University of Cambridge, Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) students who designed a product to help the hard of hearing play music in an orchestra have been discovering how an innovative design and manufacturing technique could help become an affordable reality with the help of DesignEdge.

DesignEdge used the Rythmijig project to demonstrate how up-front project start-up costs may be reduced using Rapid Manufacturing (RM), ‘additive processing’ for component build rather than the traditional tooling. Says James Moultrie, Lecturer in Design Management: “The students valued the opportunity to work with a professional design company and discover more about the practicality and reality of the design process. Design is becoming more important to industry as a whole, so whatever area of manufacturing they go into they will appreciate the importance of having things designed.”