Three Tools Supporting the R&D Department in Generating Innovation
Modern technologies offer a lot of support to R&D departments around the world. Solutions which used to be available to a select few are now found in a typical shops with electronics. Such devices in the hands of experts change into tools for creating breakthrough innovations.
R&D departments spend every day working on new products for their companies as well as on developing the companies themselves. They create innovations which are supposed to make the company more efficient, to improve the production process, to increase efficiency. All of these goals require proper tools. Besides computers, labs and tools specific to the given branch of industry recent years have seen consumer products being used professionally and proving valuable in various sectors. Here are three indispensable tools for R&D departments.
A Big Tablet with a Stylus
When Steve Jobs presented the first iPhone to the world, he laughed at all the phones with styli and declared that the only stylus we need is our hands. Multitouch technology has changed the way we use mobile devices. But the stylus is back, it’s even back with Apple products. You can easily find a number of great 12 inch tablets, and you’ll even find 20-inchers in the strictly professional market. All of them support both finger and stylus input. Such a tool is perfect for architects, designers and engineers. Touchscreens are a lot more comfortable than typical computers when you’re outdoors, when you’re creating visualizations and when you have to make technical drawings. Even though tablets have suffered a reduction of their share of the consumer market, they still have a dominating presence in B2B and are indispensable in R&D departments.
A 3D Printer
Thanks to companies such as Zortrax 3D printing became accessible. The Zortrax M200 and M300 3D printers are both relatively inexpensive and user-friendly, they require no additional skills for assembly and use. 3D printing technology is changing the methods of designing and prototyping objects. It lets R&D departments test their ideas immediately and even introduce them on the fly. You need a handle for one of the wires in the production line? No problem, in a few hours you’ll have a dedicated tool. That’s how long printing takes. 3D printing lets you create spare parts and unique solutions, which makes it perfect for R&D departments. Companies which already have 3D printers in their workshops can see the advantages of these devices and are getting ahead of their competition. 3D printing is completely altering the approach to creative processes and it’s supporting innovation.
ZORTRAX M200 and ZORTRAX M300
VR Goggles
The consumer market considers VR goggles as entertainment tools for games and films. In fact, VR is becoming an increasingly popular crucial tool in companies. Typical VR goggles let you present visualizations of project in a digital form. They can be also used for training. Research and design work, on the other hand, can be supported by mixed reality goggles or AR goggles such as the HoloLens. These technologies merge the real world with the digital world. As a result, you can take 3D-printed items and enhance them with virtual elements so as to conduct further design stages.
Modern Technologies for Your Companies Are in Reach
What’s important is that all of these technologies can become indispensable tools supporting innovations even in start-ups. The cost of a 3D printer such as the Zortrax M200 is lower than 2000 dollars. MixR goggles and a professional tablet with a stylus will cost about the same amount of money. Ten years ago these tools were unavailable and today you can hardly imagine an R&D department working without them. 3D printing is the factor which has significantly accelerate both within companies as well as in their products.