2006 B&D Smart Select drill

One of our engineers had a rather ingenious idea: why not make the clutch and the speed a single control? This, in theory, would make drills much easier to understand for the everyday consumer, who is often confused by the many possible settings in a modern drill.

Designed as part of a whole range of compact drills in collaboration with Tom Murray (shown below), this product was an engineering and marketing challenge. In the end the design was greatly compromised by [arguably necessary] marketing decisions, but I learned a lot through them. The lessons I learned during the development of this product have served me well ever since.