Innovative product development, 3D CAD engineering, simulations, design for manufacturing and assembly, prototyping and testing are our recipe for quality products.
Innovative product development
During product development, our focus is on innovation, quality and choice of stable production processes. The best way to reach a good product is through innovative product development, detailling the concept. We design solutions for each part of the product, develop connections, integrate components, build complex 3D CAD models, choose materials, run simulations and optimize for manufacturing and assembly.We are used to run rapid iterations, testing operating principles immedeately with models and have continuous evaluation of the user experience and ergonomics.
Product development and detailling
First we develop the product concept into a first prototype P1. It involves detailing of the design: make choices in terms of materials, assembly, production and finish and the ability to test the user-friendly solutions.With the help of 3D CAD engineering software, the various components of the product are detailed and optimized. We evaluate the design solutions on manufacturability and assembly, we optimize and conduct preliminary consultations with manufacturing companies.
During complex projects, we will send regular presentations with updates of the product development solutions we are working on, with de-briefs and visualizations of the decisions we made and the reasons behind it.
Once the innovativ product development is well advanced we will start building a first P1 prototype to test all solutions on ergonomics and functionality. With the aid of rapid prototyping techniques, the various components are produced at selected parties. As soon as the parts come in, we check them according to the drawings, adjust them if needed, assemble the prototype and conduct functional and user tests on the prototype.
Product development and materials
During dozens of very demanding innovative product development projects, both in the fields of sports, consumer and medical, we have gained experience with a large set of materials and work closely together with many material vendors.We have experience in using for instance bio-compatible materials like LSR (liquid silicon rubber), medical grade engineering plastics and medical metals. In sports applications we used high performance engineering plastics, like glass filled Nylons, PEEK or simpler ABS / PC types of plastics, as well as high performance TPE and TPU's. Apart from plastics we have experience with metals, like copper, magnesium, stainless steel and lightweight aerospace aluminium like AL7068-T6511.
For other sports applications we gained experience in both natural as well as synthetic leathers and fabrics, both for shoes and bags.
Product development, testing, norms and certification
During the last stages of product development we make a testing plan, together with you and future manufacturing partners. Using norms, FMEA and other sources we decide in which field the product needs to be tested. This could be in the fields of medical or sports certifications, ESD/EMC, climate testing, reliability or durability.We have experience in supporting our partners with the certification of products, both general certifications for CE / UL regarding mechanical and low voltage regulations, as well as EMC and ESD regulations. Apart from that we can also assist together with a notified body in the application and testing for specific medical certifications like 93/42/EEC, ICE 60601 or FDA class I or II devices.
We have done high quality product development projects with our partners SMF Potok Inter, Philips Personal Health Systems, Maplez Racing Sports, TüV Rheinland, Swisscom and Decathlon.
Product development, industrialisation and manufacturing support
With our 3D CAD data, 2D drawings and transfer report manufacturing partner(s) can start mould engineering. Sometimes they do this in house, sometimes they outsource parts of this process.This is a process of optimizing for their manufacturing process and parameters, running mould flow and warpage analysis on critical parts, choosing a vendor for the material blends and masterbatch for the right colour, developing automation and testing set-ups for high volume manufacturing.
Our network of manufacturing partners and knowledge of robust manufacturing and assembly processes helps to make the industrialisation process of the product smooth and on schedule.
Product development and integration of electronics
We have many years of experience with the integration of smart electronic solutions into both professional, sports and medical products. Initially we will look for solutions based on standard components, but if that is not possible we will have to develop a specific PCB board with a partner. We integrate the PCB in the product, carry out iterations on the pcb shape and dimensions, on the placement of components and connectors, flex PCBs and cables, in combination with the structure of the product housing.
