Degrees rewarded by rover

Most particularly, Gould has led the Cybernetics Challenge, which gives students an opportunity to 'land' a Mars rover on the surface of a virtual (red) planet and conduct some tasks. There are two principal objectives to the work he is doing, the first being to meet the demands of market forces. "Things are changing in the academic market. Students are paying £9000 a year for their courses and they are looking more critically at this, asking what they are getting for their money. We try to give them practical skills, practical applications. And employers love it, because we're producing people who have proven academic ability – they have a degree – but also those who know how to work in teams, how to solve problems. And, these days, it is all about employability." Gould's other focus is to highlight the value of technicians themselves and recognise the impact they can have. "I was taken on as an electronics technician which at the start was really facilitating the lab practicals – just to make sure they happened," he explained. "What has happened is that I am now also involved in content and improving its quality. Still, the academics decide what to teach within it, but technicians have those practical skills that can make it a better experience for the student and therefore improve the learning opportunity." Following a varied career, Gould has a unique perspective on undergraduate teaching, having recently been an employer, a student and on the university staff and therefore having an insight into the requirements and responsibilities of all of them. He came to the University in 2006 to study a BEng in Electronic Engineering and Cybernetics and was offered the electronics technician role in 2007. Despite the problems of studying while doing a full time job, and gearing his mind to doing some of the more complex mathematics that had remain dormant since his schooling more than 40 years previously, he emerged with a first class honours in 2011. "I was definitely the oldest mature student and it is a different experience because I felt that I wanted to improve myself, I treated it like a job – the students here are after a different experience," he admitted. This late arrival to higher education followed a career that started off (briefly) in accounting and went on to cover sales and senior management roles in the computing industry, including the pioneering days of teletext, and concluded as chief operating officer for Pacer Cats, the organisation behind online ticketing business Ticketmaster. However, the company was sold, leaving Gould to look at what to do for the next step in his career. "At that stage, I was a bit stuck as I had lost my technical skills. Getting a job as a managing director in that sort of area is quite difficult when you are 60 odd," Gould admitted. "So I thought why not look at the other side. Rather than work for a company motivated by profit, why not go into the public arena and be motivated by quality? It's a different emphasis; partly about doing something I really wanted to – learn about electronics and how it really works – and then see what happened at the end of it." The degree helped shape Gould's role as a technician. "I had just been the through the process, so I could see and judge what was being delivered to me. It all came together at the right time, the director of teaching and learning was amenable to a change of emphasis. We redesigned one of the modules and called it the Cybernetics Challenge. We give people a rover – a controller board with a Microchip peripheral interface controller – and spoof it up. We say we are the Reading University Space Agency and they have got the chance to put their rover on a rocket." Gould believes initiatives such as this can play an important part in providing industry with the sort of graduates it needs, as well as providing students with the sort of value for which they are now looking from their degree providers. However, Gould believes the school curriculum is helping neither universities nor the electronics industry. "The de-emphasis on electronic engineering at schools these days means that students are coming less well prepared. The first year is really to get everyone up to the same standard, let people catch up and then really start the degree proper in the second year." The winners of the IET's Apprentice and Technician of the Year Awards will be announced on 20 November 2013. Support goes back to the future Distribution today is about far more than just-in-time delivery. Customers are faced with the challenge of having to differentiate themselves quickly in the market with new designs and at the same time ensure that existing products remain competitive. Alongside logistics, technological expertise and support for the customer in developing new products are becoming increasingly important. When new technologies need to be forged together with customers' core competences, Future Electronics provides assistance with technical expertise. Paxton obtained support for its access control systems in order to integrate the latest PoE know-how in established products. The Future Electronics System Design Center previously made a name for itself thanks to reference boards developed in-house and development environments for various applications. The development tools from the Blox board programme offer a range of interchangeable design boards for rapidly designing prototypes. They are intended as proof-of-concept platforms for a widely conceived range of applications. For some customer requirements, however, this type of distributor development support does not go far enough. To respond to the challenges arising from new technologies and reduced numbers of employees in development departments, the worldwide System Design Centers (SDC) from Future Electronics offer assistance through the development resources that are made available. This support enables customers to concentrate on their strategic tasks and core competences. In addition, by using Future's engineers as an extension of their own team, customers can not only maintain ambitious time frames for introducing new products but they can also ensure that the products they have introduced remain at the cutting edge of technology. Vertical expertise in areas such as power or wireless technologies helps to enhance the attractiveness of the Future Electronics offering, particularly as far as redesigns are concerned. The aim of the global SDC is to provide design services on behalf of Future Electronics customers. This can take the form of full or partial system design, and in effect the team of the distributor can be considered as an overflow resource for customers. This resource provides specific expertise and design manpower to speed customers time to market. The team offers skillsets in four core areas: MCUs, Power, HMI and wireless technology. Additionally the 40+ man team has the ability to do software coding, general analogue design, PCB layout and general digital circuit design. All Future Electronics employees are a completely integrated team using the same CAD system, project management system and processes across the world. To the customer it's completely invisible where a design is done, but there is always a local project manager. A measure of Future's commitment to the program is the investment in prototype PCB etching and manufacturing facilities. Various facets of support An example of how all the aspects of support provided by a distributor successfully come together can be taken from the expansion and continuous reworking of the product range offered by Paxton. The British company develops and produces electronic access control systems for businesses. Instead