Recently, while out and about on one of my little ventures around the country, I went for a meal with some friends.

To say it wasn’t in North Yorkshire is one thing but if we were any further down south I’d would have been in the sea – and I make the point of the location for a reason: I like gravy - and I like it on everything – but, for some reason, the southerners seem to have an aversion to slopping it all over a dish. I always find this fascinating when ordering chips from a southern chippie. Why can’t you serve gravy as well as curry sauce, for example?

Anyway - back to the story: decisions, decisions. Having made a careful study of the menu, I went for the roast. It sounded great with all the trimmings but I was soon to be sorely disappointed when presented with my nearly-dry dish. The waitress seemed surprised – even mildly shocked – when I commented on the lack of gravy. Simply asking for some more led to sheer panic which I could see in her eyes. I could see her wildly calculating how she could serve extra gravy - or even if it was allowed! I suggested maybe a small gravy boat or perhaps a jug on the side, which seemed to ease the pressure a little, but she returned about 15 minutes later with a small vessel that contained less than about 50ml! By then, I didn’t have the heart to mention that amount of gravy wasn’t enough to wet a single Yorkshire pud, let alone an entire dinner!

Well, you may rightly ask, what has all this got to do with electronic design? The answer is that it got me thinking that the decision to outsource development and production is also a major one and - like choosing what to eat from a vast menu of delights – you can end up worried that you might not have made the right choice. Well, here at GSPK Design, we take outsourcing development and production very seriously indeed.

We understand that the last thing anyone wants to receive is processed turkey, when you’re expecting the real thing.

So, when we say we offer in-house design and manufacture with all the trimmings, what we’re really saying is: "You don't need to worry about a thing!" We'll take care of it all and, at every step of the process, we'll make sure you’re happy, giving you the confidence that nothing is out of control.

You see, the advantage we have is having all the key skills under one roof and you can exploit this to your advantage, getting your designs to market quicker. Also, as we take all the responsibility, you don't have to resolve any issues. We do the design, we produce the circuits, we make the circuit boards, it’s our team which populates them so it's our job to ensure they’re right - and right every time - whether it's prototype, pre-production or full-scale volume.

When we say we provide all the trimmings, we definitely don't scrimp on the gravy.

 

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Design expands it's work force

Some decent wins on the contract front have helped us plan for some modest expansion – and a significant step is our newest recruit.

Phil Schofield has joined GSPK Design Ltd as sales manager and will be responsible for developing a strategy which we hope will lead us into new markets, and continue to enable our growth.

In fact, describing Phil as a “new” to us isn’t strictly accurate, Phil brings with him a wealth of exerience in the electronics market,  and actually work for GSPK Electronics back in the 1990s, before leaving to pursue opportunities with US firm Avnet EMG.

His career then took him to Abacus, working as northern region sales manager in Bolton, before being appointed head of Advanced Innovations Ltd’s European sales division, travelling all over the world in pursuit of new contracts.

But Yorkshire has always been a touchstone in Phil’s life and we’re delighted he’s decided to set the jet-set life aside to settle back in Harrogate, where his considerable experience is going to be a significant asset for GSPK Design.

When he’s not performing his duties for us or as a husband and dad to three teenage children, you might bump into Phil on the golf course. You can always find out more about him here:

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=40670425&locale=en_US&trk=tyah

The addition sales that Phil will generate will allow us to expand our electronic design expertise and  also our workforce on the shop floor,  so watch this space, we will soon be looking to recruit in the very near future.

Create Your Own News ...So why not make it good!

That’s the beauty of your own good news; you can create it whenever you want. Bad news, on the other hand, is too often thrust upon you from all sides. People thrive on bad news; we seem to have an unbiased tendency for the negative, and we look to find proof to back this negativity wherever we can.

Take the GDP figures just released. Doomsayers were quick to seize on the results as evidence that  things are just as bad as they’ve been saying. “Experts” and analysts have been threatening a “triple-dip” recession for months – even though some were predicting it before we’d even emerged from the “double-dip”.

And, of course, those of us in the real business world will now be cursing those same “experts” for the unwelcome but inevitable self-fulfilling prophecy. As my Gran used to say: “What you say is what you get.”

At the time I thought she meant don’t call Fred Johnson next door names because you may end up like that too. Little did I know at the time that she was so wise and profound, so I say lets spread some positivity – what harm can it do.

There is no doubt that things have been tougher for the last five or six years. What’s new?  But to survive we need to adapt, create and innovate. The good news is we’re seeing a massive increase in new start-ups, and the Government is pumping money into growth accelerators within the region to support SME’s.

