50 YEARS OF DESIGN


SOLUTIONS P


icture this: You’re in your factory or office, perhaps you’re sitting at your desk designing a new product or system on a drawing board with a pencil; or maybe you’re down on the factory floor where new products are being assembled by hand.


The latest songs have been playing on the radio all morning and you’re humming along to Rod Stewart’s Maggie May, James Taylor’s You've Got A Friend, or maybe even Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West) by Benny Hill! The post arrives. Being careful not to trip over your flared trousers, you collect it and open


something that intrigues you: a brand new magazine called OEM Design. The year is 1971. It was the year that Michael Caine could be seen on cinema screens in Get Carter;


Mastermind was the most popular board game; Disney World opened its doors at its Orlando, Florida, site; and Jackie Stewart became Formula One champion, driving a Tyrrell 003-Cosworth. Edward Heath was UK prime minister, and the UK House of Commons voted in favour of joining the European Economic Community. There were also some incredible inventions and occurrences that year. For a start,


the Mariner 9 program was created, with the spacecraft the first to enter Mars’ orbit successfully, from where it mapped the surface and sent pictures back to Earth; and Apollo 14 and 15 both landed on the moon, with Apollo 15’s astronauts the first to ride in a Lunar Rover. In addition, Intel introduced the world’s first microprocessor and the first patient brain CT (computed tomography) X-ray took place in London. Over the following 50 years, technological development accelerated at a startling rate – and


most of it was covered in OEM Design, or Design Solutions as it was to become know. From giant leaps in computer technology, the creation of the internet and wireless technology, to us all using smartphones capable of holding enormous amounts of data and connecting to the internet day and night. From designing by hand to having the ability to develop, prototype and even test products using software. From manual assembly to robots, cobots, artificial intelligence, Digital Twins, voice control, and remote machine control; and other huge changes brought about by the new Industrial Revolution – Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT). We’ve witnessed the development of ‘The Cloud’, and 3D printers have become an essential item for most manufacturers, giving them the ability to not only print realistic full-colour products and prototypes, but produce their own components and re-create obsolete parts. Added to this, products have become dramatically smaller, but their power and functionality has increased enormously. The digital transformation is happening. Back in 1971, space travel was a very hot topic. Today, Mars is being explored remotely


using exploration equipment which is a true design solution, and there are projects in place which hope to put humans on the planet in the near future. There are also discussions taking place about the possibility of ‘space tourism’. Brexit has also now occurred, and we’ve been through the life-changing Covid-19


pandemic. If that had happened 50 years ago, I’m guessing many things would have ground to a halt. But with today’s technology, many people simply took their computers home and carried on as normal, while remote machine control and diagnostics meant a lot of production could still take place and fewer people were needed on the factory floor (that was if companies could get hold of the components due to supply chain issues). Plus, thanks to the internet, we could go shopping from the comfort of our own home, and keep small children occupied with film and television streaming services while we worked! Today, Design Solutions covers all the products, technologies and components you


need – not only within the pages of the printed and digital magazines, but via e-mail newsletters and our brand new website www.designsolutionsmag.co.uk where you can find the latest news, new products, technical articles and much, much, more. We would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank all our advertisers, from 1971


to the present day, who have supported us over the years; and also you, our readers, for your interest in all the topics we cover. You are the reason Design Solutions is still going strong after 50 years!


Rachael Morling - Editor 8 DESIGN SOLUTIONS JULY/AUGUST 2021


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