Great Product Design Starts on Paper
CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT
Great product design starts on paper, white boards and more often than not made from cardboard. Or sometimes it sprouts as a new branch from an already well established brand.
We can creatively generate and prototype aestheticly pleasing and functional concepts from the ground up, or to meet an existing brand specification.
We always design for reality even if our hands leave the product after the concept stage. It’s important for us to know that the concept isn’t just a pretty picture, but a thought out vision of the future
The tools we use:
-Brainstorming sessions
-Concept sketching for quick ideation
-Expert CAD modeling
-Product renderings
-Affordable prototyping
The saying goes: Fail fast, and fail often, so we succeed sooner. From crude mock-up models establishing ergonomics and workflow, to fully detailed and sellable early production units, we have you covered.
FROM SKETCH TO PRODUCTION
PROVEN DESIGN PROCESS
We will lead you through our Product Design Method to deliver results
Tensen follows a stage gated Product Design Method to reduce the risk and iterations required to deliver your product. Our five-step gated roadmap is a proven methodology that reduces scope creep and churn helping us maintain budget and timelines
Product development is not for the weak at heart, but with Tensen you have a partner on the journey ahead. We aim to cut the fat out, maximizing your ROI.
We pride ourselves on establishing timelines and budgets that can be met
Our unique position in the product design services market is our ability to perform non-linear creative activities in a timely manner that can be budgeted against. Our experience provides insight to identifying early on in the project the potential trial and error sections of the development path that can push timelines and budgets out of scope. Together we identify the risks, and plan accordingly. We don’t suggest that we are able to identify all risks in the planning stage, but with our gated Product Design Method we are able to address issues as they arise in a controlled manner.
PROJECT PLANNING & MANAGMENT
Before we begin the design process we must fully understand and establish your products requirements. Granted, there are many unknowns and approximations so we can work with you to resolve them.
Some common areas we will ask about:
-User requirements -Performance targets
-Regulatory targets -Assembly guides
-Targeted unit cost -Time to market
-Projected volumes -Servicing hierarchy
-End of life disposal -Target look and feel
Product Design Documentation
Product requirements are fed into living product design specifications. This set of documents ensures everyone stays on track.
Team coordination
At Tensen we understand that it takes an array of specialized individuals and teams to bring your product through the Design and Development cycle. We offer Team Coordination to assist with management and distribution of critical project information. We can Quarterback the team(s) for the winning touch down!
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Phase A – PLAN + DEFINE Laying the foundation from which to design your product on. This Phase will see the development of the Project Charter documents. These documents carry the project forward and will be managed under revision controls as each Phase of the project is completed. In this Phase we capture all available technical, regulatory, user, service and marketing requirements. Inside the Charter documents will be an aesthetic brief outlining the design direction for the look and feel in the concept phase
Phase B – PRODUCT DESIGN + DEVELOPMENT VERIFICATION Using the information gathered in the Planning Phase we will begin exploring the look and feel of the Structures + Enclosures for the products design. We will present several options for the aesthetics of the cover set, component placement of the internal systems along with structures for support + mounting. Through a series of down-selecting design reviews, we will complete this stage of the project with a winning concept that can be passed to the detailing Phase. You will have 3D renderings of the winning design for marketing efforts
Phase C – PRODUCT + PROCESS VALIDATION Time to make it real. We will take the approved concept from Phase B and detail the design for the appropriate prototyping and production technologies. During which we will be focusing on user interface, ergonomics, panel separations, assembly requirements, Ingress Protection (IP) ratings along with regulatory and quality considerations to name a few. Prototyping will be taking place throughout this Phase as required before a final functional prototype is produced for a detailed review and test of the product. The final prototype will be used to find any minor changes that the client would like to see before investing in production tooling
Phase D – PRODUCTION Minor refinements to the product design based on Alpha Build feedback. We will also make any specific production design changes for selected manufacturing technologies. Investment into production tooling with approved vendors. We will build a number of Pre-Production units for our clients from the first approved articles from the tooling. These Pre-Production units will likely be used for Verification and Validation with third party test houses, along with pre-sales to friendly sites.
DESIGN SOLUTIONS TO MEET YOUR NEEDS
BRINGING YOUR PRODUCT TO MARKET EFFICIENTLY
DESIGN DETAILING
FOR MANUFACTURING
Whatever your projected production volume, we will find the right manufacturing process and design towards it. Our network and expertise have been cultivated for over a decade, and will be leveraged to bring your product to market in the most efficient manner possible.
We have extensive experience in design for the following fabrication technologies, and will work closely with vendors, new and old, leveraging their expertise to maximize success.
Plastics and elastomerics:
-Standard injection molding
-Reaction injection molding
-Additive manufacturing (3D printing)
-Thermoforming, including twin-sheet
-Vacuum forming
-RTV molding for soft components
-Casting
-CNC milling
Metal components:
-Sheet metal fabrication technologies
-CNC milling
-Casting
-Extrusion
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN CONCEPT AND REALITY
Tensen's in-house 3D printing
IN-HOUSE 3D PRINTING + RAPID PROTOTYPING
Throughout the development process, we incorporate the usage of quick mock ups and prototypes of various fidelity to ensure proper fit and function.
Prototypes allow us to observe, record and assess user interaction and general behavior and reaction to the overall design. Our design team can then make appropriate refinements or changes in the right direction.
Functional prototyping using our in house 3D printers makes it easy to create multiple iterations before proceeding into production tooling. This avoids costly mistakes, before introducing your products to the market.