How we go from an idea to a physical product.

Specification

The first step of any design is a specification. There’s little point designing something if you don’t know what you want! That said, specifications can and do change during the course of a project. For example a particular feature is proven to be too costly or bulky, it can be removed. Conversely, during development it is often found that a feature can be included for little effort and expense, which improves usability and can be included in the final product.

Feasibility & Proof of concept

Once we have a goal in mind, the next step in a new design is often to see if it is achievable, on time, and in budget. For well proven technologies this step is often not necessary and can be skipped. The proof of concept stage typically involves the building of a system which will bare little physical resemblance to the final product. Use of development boards and prototyping boards are heavily utilised at this stage in order to keep time frames to a minimum.

Prototype

The initial prototype is designed using lessons learnt in the proof of concept stage. The prototype more closely resembles the final product, but is for evaluation and iterative changes can be made at this stage.

Pre Production

A pre-production product is a trial run based on the final iteration of the prototype. At this point we can usually conduct certification tests (i.e. EMC) to ensure the final product will comply. If you only need a one off, we can stop here. While small changes are occasionally made at this point, it is always advisable to only move from “Pre-Production” to “Production” when we can say to the PCB fab “Same again please, no changes”

Production

At this point large quantities can be made safe in the knowledge they will perform optimally.

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