I take hardware from prototype to first production run
Industrial design, electronics and firmware, through to moulded production.
Built so scaling up doesn’t mean starting over.
Designer, mechanical and electronics. Same person, same project.
Hardware problems usually happen where the design, the mechanical and the electronics have to line up. A connector ends up too close to the frame to actually plug in. Wall thickness passes CAD and gets rejected by the moulder. The enclosure is finalised while the board is still changing.
I do the design, the mechanical and the electronics on the same project. Nothing gets lost in between.
The work
- 01 Parts CAD, electronics and firmware, built into something that works rather than something that renders well.
- 02 People Into the hands of the people who’ll use it, early enough that what comes back can still change the design.
- 03 Production The back and forth with the moulder and the supplier, until the parts can be made at volume.
How a project runs
Prototype and Develop are written up. Open one to see what is in it, what comes out of it, and how it is quoted.
Architecture, Produce and Support are not written up yet. Ask me about them directly.
Every phase ends with a fixed-price quote for the next one. You can stop at any phase boundary and keep everything produced so far. No open-ended engagements.
One person means the phases run in sequence rather than as three teams in parallel. Fewer handovers, and nobody re-explaining the project to the next discipline.
Handover
At the end you get everything needed for someone else to pick it up:
- Design files and BOMNative CAD, STEP and Gerbers, plus a BOM sourced line by line so the whole build can be ordered. One option per line, not a price comparison.
- Firmware sourceIn a repository you own.
- Compliance basisWhich directives the product ships under, and on what grounds.
- Decision log and test resultsWhat was chosen, what was rejected, and why. What passed, and what didn’t.
Ownership transfers with it. I keep the right to show the work, and nothing else.
That’s deliberate. If you can only continue with me, I built it wrong.
After launch
Products don’t stop needing attention when they ship. Components go end-of-life. Factories drift. The second production run isn’t the same as the first.
Optional monthly support covers obsolescence monitoring and qualifying substitutes, factory liaison and quality issues, firmware fixes, and keeping the BOM and documentation current.
Quoted with the project, not sold to you afterwards.
What it costs
The way in is a manufacturability review. You send the files, and the prototype if there is one. Two days, 900 euro excluding VAT, fixed. Written assessment back within five working days, and the fee comes off any phase booked within 30 days.
After that, projects are quoted flat per phase, never hourly. Every phase boundary comes with a fixed price for the next one, agreed before it starts.
If a project isn’t a fit, I’ll say so in my first reply rather than quote for it.
Fit
A good fit
- Founders with a concept and no prototype yet
- Companies with an existing product line adding a connected or redesigned version
- Teams with a design the factory won’t quote
- Anyone on v2 after a painful v1
- Design studios needing hardware they can’t do in house
Not a fit
- A launch date already locked, less than six months out. Tooling takes as long as it takes.
- High volume manufacturing. I take you through your first production run. Scaling beyond that needs a manufacturing partner.
Certification testing (EMC, RED, safety) runs through a partner lab and is quoted separately.