Can Engineering Services Add Value to Your Product Design?

If you’ve ever reached an in-house design or engineering stalemate during a project, the idea of outsourcing has probably come up. And there’s one burning question that probably crossed your mind first:

“What exactly is an outside engineer going to do that my team isn't already doing?”

The answer to the above question? Risk reduction!

Many product makers don't realize the extent to which engineering support services can reduce development time, improve performance, and prevent the dreaded redesign. Third-party services are all about catching problems your team hasn't encountered before – while they're still relatively easy to fix.

Below we’ll cover whether it’s worth seeking outside help for your project, what types of engineering services are available, and how to find a capable partner.

When’s It Worth Exploring Outside Engineering Support?

Even if your team owns great technical knowledge, it may still need support with the nitty-gritty of mechanical engineering and motion control.

While your engineering and design teams know your product, a third-party support partner can add valuable insight on the details you’re trying to work through:

• Specific components
• Motion control
• Materials
• Manufacturing methods
• Failure modes

But when do you know it’s time to get outside help?

Why Engineering Support Is So Important, So Early

It happens all the time: One component ends up working exactly the way you wanted … while creating a new problem somewhere else in the product.

The farther a product moves through development, the fewer easy changes you have left. And the less time you have to make them.

For example: Most notably we’ve seen this happen with customers designing luxury grills and kitchen appliances. A counterbalance can allow a heavy grill lid to stay open at various angles, but if the handle’s location wasn’t considered along with that motion, it could end up directly over the hot grilling surface.

That’s a much easier problem to address while the design is still taking shape.

When you make engineering decisions late in the process, changing one detail may mean changing several others along with it. Why? Because at this point you may have already selected or produced components. Or worse, paid for tooling. And if the product is approaching launch, your team has less time to work through an unexpected redesign.

Early engineering consultation gives both teams more room to identify those conflicts while the design is still flexible.

What You’ll Get Out of Engineering Support Services

In a word: guidance.

A good mechanical engineering consulting company will have past experience to draw from to help you navigate pitfalls it’s seen before.

Solve Design Challenges

Heavy-duty environments can bring even an experienced designer to their knees.

An engineering consultant can unlock a longer cycle life or improved functionality by recommending materials and devices for your unique end-use environment.

For example: Going back to the luxury grill customer above … Its design team wanted to install a counterbalance on its grill for the first time. A good service provider would talk to the buyer about how counterbalancing the lid will work. A great service provider would say, “Hey, this lid is going to stay wherever you place it. Make sure your handle doesn’t rest directly over the grilling surface when it's 45° open, or it could burn the end user.”

Another example: Consider a commercial freezer door that needs to open and close reliably in an extreme-cold environment. A gas spring might seem like a logical choice based on the required motion, but cold air lowers the pressure inside the cylinder, weakening the spring. An engineering firm with experience in low-temp applications will know this and can recommend an alternative product, like a counterbalance with a mechanical spring.

Turn “We Want It to Do X” Into an Engineering Spec

Sometimes a manufacturing product designer knows how it wants a component to behave, but lacks measurable requirements for that behavior.

For example: Sometimes buyers approach us saying, “We want a soft-close feature.” Well, what does that actually mean? How quickly should the lid or panel close? At what point in its range of motion should the soft-closing action begin?

Engineering consultation services can turn those design dreams into quantitative reality. In other words, you’ll get specifications you can measure the design against. That gives your inside team a defined target during development and, just as importantly, something concrete to test against later.

Prototyping

Speaking of testing, many engineering firms offer prototyping services to ensure it’s actually possible to manufacture and assemble your product to spec.

Even if you don’t want the consultant to produce the full run, it may still be willing to manufacture them on a prototype basis. The bonus here is that the engineering consultant will already be familiar with the goals and risks of your product.

FEA & Simulation

Finite element analysis (FEA) can check for stress, deformation, and deflection in a safe simulation environment.

What’s the value here? Avoiding a painful and expensive lesson in over- and underengineering. Here’s an example of each extreme:

How to Evaluate Engineering Service Providers

This is all well and good, but how do you know the engineering service you’re hiring can properly fill your team’s gaps?

These are the four key questions to ask before investing in any outside help:

‘Is this in your wheelhouse?’

Does your design represent something brand-new to the engineering services provider? Or is the concept firmly in (or at least near) its comfort zone? Does the company measure its industry track record in decades, or merely years?

Your engineering partner should not hesitate to provide and explain examples of similar companies or situations it’s helped.

‘Will I have access to your engineers?’

Supplier availability – and the availability of knowledge – elevate a partnership from “it works” to “it’s great.”

The ideal partner will maintain a direct line of communication to its engineers. Be wary if you have to pass information through a filter every time a change or issue arises. It adds another step to the process and another chance for something to get lost in translation.

‘Can you help validate the design?’

Look for a provider that can swiftly move your idea from the CAD screen into something you can actually evaluate. That may be through:

• Prototyping
• Testing
• Simulation
• Manufacturing input
• Some combination of these services
  
  

‘What else do you offer besides design services?’

The more a vendor can do under one roof, the more lead time and freight cost you’ll save. Your engineering services provider may offer some or all of:

• Fabrication services – cutting, welding, stamping
• Finishing – powder coating, electroplating
• Assembly – making sure the component works within the product around it
• Logistics – packaging, shipping

Optimize Your Design Sooner, Not Later

Experienced engineers can spot flaws more quickly, turn fuzzy requirements into measurable specs, and prove (or disprove) your design concept. Above all else, a third-party team can be an unbiased set of eyes that catch a flawed or inefficient design long before tooling, production, or any launch date.

Not every engineering support service has the full range of capabilities listed above, so do your due diligence before committing to one. To see what Weber Knapp can offer your design team, click below for our Capabilities Handbook: