The right product, without paying for it twice.
The process is there to get you the right product for your business at a sensible development cost. Changing a sketch takes an afternoon. Changing the same part once the factory has made its mould can take months, and new moulds are costly. So every project runs through five stages, each ending at a gate where the direction is checked before you spend more.
- 01 Discover Find the problem worth solving G1
- 02 Concept From many ideas to one product G2
- 03 Prove Show it works as one product G3
- 04 Engineer Make it ready to manufacture G4
- 05 Produce Get it made G5
Products loop back. A failed test in Prove can send a concept back for rework. It’s cheaper to find that out at a gate than at the toolmaker.
Already part way there?
Many products come to me with research, CAD or prototypes already done, and we start from there. A Gate Review maps your existing work onto the gates, so you join at the stage you’re ready for and know about any gaps before you spend more.
Gate Review
I go through what you already have against every gate before the stage you want to join. That includes research, specs, CAD, prototypes, test data and supplier conversations.
You get- Which parts of your work hold up, and which need redoing or filling in
- The stage you should join at
- A short plan to close the gaps before you spend more: why each gap matters, how long it should take and how much it should cost
Find the problem worth solving
Everything later in the project rests on the problem statement, so it has to be specific and tied to an opportunity for the user, your business or a technology.
Start with a Blueprint
€2,000 + VAT · two weeks · credited in full if you continue
Understand the competitor landscape, process and feasibility before you commit to a full development process.
- Kick-off workshop, in Barcelona or remote
- Competitor Landscape Analysis
- Technology Scoping
- Differentiation Opportunity
- Development roadmap with a quote for the next phase
- Who should build it: me, or me with Enki’s team
What comes next
The Blueprint shows what you already know and what you don’t. The roadmap sets out the rest of Discover, sized to your product:
- User research: interviews and observation
- Competitor teardown
- Regulatory route mapping
- Target cost, price and volumes
If your users and market are already well understood, the roadmap may take you straight into Concept.
What you have at Gate 1
- Problem statements linked to user, business or technology opportunities
- User insights
- Competitor benchmark
- The standards and certifications that apply
- Target cost, price and volumes
Is this worth solving?
Passes when the problem statements, target user, cost target and regulatory route are agreed.
From many ideas to one product
First we go wide together: many ideas, sketches and quick experiments aimed at the problems found in Discover. Then we narrow hard, down to a short set of documents that describe one product. You’ll see your product early and test it roughly. Expect your first idea to be challenged.
What you get
- Product visuals sketches and renders of the strongest directions, so you can see the product before it’s engineered
- Low-fidelity test rigs quick builds from foam, laser cuts, 3D prints and off-the-shelf parts, each answering a single question
- Challenges to your idea a written list of where the research says your original idea should change
- Vision specification what the product is, its main specifications and features, who it’s for and why it will win
- Product documentation every product requirement and specification, written down
- FMEA the biggest technical, user and commercial risks, as a ranked list
- Initial IP search existing patents and design rights close to the chosen concept, so you don’t build towards something you can’t sell
- Plan for Prove what should be tested and why, how long it should take and how much it should cost
Services
- Ideation
- Industrial design and sketching
- CMF direction
- Rendering
- Sketch and appearance models
- Low-fidelity test rigs
- Concept testing with users
- Component scouting
- Should-cost estimate
- Initial IP search
Do we know what we’re building?
Passes when the product requirements and specifications are signed off, the top risks are known, no blocking IP has been found and the plan for Prove is agreed.
Show it works as one product
Prove is where the design has to work. I go after the highest risks first, with engineering test rigs and simulation, then build it as one integrated product rather than a set of separate features.
