Capabilities

We are creative problem solvers drawing from experience over a broad spectrum of industries. Our multidisciplinary engineering team has walked through entire product development life cycles, strategically supported ongoing engineering efforts, and performed forensic case studies.

While our experience is broad, our focus is Client Satisfaction. When you partner with us, you will get high performance engineering, on schedule and within budget, and tailored to your specific needs.

Product Development Services and process

If you are unfamiliar with the process flow of product development, we provide a brief description of each stage below. We offer the following product development services as part of a turn-key project or a piece-wise approach model in order to precisely meet your needs.

Project Management
Project Scoping
Project Scheduling
Project Budgeting
Requirements Derivation
Agile / SCRUM / Iterative Methods
Ideation

Feasibility Study
Conceptual Design
Proof of Concept
Prototyping
Design Assessments
Risk Analysis
Vendor Vetting

Project Management

Each of our product development services are provided with a tailored project management solution to provide two-way communication, clearly set and manage expectations, and track progress.

Hands off approach: If your product is a variation of previous technology or you are in the defense industry, your product requirements specification is likely 85%-100% complete. Your unknowns are minimal and your project is well defined so your budget, schedule, and milestones are all set. You may be served best by a traditional project management approach. We will support your project management plan and provide weekly updates and documentation as needed based on your company policy or preference.

Hands on approach: If you are starting from scratch, or your technology is at the edge of possible, you may be better served by an iterative approach – especially in the beginning while all of the product specifications and requirements are still in flux. With close collaboration, you will assign – or we will provide a dedicated product owner to support your project through its early stages in order for us to quickly identify the highest value requirements based on your needs and iteratively chip away at the risk. Whether you call them sprints, milestone efforts, phases – we call them high value engineering tasks.

A la carte: We can provide an experienced project manager to assist your internal development effort in performing the high level tasks such as project definition, scoping, budgeting, and scheduling. In addition, we can assist with the detailed tasks such as requirements derivation, risk analysis, and vendor vetting – all things we would be doing internally for your project.

Ideation, Design Exploration, Proof of Concept

After your vision has been well understood, we will start iterating through possible solutions and formulating a plan of attack. As we are performing any required background research in order to evolve your idea from paper to concept, we also begin working on the highest risk or highest value problems first. This is also the area where manufacturing levers such as Design to Cost (DTC), Design for Manufacturing (DFM), and Design for Assembly (DFA) will help layout the initial roadmap.

As new problems are discovered or known problems are solved, the schedule and requirements may fluctuate depending on your priorities and thresholds for value – this is where communication and collaboration is key and the development road map may be augmented. If the risk cannot be mitigated through analysis or other offloading techniques, then a proof of concept may be preferred to gate into the next stage based on your specific risk tolerance.

Conceptual, Preliminary and Detailed Design

Once the key challenges or risks have been overcome through analysis or proof of concept demonstrations, more resolution on the project development plan can be achieved and the schedule and budget become less of a moving target. Milestones are refined and all systems are go. Conceptual design will begin and we will rapidly move through design trade studies focused around your highest value items.

Once complete, we will present the findings and the design concept for review and feedback before moving into the preliminary and design phases. Design reviews will gate each stage culminating in the detailed (critical) design being presented and confirmed.

Prototyping, Test & Validation, Production Handoff

You have signed off on the work thus far and are as eager as we are to start getting hardware in your hands for your venture capital support, or for user group studies to start collecting data. We have developed many great relationships with vendors over the years and they will be on board to start working on the initial round of parts. We will utilize rapid prototyping techniques and manufacturing where applicable to condense the fab cycles and deliver the first “as like-feels like” systems.

The parts are received and inspected and integration of the first systems begin. This is also another step where iteration is likely to occur. You’ve seen the design in 3D space, but you have yet to hold it in your hand, to mull over the details that can only be appreciated after spending some time with the actual prototype.

It’s typical that the first prototypes are considered alpha systems, or engineering units – as these systems will be used both by the engineering team and may also be used by your company to trail blaze the next steps in marketing, product launch, and user studies. The alpha systems should be ready for evaluation and testing, but it is also common that the next iteration, or beta systems, are better suited for the higher fidelity testing and validation.

Milestones are reached, the prototype systems are well underway, and we’ve already provided detailed drawing information to begin the production costing efforts. As the next phase is taking shape, we will be reaching out to vendors and acting as the production liaison if needed. During this step, we will be working closely with you and the identified vendors to ensure that everyone understands the unique processes to make your product.

The prototypes meet requirements, minor changes are made based on vendor feedback or prototype performance, and the production effort begins. We will transfer the entire project over to the production vendors and will continue to maintain a supporting role to help guide your product to the finish line.