In fact, there is a definite drive towards becoming a more entrepreneurial nation as a whole, with enterprise being taken seriously in schools through initiatives such as Young Enterprise  programmes run all over the UK. Look at the numbers for Start-ups s recorded by Start-up Britain.

I don’t doubt that high street retailers have been hit hard and the public sector is under severe scrutiny. But what have they expected, haven’t they simply been resting on their laurels, assuming the good old days will be back as we enter another cycle of boom and bust, with very little desire to move with the trends.

The world has changed dramatically since 2006 and will continue to change at an equally rapid rate - and businesses everywhere need to change with it.  There’s been a sea change in consumer habits and expectations thanks to to the rapid onset of technology and the internet.  Buyers have become savvy and shopping online is outstripping traditional high street retail.

Here at GSPK Design, it’s not been easy but, through hard work, creativity and innovation we’ve continued to grow and expect that to continue, despite what the doomsayers say.

So I say let’s not worry too much about the GDP figures and get on with running our businesses, and spread some positivity. Triple dip-recession? Poppycock!

 

Just how quick is your development lifecycle?

 “Speed to market” – The advantage every company deserves.

 Return on investment relies heavily on speed / or velocity;  a 5% return per annum is vastly different to 5% return month-on-month.

 In an ever-changing market with shorter “product lifecycles” and even-more-demanding end customer, the importance and pressure to reduce ‘speed to market’ is ever-increasing – particularly if companies want to maintain their competitive edge.

 In the fast-moving world of technology, an ever-changing market place demands shorter product lifecycles and a faster speed to market. The faster things happen, the greater chance of success. Getting your new products to market quicker means you can expect revenue sooner, improving the return on your investment.

 Look at the recent launch of the iPad Mini:

 The first iPad was released in April , 2010; the most recent iPads - the iPad4 and iPad Mini - have just started to arrive in November.

The first iPhone was released in June, 2007; the most recent iPhone - the sixth-generation iPhone5 - was released in September 2012

With the early enthusiasts queuing as we speak to be the first to get the latest model, Apple understands just how important speed to market is - and just how important it is to have a streamlined development process.

Just how fast is your development cycle? Have you ever considered the question? You may not need to be as quick as Apple, but surely you appreciate speed is the key to success?

Innovation is a hot subject at the moment; there’s a less stringent application processes and greater tax relief is being offered on R&D. The Government and local enterprise bodies are both pushing the growth agenda.

Why is it than that a Warwick Business School survey shows that more than 50% of SMEs have done no product or process development in the last three years?

The key to getting some velocity into the development cycle is about having a thorough understanding of not only the design process but also manufacturing processes and technologies,  your customers and your market place. At GSPK Design we've been developing and manufacturing clients electronics for over 10 years so we have a fairly good idea about product development. 

It doesn’t take a genius or a fancy project plan to know that, if everything happened at the same time and you had the ability to run all activities concurrently, then things would happen quicker. In reality though, we all know this can’t happen

However, I believe that there are five key areas to help make the product development process smoother and more efficient.

 

1         Communication: Communication is the key to success; if all departments are co-located, it’s  the ideal scenario. Again, it’s not always practical because, sometimes, you need to outsource certain skill sets - but good communication and a clear understanding of the end goals can shed weeks - if not months - off a development project, saving considerable cost.

2         Knowledge: Not only knowledge of a particular part of the process, but the breadth of knowledge which comes with a wealth of experience. It’s vital that there is an understanding of how individuals and departments actions interact with the rest of the development cycle. There is nothing worse than projects getting handed around from department to department because issues were not considered early in the development cycle.  This takes me back to communication.

3         Specification: Far too often, clearly defined specifications are not fully considered from the start. Time well spent at this stage will pay for itself tenfold at a later date. The specification can never be thrashed out too much and, once it’s finalised, companies which do well will get all stakeholders together and thrash it out again.

 

4         Flexibility: This is the ability to bend and move as the development cycle progresses. Product design is like a living thing; once a project is started, it can generate a life of its own. Without the ability to accept things change, expensive mistakes can be made. More time and money is thrown away through pride than anything else. Sometimes, things need to change. If you’ve heard the saying: “If it looks like and duck…” need I say anymore?

5         Decision Making: Design and decision by committee just doesn’t work. Hours and days can be spent trying to get sign-off from various members with each not wanting to commit. Pick a decision-maker and stick with them for better or for worse. That way, decisions can be made quickly, without any procrastination.

Finally, I would always urge innovators to keep at it; keep creating those new and exciting products and processes to meet ever-changing customer demands. The more you do it, the quicker the process becomes. After all, look at how long it took Apple to get where it is today - and how many failures there probably were before the “i” revolution.

