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Rumyana Dancheva is a design engineer in the new product innovation (NPI) hair care team, an area where Dyson has introduced several products in recent years.
“I like to think of Dyson as a machine with hundreds of parts, and all these parts are connected together,” she says. “In the NPI team we come up with new concepts, a lot of idea generation and sketching, CAD modelling and prototyping. We test the prototypes with a series of lab tests, identify if there’s any issues, and then we go back.
“It’s a circle of new ideas – testing, failing, and then proceeding until we find something that really works. That then goes into new product development, and they develop it further until it’s time to launch the project. It can take somewhere from just a few weeks to maybe a few months to maybe a few years until we transfer.”
Team building
“Even from the very early stages of idea generation, we’re constantly in contact with people from different teams. That can include people from fluid dynamics, to manufacturing, to the prototyping teams, all the way to commercial. We have so many people from different backgrounds. I personally come from an industrial design background, and we have product designers, also mechanical and electronics engineers, and scientists across different categories.
“This diversity creates a very exciting working environment, and people are constantly helping each other. There’s so much to learn from all these people that have very specific knowledge. That’s one of the best parts of the job.”
Doing more with less
“Dyson’s approach is quite unique in that we focus on problems that others ignore. We are constantly trying to push the limits of engineering, which can mean many different things in many contexts. That pushes us to be really creative in our day-to-day work.
“One of the things that we focus on is ‘lean engineering’ – essentially trying to do more with less. That means better-performing machines that use less energy and fewer materials, but offer even better performance for the users.
“From the very beginning, even as a grad, you’re given these top-secret projects. It teaches you responsibility from day one, and you’re pretty much on board from the moment you start. I’ve really appreciated that you’re treated as any other employee.
“Coming up with a project that can change a particular field is exciting. It pushes us to constantly try and improve on existing products.”
The next great idea
“I’m also an ambassador for the James Dyson Award, where I can help inspire the next generation of engineering and design talent. I draw from my personal experience as a uni student, where I was constantly seeking opportunities to enter the industry.
“What’s great about the award is that it not only gives prize money to the winners, but it also can provide extensive media exposure that can secure further investment and help create businesses. It’s really interesting to see students’ designs, because you never know where the next great idea is going to come from. It’s a similar kind of thinking to what we do at Dyson, which is trying to solve existing problems with a plethora of new and creative problem-solving techniques.
“I recently did a talk with Lucy Hughes, the 2019 international award winner, who created a single-use plastic alternative using organic waste from the fish processing industry.
“We had quite a lot of students join, asking about her journey and how she created her own business after university. It was really inspiring for the students, pushing them to explore new products and solutions to problems.”
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.