Engineering services

We offer the following engineering services as part of a turn-key project, standalone disciplines, or we can supplement your existing engineering staff with additional expertise. We will tailor our support to efficiently meet your needs.

Systems Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Software Engineering
Analysis
Design of Experiments (DOE)

Test & Validation
Data Acquisition
CAD Design
Detailed Drawing Creation
2D to 3D Conversions
Reverse Engineering

Systems Engineering

To ensure successful completion of the product development road map, the initial phase of any project should include at least a minimal Systems Engineering effort.

We can trail blaze this path with you, or we can complement your internal engineering effort with an excellent big picture thinker to ensure we cover all the bases and minimize risk to your project.

Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering is a diverse subject that derives its breadth from the need to design and manufacture everything from small individual parts and devices to large systems. Our mechanical engineering team is excellent at pairing best practice engineering methods with innovative and out of the box solutions. We have a wealth of experience in the following domains, to name a few:

Electronic Packaging
Injection Molding
Optics Packaging
Precision Mechanisms
Test Fixture Design
Manufacturing Fixtures
Precision Manufacturing
Micro-scale to Large Industrial Equipment

Electrical Engineering

Critical skills needed in electrical engineering include an in-depth understanding of electrical and electronic theory, mathematics, and relevant layout and simulation tools. This knowledge allows engineers to design circuits to perform specific functions and meet requirements for performance, cost, reliability, and environmental conditions, while predicting circuit behavior prior physical hardware implementation. Our electrical engineering staff can specify circuitry, perform full board layouts, and integrate full systems.

Software Engineering

Software engineering is the process of analyzing user needs and designing, constructing, and testing end user applications that will satisfy these needs through the use of software programming languages. In contrast to simple programming, software engineering is used for larger and more complex software systems, which are used as critical systems for businesses and organizations. Our software engineering resources can provide embedded, utilities, applications, and/or GUI solutions for your project.

CAD Design

Like systems engineering, CAD design should be an integral part of any project where the design and, more importantly, design intent needs to be documented and relayed to the manufacturing group. We use both DS Solidworks and PTC Creo, depending on your specific needs. Our CAD resources are very familiar with geometric tolerance and dimensioning (GTOL), ASME / ANSI standards, and know how to convey the high priority information on detailed drawings.

Analysis

As the availability of finite element analysis tools continue to expand, there is also the need for analysis expertise. If you need assurance that your system will pass rigorous environmental requirements or if you would like to determine if there is additional margin in your parts to reduce weight and cost, we can provide answers. Our analysis resources are competent in the following analysis types:

Linear & Non-Linear Analysis
Static & Dynamic Structural Analysis
Thermal Analysis
CFD & Pressure
Shock & Vibration
Drop Shock & Weapon Shock
Fatigue
MIL-STD-810G
MIL-HDBK-516C
Avionics

Data Acquisition, Test & Evaluation

Data driven decisions are key to keeping any project within the guide rails of the product development road map. We are engineers who love data, and more importantly, love collecting data. Maybe you need inputs to characterize your environmental requirements such as determining the acceleration time history of a shock event. Maybe your product is experiencing thermal runaway even though your analysis predicts safety margin. We can perform these data acquisition studies to provide clarity and the opportunity to execute data driven decisions.

We also have experience testing products and evaluating them against their requirements specifications. Does the unit meet the salt fog specifications? Can the unit withstand the wind load rating for the market? Does the product require flight substantiation or airworthiness certification? We have experience in all these areas along with many others and can develop a solution for you.

Forensic engineering services

We offer the following engineering services on retainer or by an hourly as-needed basis to support your case.

Product Liability

There are millions of people interacting with products at any given moment. While the majority of these products have been through rigorous failure mode and effects analyses during the development process, engineers cannot account for every use case (or every improper use case). If an accident has occurred, or a product has failed – we have registered Professional Engineers on staff to perform a detailed root cause investigation, supply forensic analysis, and provide objective analysis about the facts of your specific case.

Workplace, Dangerous Premises & Accident Reconstruction

Maybe it isn’t a product that has failed, but some kind of accident has occurred in the workplace or on another premises. In the same way that we provide attention to detail in product liability cases, we will likewise take this approach when looking at the environment surrounding these events. Perhaps the proper protective gear for this industry was not provided to your client, or the industry standards for safety were not followed and may have played a role in the outcome, or a piece of equipment was damaged during transportation because shortcuts were made. We will serve as consultants to counsel, evaluate the arguments and analyses of opposing experts, and assist with the development of lines of questioning or specific questions for use in expert depositions. We will serve as advisors to counsel to evaluate the responses of deponents during live deposition testimony.