We rarely start with a blank sheet of paper. Typically we are building off previous work, often work built up over generations. In aviation that is a history of commercial …
Starting Simply
What do frugal designs, origami, gestures and jellyfish cyborgs have in common? A simple starting point. Origami can literally start with a blank sheet of paper. Engineering inspired by biology …
50th Newsletter Delivery
Fort Langley, February 2024 – The first edition of the Bannerman Consultants engineering newsletter came out in July 2009, a year before Instagram and the iPad were introduced. In the …
Targeting the Goal
Every day we are called on to make decisions, often in complex environments. The core of technical engineering is to develop reliable data on which we can base those decisions. …
Maintaining Competitiveness
The pace of change in engineering is increasing, sometimes frighteningly so. Our end users are demanding more. We need to make sure we choose well in placing our bets on …
Fun and Effective Physics
What makes engineering fun? To be sure, various engineers will consider different things to be enjoyable, which is clearly subjective and can’t be measured. For some, fun would be working …
Integrating Innovations
There are lots of reasons why new technology doesn’t succeed, even if it is good technology. To give something creative the best chance of success, it should leverage previous lessons …
The Legacy of Neptune Wave’s Technology Development
Metro Vancouver, March 2023 – Charles Haynes was a Metro Vancouver based visionary. His vision was to harness the abundant resource of wave energy as a means of supplying green, …
More or Less
Less is more. Less weight and less drag mean better designs. Who knows this already? Bird brains and drug smugglers. The question isn’t if your engineers know about efficiency too, …
Weird Science
Scientists study the natural world and strive to understand innate processes. Engineers take scientific understanding and work within not only scientific limits, but also social and economic boundaries, while also …
IMechE 175th Anniversary Celebration Seminar
Vancouver, September 2022 – Martin Fandrich, CEng, FIMechE, of Bannerman Consultants will be host of an upcoming event to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. While …
Looking More Closely
As engineers, we are often forced to act on assumptions. We possibly don’t revisit those assumptions often enough. Electric vehicles are better for the environment, right? Isn’t the best move …