Explore how to optimise your product development journey and meet your end goals by using this development map. This covers how we support our customers, from initial idea all the way through to the years beyond post-launch.
From electronics design to software development, simplify each stage of your product development journey by designing with Ignys.
Electronics Design. Software Engineering. Product Development.
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Contents
- Stage One Idea Development Workshop
- Stage Two Feasibility Studies
- Stage Three Prototype Demonstrator Development
- Stage Four Verification Testing and Manufacturing Scale-up
- Stage Five SAM Subscription
- How a Design Review Can Assist with Product Development
- Borrow an Engineer
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The Five Stages of Product Development
1) Idea Development Workshop
Bring your great ideas to life
Idea development is the first stage of product development and whilst it’s exciting, it also a challenging time.
You may have a clear understanding of the problem your product solves, conceptual idea ready to go, or lots of innovative ideas, but without a solid direction, things can go wrong.
A development workshop can help you shape the product journey and high-level specifications to make the best use of technology. It also maps out your approach for expected sales volumes, logistics, installation plans, and usability requirements.
This can mould the development to deliver the best product it can possibly be.
Related Information and Services
Why Embark Upon an Idea Development Workshop?
This works brilliantly if you have a product idea or compelling problem worth solving. An idea development workshop levels up your approach by shaping the technologies you need to bring your great idea to life.
As you outline and refine your approach, it will increase your chances of success significantly and provide a crucial step up to giving yourself a great head start.
What Do you Get from an Idea Development Workshop with Ignys?
A face-to-face workshop with experts from the Ignys engineering team helps us fully understand your idea on a conceptual level.
From here, you’ll receive suggestions on the recommended technology approach for your project. Plus enjoy a collaborative, open and honest environment designed to help you avoid common pitfalls and potentially add an idea or two!
We follow up your workshop with outlined research and a report to give you a clear picture and help frame your next step.
Idea Development Tips from our Team
We asked our team of creative engineers what they recommend for product developers starting a new project, here’s what they said:
- Just start – “The hardest part of creative work is to get going, so start sketching or whiteboarding and let it happen organically”
- Do your research online
- Seek honest feedback
- Protect your idea with an NDA (non-disclosure agreement)
- Find good funding sources
“Every business was a start-up once and every product portfolio starts with that one incredible idea”
Poppy, Ignys Sales Manager
What Are you Working On?
We’re a curious bunch, and we love discussing new product development ideas, but we also take intellectual property security very seriously. NDA options are therefore available to you from the very start.
Don’t leave your great idea on the shelf – let’s talk about it.
2) Feasibility Study
The path ahead is fraught with risks… address them head on
Is your product technically possible, can it meet your business’s timing and cost needs, and is there a clear route to product compliance?
Related Information and Services
- Product Feasibility Study
- How to Get the Most out of your Feasibility Study
- Feasibility Study: How-To Guide
Who are Feasibility Studies for?
A Feasibility Study explores the technical, commercial, and compliance-related risks that you will face along your journey. Investigate whether your product is feasible before pouring investment into prototype development.
If you have a clear idea of the problem your product addresses and a formed idea of your technology approach, then this stage of product development is your ideal next step.
What Do you Get from a Feasibility Study with Ignys?
A two-stage investigation into the technical feasibility and assessment of key risks for your project approach.
Stage one is typically done through calculations and computer simulation, with modelling as appropriate.
If stage one is successful, you can create a minimal prototype using our team’s expertise. This helps to further prove your project’s feasibility before you pour time and money into full-scale prototype development.
If stage one identifies significant technical barriers we can often work with you to solve the original problem in a different way.
How to Get the Most Out of a Feasibility Study
Remember what your product is designed to do, rather than every feature it would have in the perfect world. Feature creep can hold you back from creating a genuinely brilliant final product.
Similarly, assess if an expensive feature-rich product is more desirable than a simple but affordable product that appeals to more people.