Persistance Pays Off.

How many times should we call someone who has something we want or need? How many times do we ask for something and give up if they say no the first time? Well that’s not something you can accuse our new apprentice of; when he has the bit between his teeth, he doesn’t let go!

When Tom first approached GSPK Design with his CV and “give-us-a-job” approach, he was almost turned down flat. I was busy, I didn’t need to recruit and I definitely wasn’t looking to take on an apprentice, which is what Tom seemed to want.

However, I decided to sit on the email for a day or so before getting back to him  – but, when a second letter came through soon afterwards asking if I’d got the first one, I had a little re-think; here was a young man trying to get a job in a difficult market. Yes I was busy but I thought I would have a word and maybe point him in the right direction; after all, his CV wasn’t the best and his covering letter was a little confusing as it wasn’t clear what he wanted to do.

And, during that phone call, what came across was Tom’s desire and determination to work in the field of electronic design - to the extent that he even arranged for his college to come and see me after I confessed to a lack of knowledge on the apprenticeship scheme.

Tom rewrote his CV, attended three interviews, and - after a chat with the apprenticeship assessor - I was convinced he had the right attitude and was serious about what he wanted – so it had to be worth a shot.

 

 

The Value of A Work Placement

As the number of people completing degree courses rises, competition for graduate level jobs can be enormous.

Students have to do more and more to make themselves stand out from the crowd and one of the most practical ways to achieve this is through work experience.

Two weeks during the summer holidays, however, is usually not enough. Many university courses now include a year in industry, offering students the chance to gain some experience of putting into practice the skills they have learned in the lecture theatre.

One such student is Tim Chamberlin, who is studying for a BSc in product design at the University of Bournemouth. After his second year, Tim was lucky enough to be offered a year’s placement with electronic design specialists GSPK Design, based in his hometown of Knaresborough in North Yorkshire.

“It’s strange how it happened,” he said. “I sent off a lot of applications and forms and the one that came back to me was in Knaresborough.”

GSPK Design designs and manufactures electronic equipment of all kinds for a wide range of different purposes. Among its previous creations are specialist measuring devices to test the purity of water, and electronic connections which allow maintenance to be carried out on lifts.

During his 12 months with the company, 21-year-old Tim has been helping with mechanical design, graphics and computer-aided design. He used techniques he learned at university to construct virtual models of new products, testing them to check the parts would fit together as planned and that the result would have the desired appearance.

 Once the designs were completed, they were sent off to be manufactured, giving Tim a valuable insight into the way his skills could be used in a practical setting.

“At university, we’ve learnt the basics, but until you put it into practice, you don’t know how far you can take it,” he said. “It has been interesting to test the bounds and limits of my capabilities.”

GSPK Design, meanwhile, has benefited from having a new approach to some of its work, bringing in a fresh perspective.

Managing director Paul Marsh said: “It has been very interesting to have Tim working with us, contributing his ideas and playing an active role in the company.

“Because he was here for a full year, we were able to give him the same treatment as any other employee, meaning he got experience of a real working environment and he was able to do some valuable work for us.

“We wish him all the best with his final year and hope that some of what he has learnt here will prove valuable to him in the future.”

When some students leave university and take up their first full-time job, it can prove challenging as they learn to fit into a professional environment. For Tim, having a placement year has also given him the advantage of learning how to deal with new surroundings and the kind of challenges he would face in a graduate job.

“I hadn’t done anything like this before,” he said. “I was jumping head-first into a new environment.

“It was a little bit daunting, but everyone has been really friendly and I feel I’ve really integrated as part of the team.

“Having a year in industry gives you a real world perspective. The projects at university are all internal and you are limited in what you can do.

“This has shown me new ways of looking at things. Seeing your work going somewhere is great.”

Heading back to university this September, Tim will be using his experiences as part of his final-year project, which will assess what he has learnt during three years of studying and a year working with GSPK Design

Surely you know the costs??

Isn't honesty the best policy, where does commercial sense come into calculations... like the client with the unseen bill, 9K so far and still further to go...

 

A Client, we will call "A" for the purpose of the Blog (only because its easy to type). A , recently approached GSPK Design with an unfinished project, A approached company B earlier to carry out some "Development work" to help get A some VC Funding for the Idea.

 

After several months, and several invoices from B, A ended up with some Rapid Prototypes. These prototypes were mere models and would require further work to actual produce working units. Which low and behold A couldn't afford....

 

A, Originally wanted actual working units, Surely B could have indicated up front what the total cost would be... which yes probably would have made A re-think a little and possibly not go ahead..

 

But instead, short sightedness prevailed and A - is left short on all accounts... and B is looking for other suspects...