Product Development

Before we, in close cooperation with the stakeholders, start the development proces it is crucial to identify your direct competitors and gather product ideas. This includes doing research in finding competitive products to analyze what other companies are doing.

It is also essential to further explore the market and discover the needs of potential customers. If users are faced with a problem or missing feature that still needs to be implemented, you can fill this missing gap by developing a solution that addresses that specific need.

By conducting extensive market research, we can calculate a realistic budget, set business goals and thus establish the appropriate development guidelines for your product.

The Product Definition Phase involves planning the features and functionality of the product and its electronics properties. This may take several weeks to several months to complete. This phase may include the following steps:

█  Brainstorming ideas

█  Carrying out site visits

█  Creating a product concept

█  Drawing up a preliminary project

█  Plan and prioritize tasks

The preliminary product design is necessary to properly manage the development project. This phase focuses on the product's both electronic as well mechanical components, requirements, specifications, costs, profit margins, and an analysis of its features and feasibility. A preliminary product design helps assess the potential of your offering and determine its potential profitability.

The system-level block diagram helps create the preliminary product design by visualizing how and which components are connected to each other. Most products use microprocessors and controllers that in turn connect to various internal active and passive components. Defining the system block diagram identifies all required operating components so we can select the appropriate microprocessors and controllers for your product development.

We then identify manufacturers who can supply the components and semi-finished products, needed to make the new product. In this phase we list all the different basic components needed to create a Bill Of Materials. A BOM lists the total costs of the various components used for your electronic/hardware product. The component overview then helps estimate production costs for the entire Product Development Process.

In addition to component costs, you also need to estimate production costs or cost of goods sold, including expenses for:

█  Assembly of Printed Circuit Board(s)

█  Product testing and prototypes

█  Assembly of the final product

█  Product certifications

█  Packaging

The Architecture phase focuses on creating a Proof of Concept (PoC) for product validation.

A Proof of Concept is a basic prototype of the product concept. It does not accurately reflect the look and design of the final product, but shares some similar features and functionality to gather feedback.

It is important not to place too much emphasis on creating the perfect prototype here. A Proof of Concept typically does not include technical design and rather focuses on developing the core functionality of the product. The main idea behind developing the PoC is to validate your idea to check its viability in the market before spending a lot of time and money on the product development cycle.

The Design of the electronic hardware portion is developed using Altium™ Designer.

At this stage we design the following components:

█  Schematic Circuit Diagram.

█  Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

A Schematic Circuit Diagram is the fully developed and described version of the system block design that our project team created in the first steps of the process. This means that sub-circuits are added within the blocks at the system level to form a complete schematic circuit diagram. You should keep in mind that this is not a basic design, but it should be comprehensive and include all components of the final electronic product. An improperly installed or implemented part or component can drastically change the performance of the end product and negatively affect its functionality.

After the schematic circuit diagram is completed, the Printed Circuit Board (or PCB) is designed. A PCB is a physical fiberglass board that contains copper traces that connects all electronic components. Some complex designs may contain multiple copper layers, so-called multi-layer technology. Altium™ Designer includes built-in validation tools to check the PCB layout. It is very important that the PCB meets the set design standards and quality controls, to ensure that the design functions as intended. The time required to create the PCB layout depends on the complexity, size and design of the PCB itself. When creating the PCB, extra care must be taken when developing the voltage routing, RF clocks, high-speed signals, wireless circuits, current flows and grounding.

Once the first PCB version is produced, it is not guaranteed that it will function error-free. Before a completed prototype (also called a pilot) can be deployed, it is important to extensively test the PCB and identify any bugs or errors you encounter.

At this stage there are usually bugs that need to be fixed within the µcontroller section. The µController Unit (or MCU) - in combination with the µProcessor (Embedded) - is the "digital highway traffic controller" of the electronic product. It is responsible for controlling components such as memory, sensors, movements, displays and switches. If we find bugs in the microcontroller, it must be reprogrammed. Our developers use Visual Studio Code Compiler C, C++, which is used to code on hardware µcontroller level for proper operation, or C# (C-sharp) / CodeFusion Studio™ in case also embedded software platforms are applied.

This process of debugging, testing and evaluating the changes may have to be repeated a number of times before it has the desired functionality, but above all continues to work stably.

The PCB prototype has been developed and tested, but it is now important to connect all the parts together to get a good idea of what the final product will look like and how it will work.

The steps for creating a prototype its Physical Design include:

█  Design a 3D model.

█  Constructing the 3D prototype.

█  Evaluation of the prototype.

Before creating the Actual Prototype, it is important to have a visual representation of what the product will look like. This requires us to ask our 3D Modeler/Industrial Designer to Design a 3D model of the prototype with the use of Solidworks™ or AutoDesk™ Inventor.

Once the 3D graphic model has been designed and developed, you can use it to market your product to customers and give them a realistic representation of the design and its appearance. You can also skip this step and just start constructing the physical copy of your product.

To Construct a 3D Prototype of the final product, an additive 3D printing process is used, in which layers of plastic are stacked on top of each other until a physical product representation is created. However, keep in mind that the resin, a type of liquid that hardens to turn into plastic, used in 3D printers is and also looks different from the production plastic used in Micro Injection Molding. MIM produced surfaces are made much smoother and with much smaller tolerances (10 to a 100 microns) than 3D printers can.

Once the actual prototype has been created, it is common to discover areas that require further development. We ensure that before we test the prototype, we have multiple versions available so that the testers can make an Accurate Prototype Evaluation. This phase may include multiple iterations of the prototype to ensure it has the right look, feel and functionality for your market-ready electronic final As-Built product.

We have developed the prototype, but before we design a comprehensive Production Manual plus launch the production stage, we need to start creating Pilots. Pilots are the first pieces of hardware manufactured during the entire Product Development process. Our team design and build these pilots after evaluating the changes needed in the prototype phase. Pilots are created to gather feedback from end users to further improve the product and assess all potential challenges and risks before the design is put into mass production.

At the subsequent (mass) Production stage, manufacturers begin full production of the electronic hardware, for delivery to customers. Quality Control Managers and Supervisors perform manufacturing procedural inspections and parts / semi-finished component testing, to optimize the production process and thus the overall quality of your product.