Skilled Manufacturing and Rollercoasters

Wooden rollercoasters have existed since the early 19th century. Since the 1920s, the track construction method has changed very little. It is essentially made by laminating layers of pine into an L- shape, keeping the cars locked onto the track. It is a process that is carried out by hand and in situ. You might think that wooden rollercoasters are outdated relics compared to today's high tech steel coasters but this is not the case. wooden rollercoasters are a completely different kind of ride experience offering a more character-full out of control feeling. Pictured above is Phoenix, it dates back to 1948 and is considered by many to be a wooden rollercoaster classic as thrilling as any modern equivalent.

Despite the apparent simplicity of wooden construction, building the track requires a great understanding of the material and a lot of skill. knowing the characteristics of the material and its limits is essential when designing the ride and can only be learned through experience.

One company that is built on experience is Great Coasters International. They are a modern wooden rollercoaster company started in 1994 by Mike Boodley, an engineer who had worked for another fledgling company Custom Coasters International and Clair Hain who had earned a reputation as a master of wooden track fabrication. This was at a time when parks had little interest in wooden rollercoasters as they were not seen as marketable. However, Boodley and Hain were convinced that there was a place for the wooden rollercoaster in the modern amusement park.

GCI took their knowledge and traditional techniques and combined it with the latest in modern engineering practices such as CAD and FEA. The result was a distinctive style of twister coaster which is smooth, fast paced and flowing. Today, GCI are a well established company employing 14 people. They are credited with reviving the wooden rollercoaster along with rival company CCI. They have sold rollercoasters all around the world including China.

Wood Coaster, a GCI coaster at Knight Valley near Shenzhen

However, there may be a new threat to traditional wooden coaster which comes in the form of Rocky Mountain Construction's Topper Track. This is a new track style which combines elements of steel coaster and wooden coaster construction. It is prefabricated in a factory and pieced together on site. This new track system offers a wooden rollercoaster at a reasonable price but with much fewer maintenance requirements than with traditional construction.

This new track style is allowing contorted manoeuvres to be possible that were inconceivable a few years ago in wood or steel. It has proven to be very popular with Rocky Mountain's order book rapidly filling.

The twisted double barrel roll finale of Silver Dollar City's Outlaw Run

Whilst there is no doubt these developments are hugely exciting, I hope that parks continue to buy rollercoasters built in the traditional method as they offer a ride experience unlike anything else.

Marc Newson: Urban Spaceman

As part of our Product design course, we watched the documentary Marc Newson: Urban Spaceman. It showcased some of Marc Newson's most significant designs and gave some insight into his design process.

Many of his designs were not to my taste with the emphasis on aesthetics rather than functionality. I don't think that form should always religiously follow function but many of Newson's designs were more like sculptures than products. Some of his chairs are not even possible to sit on.

However, I did find myself agreeing with him a lot when it came to his design process. He likes to obsess over his products and think over every aspect of them in minute detail. I think that this is important as too often designers use a 'black box' approach where they will focus on just one aspect of the design and pass off the rest for engineers or other designers to sort out. I think this approach can lead to an unfocused, messy design and is all too common in large organisations.

I prefer products that are designed with a very specific idea of what the end product should be. Usually this is only possible if the process is overseen by one or a small number of people.

The O21C

One product featured in the documentary was a concept car that Newson designed for Ford, the O21C. Newson expressed a lot of frustration with  modern day cars and what he sees as bad design.

Most cars are designed inside an environment where there are a lot of preconceptions about what a car is and a long established design process that involves a lot of people. This can lead to stagnation within the organisation and a lack of fresh ideas.

By coming in as an outsider to the industry, there is an opportunity to completely re-invent a product by ignoring convention and operating outside regulations that might normally prevent an idea from happening.

This was true of Newson's O21C and when combined with his attention to detail, it resulted in a product that was impressive for its sense of cohesion and style.

In conclusion, Marc Newson might not be to everyone's taste but a lot can be learned from his process.

The Demise of Skilled Manufacturing

Is skilled manufacture still a benefit to modern society as a whole or does it only benefit those who can afford it? Is it something that is worth protecting and if so what is the best way to go about it? These were some of the questions raised from Craig Whittet's talk on the Demise of Skilled Manufacturing.

Products that are made using skilled manufacturing techniques exude a personality that can rarely be found in machine made, mass produced products. As such, the terms 'hand made' or 'hand finished' are usually associated with high end, expensive items aimed at the very wealthy, but is this necessarily the case? Some would argue that despite the initial expense of purchasing the product, items made using skilled manufacturing techniques can offer better value for money to the average consumer.

A product made in a workshop by hand is generally expected to last much longer than the factory made equivalent. A certain level of quality  is assumed and products can sometimes be expected to last for the life of the user. If the product becomes damaged, it can be returned to the workshop where the skills are on hand to repair it. In contrast, a mass produced item is designed and built to a strict cost which can compromise the quality of the product. Furthermore, it is often designed with a built in obsolescence so after a given time it will break with no chance of repair.

As a result, in the long term it can be less expensive to buy one high quality product made by skilled workers that will last for several decades than several cheaper mass produced versions over the same time period.

Another advantage that comes with skilled manufacture is that products can be completely customised to the user's requirements. Whilst mass produced products can be made in a range of sizes and configurations, they can never be bespoke in the same way a hand crafted product can. This becomes particularly important when it comes to shoes and clothing. A shop bought jacket will never fit as comfortably as a tailor-made one.

A pair of bespoke Tricker's Boots, an example of skilled manufacturing in practice

If nothing else, it is important to preserve skills just for the sake of restoring and repairing existing items. However, I think there are many more important reasons for retaining them. Skills and crafts have shaped society throughout history. Many modern surnames such as Turner and Smith come from historical family trades. To lose these specialist skills that have been passed down and honed over many lifetimes would be a great shame. Products and technologies come and go but there will always be a demand for bespoke, high quality products.

With increasing numbers of products being mass produced, the rise of CNC machines and with widely available 3D printing on the horizon, there is a real danger of skills that have been developed over hundreds of years passing into obscurity. So what can be done to safeguard them?

The crafts required for skilled work are usually taught through apprenticeships. In his talk, Craig Whittet put forward the idea that low wages are putting off young job seekers from joining and staying in apprenticeship schemes. This would mean that skills are not being passed on to younger generations. To remedy this, he suggested that apprentices' pay should be subsidised by the government to bring it in line with other jobs that typically employ young people.

Currently, an incentive of up to £1500 is available to small UK employers for each apprentice that they take on. However, no funding is being offered to the apprentices themselves. The current minimum wage for apprentices is £2.68 per hour. Perhaps this figure needs to be re-evaluated to encourage young workers to stay in apprenticeships for the full course. Time and wages invested in an apprentice that leaves is essentially money wasted for the employer. A higher wage might increase retention rates.