What I help with

No. The categories are illustrative rather than rigid service packages, and many commissions span more than one area.

Where there is a potential fit, I will define the actual scope, assumptions, deliverables, programme and fees in a written proposal.

Both. Some of this work is aimed at new product development, but a lot of it is just as relevant where something already exists and is not working as well as it should, no longer feels coherent or needs to be reviewed, simplified, corrected or properly developed.

That might mean improving an existing design, resolving a performance or manufacturability problem, reviewing inherited CAD or drawings, fixing weaknesses in a current release package or working out the best way to update older equipment without creating new problems elsewhere.

In practice, many projects are not starting from a blank sheet. They begin with something that already exists, whether that is a product, machine, fabrication, layout or partly developed design, and the real task is to understand its current limitations and define the most sensible way forward.

Yes. Sometimes a design is broadly acceptable in performance terms, but still too expensive, too slow or too awkward to manufacture well.

In those cases, the aim is often to simplify and rationalise the design so it is easier and more economical to produce, while preserving the performance that actually matters. Sometimes that cleaner, better-resolved design also improves consistency, robustness or reliability as a by-product.

Yes. There are some types of work I will usually decline if they depend mainly on specialist domain knowledge outside my core areas.

That tends to include things like medical devices, purely electrical or EC&I-led products, building services design, residential or commercial building structures, specialist process or pressure-system engineering and some manufacturing-specialist areas such as injection moulding, where the real value lies in deep process-specific experience or know-how.

Where a problem spans several engineering disciplines, I can often take responsibility for a clearly defined mechanical package and help identify its interfaces with control systems, electrical engineering, civil engineering, process engineering or other disciplines. Specialist design in those disciplines remains with the appropriately competent party, and the inputs and interfaces must be defined clearly enough for the mechanical work to proceed.

Where a project sits in a highly regulated domain, I keep my role clearly bounded to the mechanical engineering work I am competent to undertake. I may still support a clearly defined task, but would normally do so alongside a client-side subject-matter expert or other appropriate specialist who understands and takes responsibility for the wider domain, validation and compliance context.