The Progress Phase

The progress phase includes a few different headings. These are by no means in a waterfall style, and each section of the project can feed back in and generate a bit of iteration.

01

Research

One of the first things we should do is quickly ask some important questions in order to save time and money.

Has anyone else already encountered our problem? What useful manufacturing methods are out there? Are there any off the shelf components we can utilise to save developent time and project complexity? Is there a lack of IP in this sector that we could capture and make your business more valuable?

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02

Concept Design

Next we’ll want to start an informed design process based on some of the findings we’ve discovered in our Research phase.

This usually mostly consists of CAD work completed over the course of a few days. The CAD work can display a few potential solutions as mated assemblies and / or renders to communicate the idea in 3D. It’s easy to display section views, exploded views or drawings from this, enabling an informed chat about a suitable next stage.

 

03

Prototype

Once we have a concept we like, and it works in CAD – it’s time to make it. This lets us evaluate its feasibilty much better.

The prototyping phase is a large part of why we’re unique. We use our workshop as well as our electronics and 3D printing studios to rapidly make, test, iterate and repeat designs. This completely negates the need for extortionate and time consuming outsourcing. It also makes it easier to quickly course correct if our design evolves.

 

04

Feasibility Testing

A prototype can look nice, and it can even work well on a bench top, or for an edited marketing piece. 

The next stage would be to test the feasiblity of our prototype to evaluate where we could improve. Areas for improvement could be more robust manufacturing methods, power effeciency, IPX rating, cyclical testing and load testing. 

From this we can learn about how we could iterate for the next model, or for your next stage of the project in order to make the best product.

 

05

DfX Testing

Feasibilty is likely to tell us how the prototype – and the product – is likely to perform once its in real conditions. We can also learn about its design for other scenarios.

Is it a pleasant experience for the end user – i.e. ergonomics, intuitiveness, weight? Is it easy to assemble / dissassemble? 

 

06

Other Material

Another likely aspect of the work we may do together is the generation of a few useful drawings & visuals. This can include a few things:

– Renders, animations & demos to communicate to users how it will be used – useful for focus groups & regulatory pathway.

– IP diagrams for filing patents. 

 

Let’s make something together.

We’d love to chat about how we can help. Whether that’s pushing a project on to meet a deadline, imagining new solutions to a tough problem, or generating proof of concept material for your stakeholders.