Industries
Aircraft, Automotive, Motorcycle
Agricultural, Electric fence, Mowing, Soil Tillage, Spray equipment
Enclosures - Electronic, Liquids, Personal Care, Storage tanks
Medical - Intravenous therapy equipment, ergonomic posture aids
Sporting equipment - Body protection, Training aids, Leisure and Recreational
Other - Museum display cabinets, Stadium seating, Building products.
Specialities
Product design, concept through to fully commercialised delivery.
Hands on ability to produce high class models, prototypes, custom parts including clay evaluation models.
Project Management and Project Engineering. ( the mechanics of progressing into commercialization ).
QMS Quality Management Systems, Product and Process validation.
CAD, CAE and CAM. Computer aided; Design, Engineering and Machining
Plastic and metal materials and their process technologies.
Strong analytical skills with a lateral approach to problem solving.
Creating commercially viable products that people want, admire, are user friendly and ecologically sound
Design is a demanding process that needs consistency, perseverance and dedication.
Extensive experience with product and process validation protocol, whilst complying with QMS, ISO 9001 essentials, regulatory standards and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).
I provide high levels of workmanship and customer satisfaction.
Reliable testing facilities, equipment and techniques are essential.
I am passionate about developing real world testing for real world performance.
By analysing actual happenings and repeating them in a well controlled environment we can resolve normally unseen issues.
High speed cameras, load cells and sophisticated measuring equipment, all allow for a focused performance solution.
Cost effective in reducing the need to over engineer. Ability to meet performance regulations and reduce production costs. Expert advice bought in when required.
Medical Devices
It gives me great pleasure to recommend Rob as I have both worked with him as colleague at the same medical device company and also hired him as a design contractor more recently, a relationship spanning over 25 years.
Rob is quick to collate customers requirements into a robust design input specification from which he has great talent in transforming into conceptual designs. Robs wealth of experience in the plastics industry and with medical devices in general ensures that all designs are not just functional but with careful consideration into their eventual manufacturing needs thus, ensuring that they both meet performance requirements but also commercial expectations being scalable from concept prototypes through to full scale mass production. He can provide the full package in designing moulds and assembly equipment therefore, has the capabilities to provide the "one stop shop" in plastics design.
Robs focused working style and open communications makes him a pleasure to work with and someone who "will go the extra mile" to ensure he exceeds expectations.
Steve Bint - Managing Director
Target Medical Device Solutions - UK
Body Protection
QP Sport engaged Rob Whitfield to work on a new men's Karate body protector product. To provide the best product we could for our customers, we decided to go to a first principles basis and commission research on what the body protector should be protecting users from. This may sound obvious, but more sports protection gear is actually made from guess work than research.
Rob worked with us as we measured the forces involved in Karate and tested materials. He also worked with Karate participants to observe the motion and techniques used in the sport.
These observations were then fed into the design for the new product which was quite different to the products currently on the market. However, as the design was based on research and effectiveness, the different look of the design could be explained in a way that created a competitive advantage for the product. Essentially, it worked better for the participant, and that became obvious once the product was used. Tight knit Karate communities communicate between each other a lot, so word of the better product spread quickly.
We believe it is easy to "make" a product, but much harder to design one that really makes life better for its users. Rob works as a designer to achieve this kind of outcome in all his work, and that in turn gives us confidence to invest in marketing a product to the world.
We can't recommend Robs honesty and integrity as well as design skill enough, and would not hesitate to work with him again, in fact, we look forward to it.
Richard Shearer - Managing Director
QP Sport (Quality Performers Ltd) - New Zealand
Business Mentoring
Rob is a creative genius and a true professional in his field. His work ethic is values based, highly ordered and outcome orientated. Rob interacts with people in a gentle, enquiring way that allows information to flow naturally. With many awards to showcase his genius Rob is a unique creative mastermind with a great sense of humour and I can highly recommend both his ability and his professionalism.
Pauline Meredith-King - Managing Director
The Business Group - New Zealand
