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could be positioned to suit the location of the preformed holes in the wall. That way, it wouldn’t
matter if the holes in the walls were slightly out of position.
4 Instead of bolting through the concrete, what about adding extra steel columns that run
down the walls? The beams could then be supported on these, and no holes would be required
through the concrete.

IV Describing improvements and redesigns

11 Look at the slide from an engineers’ training course, Total Technical Improvement. In
pairs, suggest examples of technical improvements to illustrate each one. Are there other
points that could be added to the list?
DEFINING IMPROVEMENT
■ BETTER-QUALITY MATERIALS
■ LOWER UNIT COST
■ MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR USER

12a Look at the slide from a design meeting at a computer printer manufacturer. In pairs,
suggest ways that the following printer factors might be improved in some of the areas on
the list.
cables/connections; case; ink/toner; cartridges; paper; power; software;

Possible areas for improvement
1 Aesthetics
2 User interface
3 Reliability
4 Consumables
5 Output quality and speed
6 Maintenance
7 Manufacturing
8 Environmental impact

b 6.6 Marta, a manager at the printer manufacturer, is briefing the design team on key
requirements for the redesign of a printer. Read the start of the meeting. Which two areas
on the slide in Exercise 12a are discussed?

Marta: So, to be clear about how far we can go with this redesign, we're not aiming to reinvent
the wheel, in terms of the main components and how they fit together. The reasons for that are
firstly, from a hardware point of view, the existing design has proved to be effective. And
secondly, we don’t have the resources at this point in time to make fundamental changes to the
production process.
Engineer 1: So the overall internal layout needs to remain the same?
Marta: Yes. We’re looking for an evolution, rather than designing the whole thing from the
ground up. Presumably, there is room for improvement?
Engineer 2: Well, this model has been revamped once before, of course. But, no doubt we can
refine it a bit more.
Marta: However, given that software redesign isn’t an assembly issue and has been the Achilles
heel of the existing model, it would make sense to rethink that whole system.
Engineer 1: So for software, back to the drawing board, then?
Marta: Well, er, whatever we do, we need to make a quantum leap. Whether that means
designing the system from scratch, I don't know. We need to make the whole thing much simpler

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