Dan Savage has worked as Product Engineer for HOPPE (UK) for seven years. His product design credentials span 25 years, having designed cordless vacuum cleaners as project leader at Gtech, as well as homewares for Next Home and washrooms for Venesta.
Tell us about about how you got into your career… I hold a degree in Industrial Design from Teesside University, Middlesbrough. It’s a hugely well-regarded course with many students going on to product design roles.
I’ve always been passionate about blending art and engineering and was interested in drawing and sketching from a young age, as well as understanding how things worked. I studied art and design at both GCSE and A level.
At the same time, I was intrigued by engineering and being able to make things from scratch. My dad was an engineer and owned a sheet metal business, so I got to know about processes and machinery at an early age.
What is your role at HOPPE (UK) and ARRONE, a HOPPE Group brand? First and foremost, I look after product design and innovation. I design solutions to problems. This is a mix of new products and innovations to existing products, with a split of around 50/50.
I have big projects each year that we are looking at for marketplace entry, and design and deliver those. This incorporates innovation not only in design but also user experience, packaging and factory assembly. The ARRONE brand is strong and technically complex, and my work allows us to remain at the forefront of competitors.
I also control mechanical auditing with test houses to make sure CE and Certifire certification evidence is up to date and look after FPCs (production processes). I control the tooling register and handle new design inspection work, producing sample inspection reports (SIRs).
I deliver our PIM CAD drawings for catalogues and work with sales when they require the latest dimensioned drawings for customers.
What have been your big projects over the last twelve months? My main focuses have been our new ARRONE AR227 Split Spindle for AR915 Apartment Locks, as well as PAS 24 panic hardware.
We needed a new split spindle to help overcome a problem of overtightening during installation. Split spindles have two halves that allow independent movement on each side of the lock. The door needs to lock securely from the outside, but offer quick egress on the inside, in case of a fire alarm, fire or need for escape.
My job has been about eliminating potential for assembly error. I have designed a solution to prevent overtightening with the clip-fix mechanism. It’s going to make the fitting a lot faster so it’s an exciting addition for us.
Tell us more about designing the split spindle… Apartment blocks, hotels, or building with separate flats – typically anywhere where there are multiple doors in a building – require security so they can be locked from the outside and exited from the inside. This is done using a split spindle with a screw fixing.
To fit these, customers tend to use power tools. However, occasionally they are overtightened and this can mean the emergency side becomes more difficult to use.
Although the products contain full instructions it became clear we needed a better product to overcome this issue.
I designed a locking split spindle in two halves where part A is installed through the lock follower, and part B clips onto it with a sprung clip. It cannot be overtightened, it’s five times quicker to install and uses less components.
This was the product of a eureka moment. I had the idea quite early on when I was looking at a luggage case with castor wheels. Some of them have wheels that can clip and unclip for storage and that give a reassuring ‘click’ sound when attached. I thought this could be used with doors, so it then became about developing and perfecting it.
The product has been tested and is available to purchase.
How would you summarise the favourite parts of your role?
It’s all about making the user experience better and breathing new life into existing designs. The interplay of functionality and form across both residential and commercial is important to me.
Crucially, I design for the problem or to a cost, not necessarily for the sector or use. Design is also there to support the maintenance of a product – extending its use and lifespan rather than replacement.
The main job satisfaction comes when I arrive at a solution to a problem and have managed to really answer an issue end users have. I get great satisfaction from keeping customers happy.
What’s your process for designing brand new products? First, the team will get together and identify a set of products for design the following year. These will go through shortlisting where projects are prioritised. We respond to customer requests or concentrate on areas we are keen to develop. For 2023/2024 our products to design were the split spindle and PAS 24 panic hardware, which are both at launch stage now.
As part of this process, I run a significant research and development phase to explore what’s on the market and new ways to innovate. This involves brainstorming for improvements and testing their feasibility through prototyping while ensuring designs are suitable for manufacture.
In this role, you are constantly looking for improvement, taking on customer feedback, and working closely with door manufacturers and other key partners.
I work with door manufacturers as they know what they want – to speed up the process, make things easier, and promote more ease in installation. This is because lots of products are placed on the door at source, so we must work together to meet their needs.
This is especially true of fire doors where everything needs to be tested together.
When it comes to architectural ironmongery, my focus is on creating new things in the market that they’ll want to sell. Innovation is a big focus.
Is the process different when you’re innovating from existing products?
We innovate from existing products if a feature or look and feel needs refreshing. The aesthetic might be a bit tired, or features need to be made more present or relevant for today’s market.
Value engineering is also a big part of this, where I look for ways to make more margin. This can mean reducing material weight, taking out parts, or making assembly simpler. At the same time the challenge is to retain the same product with the same function and quality, while taking money and complication out of it. A CE marked product, for example, needs to retain standards.
It’s an iterative process. You innovate to continually improve.
Sometimes we also partner with other manufacturers to carry out fire testing in a group to create an economy of scale.
Looking back, what have been some of the biggest changes in the sector in five years? The speed of being able to design and bring a product to life has been key. Rapid prototyping is a part of this and at HOPPE/ARRONE we are putting this to use with a 3D printer. It means I can expedite the feasibility stage by designing in CAD and printing in one day, to move to testing very quickly.
It helps to understand fit and function, cuts cost and time as involves no external supplier, and also produces a better product by allowing for much more time to test and adjust.
Looking ahead, what major changes do you see for the next five years? Now our metal prototype production takes two weeks but in the next five years I can see much more in the way of affordable 3D printing with metal to speed up the feasibility and testing process.
Aside from that, with the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report: Government response published in February, alongside a new Construction Products Reform Green Paper 2025, the focus is really growing around product testing and improving fire safety.
What are the opportunities for the business on the horizon? For us, it’s all about growing our range with more exciting products.
The level of software innovation will also be key for growth, especially when it comes to producing renders of designs. There is software out there that are game changers when it comes to making photorealistic renderings and animations of what you’ve designed. Products can be brought to life when it comes to proposals for Board. They provide the ability to communicate a design in the early stages.
www.hoppe.co.uk
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