What you get
- Complete CAD model
- Engineering tests rigs built around the highest-risk items, with reports on what passed and what failed
- Simulation reports FEA and CFD, wherever a risk can be answered faster on screen than on the bench
- Looks-like prototype how the product will look and feel in the hand
- Works-like prototype the whole product working together, not features tested one by one
- DFMEA failure modes of the integrated design, ranked, with the tests that will close them
- BOM cost estimate estimated unit cost, checked against the target from Discover
- IP protection what’s protectable in the design identified, from design rights to full patents, and filed with my IP partner, RIDAN IP
- Plan for Engineer what has to change for manufacture and why, based on the test results, DFMEA and cost estimate, with how long it should take and how much it should cost
Services
- Engineering test rigs
- Mechanical simulation
- CFD
- CAD
- Prototyping
- Usability testing
- DFMEA
- BOM cost estimation
- IP protection and filing
Does it work, and can we afford to make it?
Passes when the integrated prototype meets its main requirements and the BOM estimate is within the target cost.
Make it ready to manufacture
Every part is designed for a specific process and material, with the suppliers who’ll make it. The design is tested against the DFMEA and certification starts. Then the RFQ goes out, and you leave this stage with quotes in hand and a BOM costed from them.
What you get
- Supplier shortlist suppliers found and vetted through an RFI for each key process
- Production-intent design every part designed for its process and material
- Drawings and engineering packs everything a supplier needs to quote and make each part
- Integrated prototype one rig that both looks and works like the final product, or separate rigs where that saves cost
- DFMEA test results test evidence against each high-risk failure mode
- Compliance and certification testing under way with an accredited lab, and the technical file built
- RFQ and quote comparison the RFQ package sent to the shortlisted suppliers, and their quotes compared like for like on piece price, tooling cost, lead time and capability
- Costed BOM unit cost from the RFQ quotes, with cost engineering where required
- Supplier recommendation which supplier to choose and why
- Plan for Produce the tooling and validation builds needed and why, how long they should take and how much they should cost
Services
- Supplier RFI and shortlisting
- Design for assembly and manufacture
- Drawings with GD&T
- DFMEA testing (failure mode risk mitigation)
- Reliability and life testing
- Compliance and certification
- Packaging design
- Cost engineering
- RFQ and quote analysis
- Supplier selection
Ready to commit to tooling?
Passes when the quotes are in, the BOM is costed from them and the supplier is selected. This gate sits in front of the biggest spend in most projects.
Get it made
From here the work happens at the factory. I stay with your supplier through tooling, validation builds and production engineering until parts come off the line consistently.
What you get
- Supplier agreements terms, quality expectations and responsibilities agreed in writing with the supplier chosen in Engineer
- Initial builds from T0 and T1 parts T0 parts are the first parts off a new tool, used to check it fills properly and the parts fit together. T1 parts come after the first round of tool corrections. Both are built into complete products so problems are caught early.
- Approved tooling tools corrected and signed off, textures included
- Production validation builds small runs of complete products made by the supplier and checked against the product requirements before full production
- Quality control plan what gets inspected, how and how often
Services
- Supplier agreements and communication
- Tooling kickoff and review
- Tool trials and texture approval
- Production validation builds
- Quality control planning
- Production engineering with the supplier
Ready to ship?
Passes when the production validation builds are signed off.
Services that run across every stage
- SimulationFEA and CFD, from early concept checks to final part design
- Prototypingfrom rough rigs to production-intent models
- Renderingfrom early concept visuals to launch imagery
- IPan initial search in Concept, then protection filed in Prove, with my IP partner, RIDAN IP
- Compliancethe route is set in Discover and delivered in Engineer
- Supplier sourcingfinding and vetting manufacturers for each process
- Project managementone point of contact, from first call to production
ip partnerRIDAN IP helps founders and growing businesses protect their inventions and product designs, with practical advice from a UK and European patent attorney with an engineering and Dyson background.
electronicsI don’t design electronics, but I design the mechanics around them: enclosures, thermal management, sealing and cable routing.
Where is your product now?
Tell me what stage you’re at. Early on, that means a Blueprint; further along, a Gate Review. I’ll reply within one working day.