If you get this right, you can get the best of both worlds – a good return-on-investment whilst your customers enjoy an impressive, high-quality product.
To explore these points in greater detail, check out our extensive guide on getting the most out of your Feasibility Study. Meanwhile, our tips on feasibility, penned by an embedded electronics engineer, covers all the essentials (you can also download an eBook version).
Is your Project Feasible?
Reward your future self with a clear path by highlighting the potential risks and challenges that lay ahead.
3) Prototype Demonstrator Development
Create something tangible that demonstrates your vision
Your electronic prototyping stage creates a tangible proof-of-concept prototype in this vital stage of product development. Move from the world of concept and theory and construct a real thing you can ‘drop on your foot,’ figuratively speaking, and share with stakeholders, test with users and parade in front of investors.
The prototype demonstrator often needs usability adjustments which become obvious when the product is in your hand, and you can interact with it. These are often simple firmware changes or minor hardware adjustments. When you’re happy with it, the design can be frozen ready to move on to production scale-up.
Related Information and Services
- Fletcher’s Law of Early Prototyping
- Proof of Concept Technical Demonstrator for Energy Solutions Project
Who are Prototype Demonstrators for?
Prototyping Demonstrator Development delivers robust prototype demonstrators reliably and efficiently. They prove the technology, the implementation, and bring the product specification to life.
Demonstrators also open doors as you use these for your user trials, investor demonstrations, and to assist with scale-up for volume manufacture.
What do you Get from Prototype Demonstrator Development?
Using prototyping demonstrator development services from Ignys means benefitting from high-quality electronics engineers and software engineers, orchestrated by dedicated project-managers to deliver designs and prototypes.
These are designed with best practice for compliance, manufacturability, testability, and maintainability from the outset.
You also get access weekly updates from our engineering team. We meet your agreed specifications and create a demonstrator suitable for low volume manufacture.
But I Already Have a Prototype that’s Let Me Down…
Nothing is more frustrating than creating a prototype of an idea you’ve poured your heart, time, and energy into only to discover it’s not right.
Perhaps it’s just not working, it’s full of bugs, or something else is keeping you awake at night.
Fortunately, our team has a proven ability to turn disaster into a success. We’ll provide open honest feedback on how to avoid future pitfalls and guide you forward.
4) Verification Testing and Manufacturing Scale-Up
Deliver a product that brings profits, not problems
Once you have a prototype that you are happy with, it’s time to put your product through its paces, ensuring it’s fully prepared to scale up to manufacturing.
It’s time to test.
Related Information and Services
Who is Verification Testing for?
Verification testing is designed for businesses with a manufacturable prototype that needs to demonstrate compliance (e.g. CE, UKCA, FCC).
It also stress tests the product, allowing for recommended adjustments to manufacturing yield and efficiency, and helps manage the ongoing quality control with customised & integrated production testing equipment.
What Do you Get from Verification Testing?
Every product is different customised programme of services including:
- Stress testing the product over expected performance conditions
- Security
- EMC, radio, and safety compliance support
- Liaison with manufacturing for pre-production runs
- Assembly, test, programming, and setup instruction development
- Applying product updates (electronics, firmware, software)
- Production test fixture service
Time to Test?
Let us Do the Hard Work
5) Support, Advice, Maintenance (SAM)
Because who can predict the future?
Whether you have a working prototype, or your first production model has hit the market, ongoing engineering support ensures that your team has the capacity to support and improve the product.
Related Information and Services
Who are SAM Subscriptions for?
If you’ve completed a prototype or developed a product with the support of Ignys, you’re eligible for our exclusive SAM subscription service! This gives you an exclusive right to post-production support from our engineers.
Who Do you Get from a SAM Subscription?
The SAM Subscription delivers rapid access to engineering for a set number of hours each month. And with a 2-working day maximum response time, this keeps your manufacturing process moving smoothly and ensures that issues are addressed and dealt with ASAP.
