Fen Technology

📢 We’re enhancing our product development powers with the acquisition of Wright Design Ltd. Through this acquisition, we continue to grow the ‘go-to’ product development team here in Cambridge. Discover why we’ve moved two great engineering teams in to one: https://lnkd.in/g88rd8Ve #ProductDevelopment #Engineering #ProductDesign #Cambridge

Team spotlight 🔦 Welcome Jacob Das, who has just joined our mechanical design team at Wright Design Ltd as Product Design Engineer. He gained a First in Product Design and Technology from Loughborough University, and completed a placement year as a product designer for a retail brand. What’s he enjoying about life at Fen Technology so far? 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 problem and having to come up with a smart and manufacturable solution that looks good is one of the best bits of being in product design. And then there’s the physical prototyping stage – where you really get to get your hands dirty to test and prove the concept. Very satisfying! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 is to always be looking to learn and improve. If there’s a new way to optimise my work I’m always keen to give it a go. 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 and translate ideas from my head to a manufacturable, real product – so any tool that can help me achieve that is very useful. 𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐲! My first project has already been sent off to be manufactured (injection moulded). I did the CAD and engineering drawings, got feedback from the client, and support from senior engineers at Fen to help me develop my workflow and skills even more. 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 include thermoforming and sheet metal design, finding out about what best practice looks like and getting involved in the whole feedback process as the project develops.

We're hiring! Join our team of talented product development specialists at our HQ in Oakington, Cambridge: * Senior Embedded Software Engineer * Principal Embedded Software Engineer You can apply via LinkedIn, or go to our Careers page for the full job spec: https://lnkd.in/du9sRejj

From fitness trackers to health monitors to PPE devices...how do you design a wearable product for commercial success? ✅ Maximise user insight up front ✅ Take a holistic view of risk, cost and performance trade-offs ✅ Test it on real users early, and iterate quickly Our industrial and UX designers, mechanical, electronic and software engineers support all strands of wearable product development. ⚙ Interested? Discover more: https://lnkd.in/epsB5jmx

🔦 Team spotlight 🔦 At Fen Technology we have all the technical expertise to create complete product designs. Senior Embedded Software Engineer George Betts tells us about his role and why good software design is critical to successful product development.  𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗳𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀. The client has the idea for the product that meets a demand they’ve identified or fills a gap in the market. But they may lack the capability to design and implement the product themselves, so they come to us.   𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆, making sure that devices are easily connected to each other and can send data to the cloud without having a large amount of other infrastructure in place. In that cloud environment, clients can then easily process the data they’re interested in.  𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗹𝘆, and always learn something in the process. We work with software libraries and functionality that is very new and we get to integrate it into products, which is quite fun.   𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘇𝘆. But you methodically narrow it down to a point where you find the solution. You break it down to a small issue, understand why it’s there, and then you fix it. That’s really satisfying.   𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺. Then you put it onto the hardware and test it in different scenarios and see how it actually performs, and that’s really interesting. You really understand the quality of what you’ve done, and provide confidence that you’re creating a reliable product.  𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗹𝘆. Just by doing what we do, solving problems that come up naturally, it pushes you beyond what you already know to understand it at a much deeper level.   𝗜𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲. I was really proud of a rapid-turnaround project for a medical testing device. The software had to perform a complex task with high reliability, but we were able to keep the design simple and the project ran really smoothly.   𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆, and we’ve played our part alongside industrial and mechanical design and electronic engineering teams to help get the product successfully to market.  ---- Looking for your next software engineer role? Keep an eye out for vacancies and join a readymade team of product development specialists in Cambridge: https://lnkd.in/du9sRejj

Not long now until the Engineering Design Show (EDS), the UK's biggest show dedicated to mechanical, electronic and embedded design. Steve Baker and Matt Wright will be going - see you there too?

A thought-provoking trip to The Emergency Services Show this week where it was clear that in a world where digital services – and now AI – have so much to offer, well-executed, physical products are still critically important to delivery of situational awareness and first-responder safety.   Steve Baker and Matt Wright had interesting chats with people who would *like* to deliver their services to generic smart phones, using off-the-shelf hardware to lower their investment costs.   But, in practice, to achieve the right level of user experience they have to deliver a product dedicated, specifically, to the needs of very different users and their devices.   This is why the requirements capture and feasibility analysis stages of product development are so crucial to the creation of a final product which meets the needs of the user.   If you were at the Emergency Services Show or interested in product design in this area, let's connect and continue the conversation:  https://lnkd.in/e7JGT2KG #industrialdesign #ux #ESS2024

We'll be at The Emergency Services Show this week, where Steve Baker and Matt Wright will be particularly interested to see the latest innovations in sensing and location for work safety. Taking place at the The NEC, Birmingham it's Europe's top emergency services event and there's a lot going on... ▶  16,000+ blue light professionals from police, fire & rescue, ambulance, search & rescue, voluntary and support sectors. ▶  500+ exhibitors presenting cutting-edge products tailored for emergency response. ▶  10,000+ products and solutions, designed to cater to every need, requirement, and budget. ▶  Co-located with the The Emergency Tech Show We're looking forward to some very interesting conversations around product design and development for emergency response and public safety. Are you coming too? See you there!

One of the joys of working in product development is that there’s always a new challenge to get stuck into.   Our industrial and mechanical designers, electronic engineers and software developers form a readymade team of product development specialists. And they're ready to take your innovative idea from concept to manufacture.   This month we kick off two projects with a shared theme: 🔸 real-time tracking for global logistics. 🔸 real-time precision positioning for worker safety in hazardous environments. If you're looking to bring your own innovation to market with less risk, less cost, and in a shorter timeframe, let's start a conversation: https://lnkd.in/e7JGT2KG

Not long now until Cambridge Tech Week - are you going too? Running from 9 to 13 September and powered by Cambridge Wireless Ltd, the week will see entrepreneurs, investors, government and academia all coming together to share cutting edge insights on global tech and explore future collaborations. Steve Baker and Fen Technology will be there on the 11th for... 💡 Tech Deep Dive: AI "With the rise of generative AI, the focus has commonly been drawn to broad topics such as ethics, regulation and security... But what is it like to actually work with AI day-in and day-out? What is the reality of AI? Where are we seeing the benefits? What are the limitations?" 💡 Tech Deep Dive: Quantum "£1bn has been invested into quantum technologies in the last ten years, building a path to market for the UK’s now leading capabilities in quantum computing, sensors and timing, imaging and communications. But what is the next step? How will quantum technologies change the world?" 💡 The Big Tech Debate: Commercialisation & Deep Tech. And on the 12th we're looking forward to: 💡 Tech Deep Dive: Semiconductors "With a concentration on compound semiconductors, design IP and R&D, the UK – and Cambridge specifically – is leading the way in expanding the market and driving investment." Will you be at Cambridge Tech Week too? Which events are you most looking forward to? Registration link below.