Ralph Sefton-Collings

Crux Product Design is leading design and development consultancy, delivering ground-breaking products and technical solutions for the medical and consumer goods markets. We tackle complex design challenges at the forefront of innovation, supporting our clients in the development of higher performing, safer products. An analytical, data-driven philosophy underpins our technical work. Mechanical engineering is strengthened with insights from an Applied Sciences team pushing our understanding of device-user behaviour to new limits, exceptional industrial designers, human factors specialists, and experts in electronics and software. With extensive industry knowledge and a multi-disciplinary approach, we lead projects from research and design conceptualisation through to tooling and manufacture. Growing rapidly in the hearts of Bristol (UK) and Boston (US), Crux is an emerging force in the product design industry. Since 2003 we have established a proven record in the development of category-defining products. Get in touch to see how we can help you.

Sole responsibility for website design, maintenance and continued improvement. Sophisticated, CMS-based and SEO optimised, the website was the company's primary means of generating business. Of equal value to Devana, I created a bespoke CRM and project management database. This allowed all activities to be tracked from customer enquiries right through to estimations, site work and invoicing. A dashboard provided analysis of statistical trends - vital for the formulation of marketing strategy.

Development of advanced DMIS programs for state-of-the-art CMM probes. I created a pioneering verification system to determine the performance of CMM styli prior to measurement. Poorly performing tools were automatically calibrated. This method was implemented within a large turnkey aerospace project, providing automated tool management and a record of the CMM state for each part inspection. Ten week-long spells were spent providing onsite technical support in a manufacturing environment. Tasks included fault investigation, machine recovery and the prove-out of new measurement programs. My work at Renishaw also included R&D testing, customer support and exhibition set-up.

Regular vacation work in the R&D department of Toby Churchill, a leader in text-to-speech communication aids. Key responsibilities were focused on the testing of the company's Lightwriter products during development, identifying software and electronic bugs.

Placement in the Marine department of a world leading renewable energy consultancy. My primary project was the writing of a 3D computational fluid dynamic model for the prediction of flow speed through wind and tidal turbine arrays. The programme was written in MATLAB from fundamental principles. Further work included analysis of experimental tidal flume data, culminating in the publication of a conference paper: "Interactions between tidal turbine wakes: experimental study of a group of 3-bladed rotors".

Studied with a specialism in mechatronics. Modules taken including Robotics, Sensors, Control Systems and Dynamics. The course culminates with a group design project for which my team won both university and Institution of Engineering Designers (IED) awards. We designed an autonomous robot to create a 3D virtual model of large exhibits held in storage by the Science Museum. Developed to proof-of-concept stage, the system utilises an innovative, lightweight robotic arm and Xbox Kinect camera. A prototype can be seen in action below.