The monthly news update from BEDS

OK there's a few months been missed.... but our monthly update is back on track.

Designed to be manufactured

Over 95% of the things designed are manufactured, now that's not just a number grabbed out of thin air. Monitoring when you put our designs to be manufactured is monitored forms part of the process that's followed. But yes you might have guessed that number is one our team are hugely proud of.

Being able to visit and see those designs that have been made is the icing on the cake for Craig and John. Especially when it's a concept that has been created through conversations with people that have moved through our entire process.?

It doesn't matter whether it's brand new equipment (like that pictured below) or something where some machine modernisation has been completed to help improve throughput or safety. Seeing things in action always makes us buzz.

Stabilised automotive future?

There has been lots of investment news for the automotive sector; from BMW's investment in the Mini plant for 2 electric vehicles to be made in the Cowley plant starting in 2026 to the ￡100 million investment at the Stellantis' plant in Ellesmere Port plant.

Combine this with SMMT reports of car production growing 11.7% in the first six months of 2023 and an interesting range of vehicles being produced (battery electric (BEV), plug in hybrid (PHEV) and hybrid electric (HEV) vehicles), the forecast is for 860,000 units (or cars) to come off the production line this year in total. Perhaps the sector is back on track after a tough few years (or even decades!), that would be excellent to see as engineers who both like cars and work with the sector.

Has an EV Mini piqued your interest?

Truly clean energy

The innovation in engineering winner this summer has shown how we can have a real revolution in clean energy with a solid oxide cell.

Electrolyte layers in Ceres Power's SteelCell can work in both directions. That means?running in one direction, it generates low-carbon electricity from multiple fuels, while running in the other direction it produces ‘green’ hydrogen from renewable energy and steam.

It's interesting to read the operation of the cell stacks, which are made of thin perforated steel sheets.?

Achieving high yields and making cells sufficiently robust has taken 20 years of development, so we'll watch this space with great interest, you can?read more about it by clicking here.

Accidental invention

Do you ever find yourself wondering who the microwave was invented by?

Or even HOW they invented it?

A great story about an accidental invention that's had a lasting legacy from Percy Spencer.

In 1945 Percy was working as a radar engineer at Raytheon. One day he stepped in front of a magnetron which is a device that powers radars and his candy bar melted.

The thing he did was to NVESTIGATE why his chocolate had melted because he wasn't the first to spot this phenomenon.

Later that year he filed a patent for the first microwave oven, and the rest as they say is history.