Title: Engineering design for profit

Authors: Sir William Barlow

Addresses: Chairman, BICC plc, UK and former Chairman, UK Design Council, UK

Abstract: The importance of good design in achieving commercial success cannot be stressed too strongly. The need for design is virtually universal, it is as relevant to services as to products, to software as to hardware, and to items that compete on aesthetic terms as to those that have an entirely functional specification. Profitable design is critical not only to the survival of individual companies, but to that of whole industries. Design thus has implications for levels of prosperity on a national scale. Improving design performance demands changes in social attitudes, especially those that influence the repute in which design and designers are held. Investment, both within companies and by governments, in design education and training needs to keep pace with the accelerating demand for greater design expertise. Increasing international competition will ensure that the demand for profitable design will continue to rise.

Keywords: competitiveness; design education; engineering design; technology management; training; design performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.1986.026115

International Journal of Technology Management, 1986 Vol.1 No.3/4, pp.341 - 349

Published online: 27 May 2009 *

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