Polyhistor is your one-stop-shop solution
Got a big idea for a product? Are you looking for guidance on how to turn your napkin sketch into a functioning prototype? If you’re great at coming up with exciting concepts but need help connecting your ideas to design and manufacturing, the team at Polyhistor International can help.
Why Polyhistor Should Get Involved in Your Product Development Process
Here’s an unfortunate truth: too many product developers spend a ton of money getting their parts design-engineered, only to find out that their drawings are impossible to fabricate on the shop floor. 2D drawings and 3D CAD models are important to the manufacturing process, but other important factors that affect manufacturing get overlooked when there’s no communication between the machine shop and design engineer. Material thickness, machining capabilities, and tolerances, for example, can all affect Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and the cost of your part.
The easy solution? Get an experienced product design company involved from the beginning. At Polyhistor, our product design services may include the following:
- Documentation of basic specifications. It always helps to have something written down—for the sanity of both customer and manufacturer. We capture your part’s basic specifications, like weight, dimensions, etc.
- Feasibility study. What do you want your product to do? Are you planning for any unique or nonstandard features? When we know your expectations in terms of functionality, we can determine feasibility and quote more accurately, so you can have a better estimate of your costs.
- Planning on a patent? Let an experienced company work with you before the patent is applied for. We may come up with different solutions that are patentable that should be included in your patent to make it stronger. Your idea may need some tweaks to be effective for manufacturing, and if the design process is concurrent with the patenting, it will give us design freedom for an overall better product.
- Cost-effectiveness. Specifications, function, marketability—all these details impact your bottom line. Our focus on ironing out the details can prevent costly rework or design changes down the road.
- Design for Manufacturing (DFM). We’re a manufacturing company backed by a team of engineers, so we know the ins and outs of both sides of production. By optimizing your product’s design for manufacturability, we can help reduce lead time, revisions, costs, and headaches!
Before you start, think about your ability to sell and market the end product. Does your product have an audience? Have you worked out your sales and distribution channels? Those are important questions to ask yourself before you spend the design dollars.
We want the development of your product to be a sound investment and the start of a successful, long-term relationship, so it’s important to determine your product’s marketability!
Polyhistor’s Product Development Services
If you decide that “yes, you could” sell the product—if only you had one!—here’s what you can expect from Polyhistor’s product development engagement:
1. Receiving an NDA. Your intellectual property is yours. We want to give you the security that all information will be held private and confidential.
2. Starting an assessment conversation. Based on your sketches and/or photos of the product, we will determine how we can help.
3. Defined project deliverables & ballpark cost estimates. Depending on project scope and complexity, we may need to do preliminary engineering to determine more accurate project deliverables and costing.
4. Providing a design estimate. Once we’re done with the project assessment, we develop an estimate for the entirety of the engineering project.
5. Scheduling a kickoff meeting. We thoroughly explore your product idea during the kickoff meeting to further develop the specification sheet, identify functionality, and assess resources needed.
6. A deeper dive into product design. Concept generation is done via hand sketches and simple CAD models, then matured into a more detailed 3D CAD design using mechanical engineering and electronics, if applicable.
7. Prototyping estimate. Once the design database is completed, we can estimate prototyping costs. The prototype can be 3D printed, CNC machined, or fabricated in a multitude of other ways.
8. Prototyping. Once costs are agreed upon, prototypes (functional, non-functional, or show quality) are created to validate the best ideas selected during the engineering/design processes.
Ready to work with us? Give us a call today, and let’s get started!