Monolith in mono: Aircraft interiors form a core part of Ogle’s business
Automotive and other OEMs in manufacturing can benefit from the input of small design consultancies even if they have substantial in-house resources of their own in this field, believes Mat Hunter, chief design officer at the Design Council, which promotes the industry in the UK.
One such small agency is Ogle Models. Its founder, David Ogle, was one of the most well-known British designers of the 20th century, responsible for developing the Reliant Scimitar car and other iconic projects. Tragically, he died in a car crash in the 1960s.
The design part of his business was sold off 15 years ago, so the focus since then at the Letchworth Garden City firm has been on model-making and prototyping. Indeed, the company was one of the first in the country – about 18 years ago – to use 3D printing on an industrial scale.
Ogle Models also had the first set of Alias CAD software in the country, in the 1980s, says sales and marketing director Dave Bennion. In the late 1980s, the design part of the business “started to go off the boil”, and as a result was sold off, he says. “Concentrating on model-making and prototyping means that we don’t compete with our customers who are designing.” Many of the current staff trained as pattern-makers at Vauxhall. “One of the key things for us is the dimensional accuracy of the models we make. A lot of model work isn’t that accurate, but we work with automotive companies that have tolerances of up to
± 1 or 2µm.”
Hunter of the Design Council says that companies look to design consultancies for physical prototyping in order to access extra capacity, as well as to buy in specialist skills. “Because any given industry has a given dynamic – in automotive, aerospace and medical it is safety and performance – they work in a particular way. Using prototyping technologies that might have developed more rapidly in less risk-averse industries means you make the most of the latest thinking. It is about diversifying and not only using techniques and perspectives from your own industry, but also drawing on leading-edge practice – wherever it comes from.”
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The council is researching the impact that design can have on automotive and aerospace manufacturers. “It is not only about the design capability they have, but what they can access in the supply chain,” says Hunter.
Companies in the services industry, such as Barclays and IBM, are recruiting large numbers of designers at the moment, and this process has led to question marks being raised in the industry over the role of outside design agencies, says Hunter, who spent 15 years as a consultant at industrial design giant Ideo. But he believes such agencies still have an important role to play. “Consultancies, be they large or small, offer a great opportunity for cross-fertilisation of ideas.”
And increasing consumer expectations mean these ideas are ever more needed. “Consumer expectations have changed, and we expect our cars to have electronics of the calibre of Samsung or Apple. We expect them to perform as well as the car performs. If you have a cool piece of technology in your mobile, you expect it in your car, and that’s why you draw on input from consultancies and other experts.”
The design and engineering teams at automotive firms are good at integrating components and making them safe and reliable. At the same time, they must draw on external experts and outside influences to keep up with consumer trends, Hunter believes. “OEMs need to draw on the horizontal ‘scanning’ of ideas from completely different sectors.”
The Design Council is examining the “ecosystem of larger and smaller players” to see what impact design consultancies are having on manufacturing, especially on high-value engineering. “Most of the best ideas don’t come from within nowadays,” Hunter suggests. Just because an idea has come from a different industry doesn’t mean it can’t be adapted, he says. “We see more collaboration taking place than ever before to keep up with the sheer pace of change that’s demanded.”
Sharing the drive: Ogle collaborates with carmakers such as Jaguar Land Rover
Such collaboration is commonplace at Ogle. Bennion says the firm works with Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley and Lamborghini, and does “a lot of tier-one stuff”. “We also supply a lot of designers with model-making support, even though they have their own services.” The firm also develops prototype seating and fixtures for aircraft, another key part of the business.
As well as industrial 3D printing, Ogle carries out machining of aluminium and plastics. “We’re just putting in a new Bellotti machine, which works on a footprint of a bed size of 2.6m by 1.3m. So we can do much bigger stuff, concentrating on items such as aerospace seat development and aircraft cabin furnishings,” says Bennion.
The Bellotti will add significant five-axis machining capacity, and training on the new kit for Ogle’s workforce has just begun. Cutter path development and machine strategy software are already in place, says Bennion.
The aerospace prototypes are used by airlines to determine whether a design should be progressed, or feels right. Among recent Ogle transport projects are full-sized motion cueing simulator seats for fast jet pilot training, scale hybrid-drive bus models for an exhibition, and a new generation of remote-controlled and autonomous unmanned boats, on various scales. The fabrication of large and small structures and assemblies makes the most of CNC machining to create parts.
In its 60-year history, Ogle has been at the forefront of many model-making and prototyping methods and technologies, says Bennion. “Ogle’s core strength is its skilled and time-served model-makers with bench hand skills,” he says. It is not that OEMs lack similar capabilities in-house. “JLR has a huge capability but even it gets to the stage where its workload just goes above what it can do,” he says. Ogle can help by producing models with detailed finishes. “Bentley, for example, does some high-end automotive prototyping, and it wants the finishing we can supply here, which takes quite a bit of time.”
As with any firm that relies on the automotive sector – it represents 50% of the business – Ogle’s workload suffered during the financial crisis. At the time, Bennion and his team were planning on expanding the company’s site and production capabilities. “Orders disappeared,” he says. “It made us focus on our key capabilities.” The company is now seeing an upsurge in enquiries from the medical sector. “There is a lot of investment in the medical industry, so in terms of new product, it’s interesting.”
As with many engineering businesses, Ogle Models offers apprenticeships to ensure it has youngsters with the right skills to breathe fresh life into a workforce that Bennion acknowledges is ageing. Meanwhile, the business has adapted to shifting trends, he says. “We have seen changes. Time to market is key in British industry now.”
Looking back at the company’s history, Ogle’s investment in 3D printing almost 20 years ago has paid dividends, says Bennion. “If we hadn’t adopted it, we wouldn’t be here. The key thing is that we are producing really high-end models in really good materials.”
With high-quality services such as this on offer, it looks as though large manufacturers will continue to benefit from turning to small, creative agencies to help them with their designs.
Seat of learning: Design for an aerospace prototype