Factory Friday: FifeX Ltd

As part of our ongoing Factory Friday series, where we delve into the stories behind manufacturing, we speak with Ken Boyd at FifeX in Tayport. FifeX design and make bespoke, interactive products. This includes the fabrication and programming of prototypes, installations, exhibits, displays, props and sculpture.

How did Fifex start?

FifeX was originally a spin-out from the University of St Andrews. We were setup in 2002 to design and produce interactive exhibits for museums, science centres and visitor attractions. There aren't many of us around so FifeX works for clients up and down the country as well as overseas.

Who is the typical client who comes to Fifex?

Typically, a client will come to us with a project to produce a bespoke display for their visitor centre.

It might have cabinet work; it might have buttons and sensors to make things light up, buzz or print something out; it might send them an email; in finishing, it might need to be painted or have graphics applied; it could be made from timber, ply, plastics, metals or any combination of these - and ideally the client wants one point of contact from initial concept through to completion. A project might have one of these products or a suite of them.

Could you tell us about a project that’s come into Fifex that you’ve particularly enjoyed?

All of our work is different and most projects have enjoyable parts to them! One of the best projects we worked on was for a visitor centre at Tullis Russel Papermakers. We developed the whole exhibition from start to finish. The work on this was so varied including all aspects of design and production.

There were four large units, each with lots of different things on them and each of the units was designed to look like flowing paper. With a range of bespoke activities and graphic design, there were a huge amount of challenges and that's what we love! The final product was a huge success and was visited by schools from all over Scotland.

A lot of your work involves digital fabrication which is a really quick moving industry, how do you see your sector changing over the coming years?

Everyone in our sector is becoming more aware of emerging technologies and things like 3D printing open up a world of possibilities for companies like us. A lot of our clients like being early-adopters of new techniques so it's crucial that companies like us are aware of what is going on and experienced in using them. Digital fabrication also changes the budget of projects and makes things possible that would not have been a decade ago.

It's an exciting time and I think things will continue to evolve. In the same way that open source software has allowed clients to do more in-house, the cost of small production machines will probably allow people to do more prototyping and small-scale production themselves. We are already seeing clients interested in producing consumables themselves and this then becomes an integral part of the design process. It's exciting and I think our sector will be a very different place in ten years, or maybe just five!

What advice do you have for emerging makers, designers and manufacturers?

Get to grips with the new production techniques - understand how they work and what their limitations are. Knowing how far you can push a machine / material obviously affects how you can use it and in a sector like ours where budgets are fixed, you need to be able to have this knowledge to hand. Designers who can produce things with a production technique in mind are really attractive to us and help keep projects moving fast and within budget. With places like Maklab popping up, there's so much opportunity for people to really get to grips with what's possible.

Thanks very much to Ken from Fifex for speaking with us!

You can check out Fifex on Make Works here

Keen to find out more about digital fabrication? Read our guide to 3D Printing