Traditional development burns the first two months on sketch and rendering cycles that get discarded in feasibility anyway. We compress that. The goal is functional design validation as fast as possible, with physical parts in hand early enough to make decisions on evidence rather than on renderings.
Concept Development
Identify core functional needs while wrangling feature creep. Explore and establish concept direction strategy via target user and environment observation, and get to real world development as fast as possible. We extract the core discoveries and move onto proof of concept phases immediately.
CAD Development
Based on initial common sense discoveries in the previous phase, it is prudent to get into 3D CAD models as soon as possible. Time is better spent in the early stages with first real world steps than beautifying imaginary concepts. These models serve as the base to fuel actual feasible concepts and to get a step closer to physical models.
Design Validation
Prototypes and mock ups are made to evaluate and eliminate concepts quickly based on actual ergonomics, functionality, intuitiveness, and manufacturability. The magic of discovery in this phase far outweighs the imaginary thought exercises in the initial phase.
Design Finalization
The most viable concepts have been evaluated, refined, and validated. The best case scenario is refined for mass produced tooling. This phase is where we tighten up the industrial design, CMF, aesthetics, and the details of intuitive use.
Detail Engineering
All parts are formally designed and engineered for manufacturing, BOM is finalized, vendors vetted, hardware procured. Formal CAD database is created with DFM parts. Value engineering is also conducted for the most cost effective methods and sources while interfacing with qualified vendors.
Manufacturing
Final parts and drawings are passed off to the qualified vendors, first articles are received and tested, CMF validated and adjusted as necessary. We stay engaged with the vendors to ensure quality control throughout the production process until delivery.
