How we apply industrial design when working with sheet metal…

Papa Bravo have been involved in the design and development of sheet metal enclosures for quite a while now. Our first product was way back in 2008 and with our latest offering being Wayland enclosure, we have learnt a fair bit along the way and we feel it’s worth sharing.

Sheet metal fabrication is one of the oldest manufacturing processes due to its production simplicity and raw material availability. It’s been around for some time and really came into its own at the start of the industrial revolution. The birth of the industrial revolution saw the demand for high quality production parts increase with new inventions and innovations leading the movement.

So if sheet metal has been around for such a long time why should I involve a design consultancy and what value can they add?

Simply put, we apply our design thinking in the same way that we would approach a consumer products project or any other project for that matter.

For some projects it may pay to utilise an off the shelf, standard enclosure to help keep costs down. However, if you are really looking to differentiate yourselves away from your competitors and drum up some firm market interest a bespoke, and purpose-built solution could be just the ticket.

If we take the design of the Wayland Calibur 3 3D printer for example. We were aware that there were certain engineering restrictions and manufacturing constraints but we also approached the project with consideration around usability, safety in use and intuitiveness during operation. We asked ourselves questions like?

• How accessible are the touch points?

• Can we flip the control points around at all to make the machine easier to manage?

• Are there areas which are going to be awkward to gain access too.

• Could the door be hinged in a different orientation to maximise the use of space.

Because we are used to designing consumer products with a human centred and empathetic approach we understand people and how they interact with objects around them. We understand convenience and ease of use and the critical role this plays in the overall user experience. Our aim is to create products which are enjoyable to use and the design of a sheet metal enclosure is no exception.

We factor in all of these considerations when working on a sheet metal project whilst also bearing in mind manufacturing constraints, engineering challenges and budgets.

We want to help you add value to your enclosure design in the most cost effective and efficient way possible. All of these elements can be achieved but the application of Industrial design in the development process will help to ensure that these areas are considered and that should help to draw in potential customers and add value.