SAM delivers speedy, ongoing access to engineering experts for advice, minor updates, issue investigation, and support for your project.
Skip the Queue!
No-one likes to queue. Especially when you don’t need to.
With SAM, there’s no need for quotes for every bit of work undertaken – you simply get engineering resources when you need them.
Referrals Give Everyone a Mutual Win
Ask about our referral programme to help your own network and save costs on your next development project…
Congratulations you’ve reached the end of your project. Keep reading for information on services that fall outside the Product Development Map but are, nonetheless, hugely important.
How a Design Review Can Assist with Product Development
Don’t allow tunnel vision to ruin your product
Whether you’ve got a prototype, minimum viable product, or even a final product that you’re looking for a second opinion on, a product Design Review is a useful option to have.
A Design Review is separate from the main stages of product development, purely because it’s a useful insight at every stage of the development journey where you have a working model.
Related Information and Services
Who are Design Reviews for?
A Design Review assists businesses that wish to reduce the risk of delays and unnecessary re-prototyping costs. Design reviews from a consultancy can prove their weight in gold even if you have your own internal design team.
That valued second opinion could be the difference between identifying a critical flaw prior to manufacturing and shipping a potentially faulty product.
What Do you Get from a Design Review?
A design review is unique for every project. So, the questions you need answering are: what product are you making, what does it do, and why are you making it?
At Ignys, we focus primarily on the technical aspects of a Design Review, including verification that devices are being used within recommended parameters. We look at whether they are likely to function properly, whether tolerances or other variables may bring problems at higher volume manufacturing, whether PCB layouts bring EMC risks, and much more.
De-risk your process with a Design Review, lower your overall development costs and deliver projects more smoothly, resulting in a far superior product for you and your customers.
You also benefit from our team’s suggestions on Design For Manufacturability and testability options.
Verify if the parts you need are available. Tackle the dreaded chip shortages by designing for availability.
Product designers have had a lot of success with Design for Availability. Ensure you have the parts ahead of time and can design around them.
How to Get the Most Out of a Design Review
- Speak with an experienced engineer outside of the core project – This removes bias.
- Make your design notes available – So the reviewer can understand the intent of the design quickly.
- Collaboration is key – Review the findings together with your team with a candid open and honest atmosphere.
- Act now – Don’t leave the findings in the report. Start making changes now before moving onto the next stage.
In addition to these tips, we’ve compiled a Comprehensive Guide to Design Reviews, with even more hints, tips, and advice on how to get the best out of this stage of product development.
No Design Review is the Same
Every design review is as unique as the product itself. Speak to us to get a custom review.
Borrow an Engineer
Expertise on Tap
Sometimes you just need an extra pair of hands. Borrowing an Ignys engineer over the short-term can ensure you meet your critical deadlines and surpass those pesky product development roadblocks.
The Benefits of Borrowing an Engineer
Everything is unpredictable at the moment. This means you can experience staff shortages when you least expect them in your electronics design or software development teams.
Borrowing an engineer from Ignys can help you bridge that development gap without being forced into rash decisions.
It’s also perfect for those who need an external professional on-hand, who is less close to the project and may have alternative perspectives.
What Do you Get from this Service?
The use of our electronics, software, or firmware engineering resource to bolster periodic capacity issues.
The resourcing of experienced engineers to work on your project (under your control) with a minimum 37.5-hour week commitment and 2 weeks’ notice, to address technical roadblocks or to help hit a key milestone.
We have perfected the art of remote working so we can serve you wherever you are in the world! On-site engineering can be agreed on request. Let’s talk about your plans.
Your Next Steps
Ready to discuss your project? Got an idea that you need a second opinion on? Unsure where your project fits into the Product Development Map?
Let’s talk – we’re a really friendly bunch, love hearing new product development ideas, and the best way for us to advise on your project is to have a chat.