General Impression at MD&M West 2020 We exhibited at the MD&M West Show this year and were excited by the networking connections we made. With 311,260+ Californians directly employed by… Read More
MD&M WEST 2020

| by Will Clark

General Impression at MD&M West 2020 We exhibited at the MD&M West Show this year and were excited by the networking connections we made. With 311,260+ Californians directly employed by… Read More
| by Chris Goetchius

This past Halloween, Simplexity employees were given the opportunity to showcase their engineering expertise in the form of a friendly competition. The task was clear: “Design and build a Halloween-themed… Read More
| by Tim Kutscha

As a firmware engineer, I’ve seen several themes repeat themselves over the years with regards to design philosophy. I’ve distilled these themes down into a few simple principles that have… Read More
| by Dorota Shortell

Simplexity Product Development has been designing wearable electronic products since 2013 when we were selected by Microsoft as one of their key design partners for the Microsoft Band. The Microsoft… Read More
| by Scott Jarnagin

So, you’ve found a niche in the ever-growing world of biotech! You’ve past the initial hurdle of closing the first round of funding and now you’re on the hook to… Read More
| by Kristin Pollock

PLAYING THE ROLE OF ‘CUSTOMER’ Ossia is building a system which will allow for truly wireless power – without charging cables or pads. They license their technology to companies creating the… Read More
| by Doug Harriman

A team from Simplexity recently attended Jack Ganssle’s “Better FW Faster” class. If you’re involved in the practice of embedded systems firmware engineering, you’ve probably heard of Jack and likely… Read More
| by Bryan Clark

Tunnel vision. Every engineer suffers from it at one time or another. A programmer gets so lost in the details they miss the forest through the trees. Instead of writing… Read More
| by Yohei Yamamuro

Knuckles were as white as foam from a broken San Diego coastal wave as we applied 50 pounds of force on the printer, making the suspending rope taut. If I… Read More
| by Josh Siegel

Purchasing off-the-shelf components is an essential task when trying to buy product development parts while developing mechatronic systems, especially for prototyping and low-volume applications. Often, the availability and price of… Read More
The Simplexity team can be as involved in the production phase as requested by our clients. For clients with internal manufacturing or established relationships with contract manufacturers, our engineers are available to ensure quality is maintained and provide ongoing engineering support as needed.
Simplexity has a dedicated New Product Introduction (NPI) team that can guide the transition from design into production. The NPI team presents multiple options for manufacturing to the client, allowing clients to choose the solution that best suits their needs. This can involve Simplexity performing initial builds in-house prior to full handoff to a contract manufacturer or building the product via established relationships with contract manufacturing partners either domestically or overseas early in the process.
This phase occurs once the detailed design is complete, and prototypes are built with manufacturing-representative quality and detail. More extensive, formal testing is performed, such as life, reliability, safety, environmental, drop, and vibration.
The design team works closely with the manufacturing team to enable a smooth transfer, often with Simplexity engineers traveling to the contract manufacturer sites to ensure product quality. The design is transferred to the client based upon specific needs, most often after all tests are complete and the design is verified.
Phase 2C iterates on the learnings of Phase 2B and involves a refined prototype build of a fully integrated system. Some projects also benefit from additional iterations of the product based on prior learnings through additional phases (2D, 2E, etc), which are not represented in this graphic. All requirements are intended to be tested, and at the end of Phase 2 there will be confidence that the units will pass verification in Phase 3. The Bill of Materials is further refined, and the team updates estimates for the per unit cost of the product by receiving pricing from vendors and suppliers.
The detailed design phase usually has multiple, iterative sub-phases as the design progresses and representative prototypes are built. Phases 2B and 2C are typically the largest efforts in the product development process, where the specific implementation for all disciplines occurs (mechanical, industrial design, electrical, firmware, systems, software, manufacturing, and quality).
Simplexity typically engages with production component suppliers and contract manufacturing groups early in this phase to provide additional manufacturing input on the design. If the product has stringent testing or certification requirements, pre-screens are performed in this phase prior to formal regulatory agency testing.
Phase 0 is an optional phase for projects where the technical feasibility of the idea has not yet been fully proven. It can consist of research, concept work, exploring initial architecture, performing feasibility studies, and basic prototyping and testing.
The business and user requirements are converted into engineering requirements for the product. The project planning activity is based on the schedule, budget, risk, and initial product requirements. This process is best done as a collaborative team effort with the client, who has the deepest understanding of the market needs and user requirements.
The detailed design phase starts with defining options for the product architecture, with the goal of having the greatest chance of successfully meeting product requirements while best mitigating risk. Engineering activities in this phase include presenting options for hardware components, outlining the system block, sequence, and state diagrams, creating rough CAD, and breadboarding of high-risk subsystems. Results are presented with a description of the pros, cons, and key tradeoffs for each scenario.
