December 2011 - Issue #14
Creative engineers find market niche
Story by Mandy Thoo
View articles in related topics: Engineering, Design, Film, Multimedia, Education
Stella Knörr was at a crossroads when she found the product design engineering (PDE) course.
“I loved physics and maths, but also had a passion for art and graphics. Seeing these as two traditionally separate fields, I thought I would have to give up one for the other. That was before I discovered that Swinburne was offering the PDE degree,” Ms Knörr says.
After completing a year of industry-based learning at Invetech – a multinational product development and manufacturing company – during her degree, Ms Knörr joined the company in 2008 after graduation.
As a product design engineer in the Mechanical Design and Development group, she has been involved in developing products such as fast-moving consumer goods, point-of-care medical devices and medical consumables. The Micronics PanNAT, a portable medical device is a highlight;. It allows on-the-ground access to diagnosis of diseases such as malaria in the developing world.
“I feel lucky because I got the best of both worlds. What I learned allows me to combine creative with practical. With my skills I am able to work across the mechanical design and development, computer-aided design and the industrial design groups,” she says.
“I have been involved in designing a product from the beginning, when all we have been given is an idea, right through to structured innovation and idea generation, developing concepts, prototyping, and detailing components for manufacture and assembly.”
Stella says another attraction to her career path is her interest in the environment. She completed a Swinburne Diploma of Sustainability in the final year of her degree. “We have the ability to influence the amount of energy it takes to manufacture a product, the energy efficiency of a product, and the amount of material that ends up as waste in landfills.”
Andrew Uhe, the Mechanical Design and Development group manager at Invetech, says the PDE graduates are well-trained to bridge the gaps between mechanical engineering and industrial design: “They come with a mix of industrial design skills and a good knowledge of manufacturing processes, so they can get to work very quickly.
“Their skills are a good complement to the mechanical engineers, and because they can break the boundaries between the two disciplines, they work more smoothly across different departments.”
Matthew Reeves is one of several Swinburne PDE graduates employed by Melbourne-based product design and development group CobaltNiche. Now a senior engineer with the company, he led the development of the LEX slimline LED exit sign, which won the 2010 Australian International Design Award.
Steve Martinuzzo, CobaltNiche’s managing director, says that two key traits consistently demonstrated by graduates are a hands-on approach and good knowledge of manufacturing processes such as moulding, tooling and assembling. His company works closely with the university, mentoring and hiring graduates from the course.
