Design Phase. ⢠Create a Looks-like Prototype. ⢠User Experience and User Interface. ⢠Create the experience you w
From an Idea to a
Hardware Product - Engineer's Perspective By Amaldev. V C o - Fo u n d e r a n d E n g i n e e r i n g L e a d @ A C PA D I n s t r u m e n t s G m b H
A g u y wh o likes to p lay arou n d wit h c irc u it s
[email protected] | amaldev.blog www.acpad.com
Where is my million dollar idea?? • Write down 5 ideas a day for 10 days ▪ Can be stupid or ridiculous ideas.
• Group them together • Eliminate ideas
▪ Execution time ▪ Team capabilities ▪ Extreme lack of funds
• Select top 3 ideas • War room and fight it out with your team ▪ Criticize and find faults in others ideas.
• Come up with best one or two ideas.
Where is my million dollar idea?? Idea Hexagon
Google up on Ramesh Raskar Idea Hexagon and watch his INK Talks video.
You have an idea, now what’s next? • Talk to people and possible users (Don’t be shy!!!) • Understand the market and user requirements • Identify a feature set and group it ▪ Must have features ▪ Good to have features ▪ Luxury/Bonus features
• Don’t be scared of Ideas being Stolen
▪ Its hard enough to convince your team to work on an idea. ▪ Good luck trying to convince a random stranger to copy your idea and him/her convincing his/her team to work on the same idea. ▪ If its that easy to copy and execute your idea, then you might as well not start off with that idea.
The Two Halves
Design Phase
Engineering Phase
Design Phase • Create a Looks-like Prototype • User Experience and User Interface • Create the experience you want to provide with your product • Packaging/Unboxing • Visual appearance/Form Factor
• Sketching/Wireframe/CAD Models • Color, Materials, Finish (CMF)
Engineering Phase • Create a Works-like Prototype • Define your specifications • Choose your Technologies wisely • Select your major sensors and higher BOM cost components • Preferable to test smaller modules and establish confidence in your design before doing a full scale design at once.
• PCB Design and Mechanical parts design • Firmware development
• Document everything!
Double D’s • Designer • A must have in every startup team. • Is not the person who makes the product look good(Not the primary job). • User experience and interaction. • They will be the bridge between the engineer and the user.
• Documentation • Always remember: Write everything down!!! • Most likely the irritating thing to do, but just do it. • It will help you refer back and troubleshoot 6-months down the line. • Maintain a notebook for a project. (This can be valuable for your IP rights)
Electrical Design Component Selection • • • • • •
Always choose SMD components over through hole(except for rare cases). Reliability over cost always. Read datasheets thoroughly before ordering in bulk. Order in Tape and Reel(for bulk) or Cut tape(for small proto runs or hand assembly) Always select the components which are available in excess quantity from distributor. Always order extra components to account for wastage.
Sourcing: • Authorised Dealers: Digikey, Mouser, Arrow, Avnet • Safest route, but costly. • Alibaba and China • Risky but cheap. Need to find a reliable vendor.
PCB Designing: An art in itself • Read the PCB manufacturer’s design guideline. • Minimize the area of PCBs and the number of layers(Lower the cost). • Always know your schematic thoroughly for efficient routing. • Avoid long traces.
• Order in large panels. • Keep designer in loop as enclosure is usually build around this or vice-versa. •Keep buffer time for PCB design mistakes in timeline.
Read up online on best PCB practices. Google up on books by Henry Ott and Eric Bogatin on Signal Integrity and EMC for an extensive read.
Works-like Prototype
Looks-like Prototype Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
"If you are not ashamed of your product when you launch it, you launched too late.” - Reid Hoffman (Co-Founder LinkedIn)
MVP is ready, now what? •Do user trials. •You must be able to sell the prototype to a paying customer if needed. •Get honest feedback from strangers. •Add features only if many users demand it.
Design For Manufacturability (DFM) Real engineering begins • • • • • • •
Do optimizations on the MVP. Work closely with your team and your manufacturer. Split and parallelize the tasks. Be crystal clear on what needs to be done (No changes afterwards) Make sure the design is scalable to large numbers. Engineer should keep testing and certification in consideration. Do a Proto-run of 50-100 units to setup the production line and iron out all the kinks in the production line.
• Make sure your engineering team sits on the production line before the product goes for mass manufacturing.
Testing • Design your test-jig with a bed of nails(with Pogo Pins) • It’s a product development in itself so you may outsource this step to 3rd party vendors.
• You may need a testing firmware • Add test points to your circuit. • List out all the quality control checks to be made and make sure manufacturer knows about it in detail
Certification • Identify your markets • Identify the standards needed for your product. •Approx 50% of electronic products fail EMC testing first time.
• Always do a Pre-certification run • Major Certification needed are • FCC (for US) • CE (for Europe)
• Costing : $10k - $20k www.emcfastpass.com
Manufacturing Partner • Choose Wisely. (It’s the most important decision you will make) • Get up and Go meet the manufacturer at his factory floor. • Build with a right partner - toy manufacturer for toys is not good for robots. • Keep to timelines and have legal contract in place. • There is a saying in Engineering, “Good, Fast, Cheap: Choose any two.”
A Prototype is ready when it can be manufactured.
Manufacturing in China Low quality?
Nope
• China currently produces the best quality electronics hardware. • Shenzhen - World capital of consumer electronics, Silicon Valley for Hardware
Shenzhen Electronic Market
Googling Factory in Shenzhen
Idea Courtesy: HAXLR8R
Packaging and Logistics • Start the design for packaging in the initial stages • Remember to add Product info, Certifications, Barcodes • Optimize for weight and size • Volumetric Weight = (l x b x h) in mm / 5000 vs Actual Weight • Choose a reliable Logistics partner • Remember to account for Customs and Duty charges • Insure your shipment in case of losses. • Tracking feature is a must.
Pricing the Product • Do a Price Analysis detailing every part of the manufacturing and arrive at the Cost of Goods Sold(COGS) • Top-down approach • Price the product at any amount which the customer is willing to pay. • 5X-10X the Bill of Materials (BOM) cost. • Good in the luxury product category or if there is no competition.
• Bottom-up approach • Price the product at 2.5X-3.5X the BOM cost • Useful in a competitive market segment Remember to account for wastages in manufacturing(1%-5%) and product returns from customers.
The Launch • Start the work for the launch during the MVP stage. • Have a Kickass teaser product video (Cut no corners on this effort).
• Website and sign up mailing list is a must. • Active accounts on all social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. • Have a press kit ready and send out to all media personnel before launch. • Launch simultaneously on all social media channels and encourage your friends and family to share widely.
Crowd Funding • Kickstarter or Indiegogo for Hardware • Invest in a good video story for the platform. That’s your elevator pitch.
• Figure out how much money you need • Production run cost x 2 times (or 3)
• Set Realistic delivery dates (There will be delays always) • Whenever you think you can deliver add 3-5 months extra to it.
• Be honest with the backers and remember to update them every 2-3 weeks even if its bad news. • After crowdfunding, continue taking pre-orders on your website. • But be careful of this decision
Hardware Startups
Hardware is hard. Extremely hard.
Why I Do What I Do… • Passion for the work. There isn’t anything else that I rather do.
• Put India on the map in Hardware-Tech and Innovation Industry
• Create a new breed of Engineers who actually love Engineering. • Create an ecosystem where everyone can innovate and work towards solving the pressing needs of the humanity. • To actually make “Make in India” happen in reality with a strong focus on “Innovate in India”
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Speaker would like to thank the online community which has taught him electronics over the years and would like to express gratitude to all the respective sources and websites for the images used in this talk.