of conventional door locks and keys, transponders and readers on each door are used to control access authorisation for buildings or certain areas within company premises. Since the protection of employees and goodwill is highly valued, Paxton is a growing company. In order to handle this growth, the company made an important decision three years ago. The company management took the production of printed circuit boards, which had been outsourced to a subcontractor, back into its own area of responsibility and set up its own production site in England. By establishing a strategic partnership with Future Electronics, not only could the foundations be laid for the development of new products but existing products could also be cost-effectively reworked. While Paxton was obtaining components from a subcontractor, the company was unable to influence the component selection process and therefore lacked control over the quality of the parts that were being used. When the entire production operation had been returned to the company, the security system manufacturer contacted Future Electronics. Because of the strong demand, the need for components was continually on the rise but this increase also went hand-in-hand with unforeseeable spikes. Giving consideration to the cash flow of the company, located in the small to medium-sized company sector with its sights set on the international market, a new solution was sought. This would offer more flexible, external storage of the required components and would enable these to be quickly called for when necessary. Developed technical partnership As the partnership with the distributor developed, it was not just the storage of supplies and "just in time" delivery of components that proved advantageous but also the technical support provided by the engineers from the Future Electronics System Design Centers (SDC). In 2012, Paxton launched new products on the market in quick succession. The development of these products meant that the company's in-house engineering resources were being fully utilised. There was no time left for updating the existing products with regard to a cost-effective bill of materials and the use of the latest technology. Twenty-five engineers work on addressing the development of the new hardware and software at Paxton. Because all efforts were being focused on future products, cost reduction of existing products took a back seat. When Future Electronics was assigned the task of delivering the components, there was a cost-intensive part on one of the boards. Because of the straightforward installation, the product is based on power over Ethernet technology. Despite the fact that this module, which was originally a supplementary purchase, enabled market readiness to be rapidly achieved a few years ago, it did not represent the most cost-effective solution in the long run. Future's engineers took a look at the design and generated a schematic and prototype for the replacement of this component. Thanks to the redesign proposed by Future, it was ultimately possible to reduce not only the costs but also the number of suppliers. During the redesign process for the PoE components, Future Electronics allocated development resources free of charge to the Paxton team. Because appropriate expertise was available within the Future team thanks to know-how from the vertical business unit Future Power Solutions, it was possible to implement a design within a short space of time that fitted the space available and met the specified budget. All the benefits of the SDC services in terms of IP and documentation were transferred to Paxton. In return for the design effort, the manufacturer made a commitment to obtain the components from Future Electronics. "Thanks to the help of Future Electronics, our in-house team is able to concentrate on developing new products and pass on the tasks associated with optimising the cost and technology of existing products," explains Ramon Surrey, Product Manager of Paxton. "Future's engineers understand our business. Both sides benefit from the strategic partnership." Following these initial positive experiences of working together on the product range that was introduced, the SDC is now being included in an advisory role right from the beginning in the development of new products. "We benefit from the extensive wealth of experience that the SDC engineers bring as a result of having worked on range of different tasks. In addition, there is the insight into the franchise partner development road map. This makes it possible for the latest products to have an influence at an early stage within the design process; it also means that consideration can be given to their availability." continues Surrey. Today, the SDC even draws on this expertise to advise Paxton on the selection of microcontrollers in light of their diverse range of functionalities and divergent price structures. Outsourced development "We now link all the parts of the supply chain for electronic parts for Paxton. When we have the new product idea along with the specification in front of us, we begin addressing the need for components via our manufacturers. Because we are involved at a very early stage in the process, we are able to recommend a design that takes into consideration the manufacturer road map in terms of components and their availability and longevity," explains Colin Weaving, Technical Director at Future Electronics, who is responsible for the services provided from the SDC in Europe. Since Paxton oversees the production process itself, the accuracy of forecasting in relation to the development of demand represents a critical factor. The lean manufacturing chain means that it must be possible to call for all components at short notice. Future Electronics invests in stock for Paxton in order to absorb any spikes in demand that they experience. Extensive storage is part of the distributor's global strategy. This is because it is not just development support which plays a key role in the rapid implementation of products that are ready for the market. Logistics, as the backbone of classical distribution, continues to perform a key function. In global markets, customers are finding it more important than ever to have access to the components they require wherever they are. Extensive storage with high availability is of benefit to customers in the short-run production environments that they use today. "In terms of development support, we are pursuing the goal of a win-win situation for both parties involved. We share the market risk of developing new products with the customer in return for growth in sales. We find that the 'not for fee' work effort put in by our engineers pays off when the design successfully goes into production," adds Colin Weaving. "It is our belief that an atmosphere of open cooperation between the teams is the essential basis for achieving success as part of this process. This comes across extremely well in the cooperation with Paxton. Because of the expert knowledge in our vertical business units and product development teams, this partnership-based model is becoming increasingly sought after. In order to meet this demand, we have invested in employees and systems at our various System Design Center locations." The technology broadliner Future Electronics combines vertical expertise from its business units with outstanding logistics competence and a global infrastructure for the benefit of its customers. As a global distributor, Future is able to cater for the full range of new technologies while also responding to specific regional requirements. The route taken together with Paxton demonstrates the model for achieving success by working together on development.