Requirements and Specification

Wideblue will work with you to fully understand and define the product requirements over its full lifecycle, such as:

• Branding
• Cost Targets
• Regulations
• Manufacturing
• Desirability
• User Requirements
• Recycling and Reuse

Product Robustness and Risk Management

After-sales product returns are expensive and can damage a reputation. Successful products are designed to function in both normal use and accidental misuse.

All manufacturing processes inevitably create some variability between batches, for example due to tool wear. The best designs can accommodate manufacturing tolerances without a reduction in performance.

Wideblue uses a wide range of tools to manage design risks and improve product robustness. These include Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), computational simulations, Design of Experiments and tolerance analysis.

We can also provide an independent robustness audit of existing products, to help identify cost-effective design changes which can improve the profitability of the product.

Project Management

Our experienced project managers and structured product design process provide strong design control. This is essential to help demonstrate regulatory compliance and to maximise the probablility of technical and commercial success.

Supply Chain Management

We have local, UK-wide and international supply chain experience for products ranging from high-volume consumer electronics to low-volume, high-value scientific instrumentation.

If required, we can identify and establish the most suitable supply chain in parallel with the development of a product.

Concept

We can draw from a range of innovation techniques, in combination with sketching skills and technical know-how to rapidly generate and evaluate multiple concept ideas and product architectures.

Our direct experience of manufacturing processes helps us to estimate relative costs for each concept.

Feasibility

Feasibility stages explore and address the main uncertainties and risks in a project:

• Technical Feasibility: Engineering simulation and/or building proof-of-principle test rigs.
• Commercial Feasibility: Developing a detailed cost estimate for the product.
• Market Demand: Working with the customer and third party market research specialists to clarify the market opportunity.

System Design

For products that combine electronics, software, mechanisms and optics, our key skill is developing a system that integrates all these elements to create a functional product.

Building a technology demonstrator proves that all the components in the system can be integrated successfully, before commiting to the detailed product design.

Design for Manufacture

Each element of the system needs to be designed and documented in sufficient detail for transfer to manufacture:

• Bill of materials / component list
• Mechanical component drawings and 3D CAD files
• PCB Design
• Optical Design
• Software coding and PC application development
• User interface and graphics design
• Build Instructions

Within this stage, we typically produce prototypes to verify the design against an agreed test plan and regulatory standards, before commitment to major capital expenditure.

Manufacture Start-Up

The launch of a new product is usually one of the most challenging phases in the product life cycle. Wideblue have extensive experience in manufacturing inception, where issues have to be rapidly identified and resolved to reach full production rate.

Strong project management is key to success at this stage.

Steady State Manufacture

Wideblue manufactures products in-house that are at an early stage in market development, to establish a consistent manufacturing process before transfer to a third party manufacturer when volumes increase.

Alternatively, for high volume products we work with external partners from the start, to establish a supply chain that meets the needs of the customer and product.

We can also design bespoke manufacturing processes to meet the varying needs of each product.