Consumer product design and engineering for volume production
Housings, mechanisms and appliances designed around the mould tool and the assembly line, with drop and snap fit questions answered while a change is still a CAD edit.
Consumer products are designed for volume, and volume magnifies every mistake. A snap fit that whitens on assembly or a screw boss that cracks after a drop will appear across the whole production run, and an injection mould tool is expensive to change once it is cut.
More about consumer products
Good decisions start with the specification: the target cost, the volume, how the product goes together and what it has to survive in use. Concepts are sketched and compared against it, and the chosen one is detailed with wall sections, draft, ribs and bosses that suit moulding. Simulation earns its place where the product is at risk. Drop studies show which features take the peak load when it lands corner first, and non-linear FEA follows the large deflection of snap fits and living hinges.
Our work on a new line of high-end fishing reels shows the approach. New drag control and quick-release spool mechanisms, designed to be patentable, went from concept to detailed CAD, with materials chosen for weight and durability in fresh and salt water and FEA on the high-load parts. The new designs came out more than 15% lighter than the originals with no loss of durability, and design cycle time fell by over 30%. Photorealistic renders were ready for pre-launch marketing while prototype-ready models went for CNC machining.
Typical products: household appliances, personal care products, sporting goods and fishing tackle, wearables, toys, power tools and outdoor equipment.
Questions consumer product teams bring to us
Will it survive being dropped?
Peak stress and deformation from drops onto a hard floor at the heights and orientations you specify, including the corner and edge impacts that usually do the damage.
Will the snap fit assemble and hold?
Insertion and retention forces, and the strain in the hook during assembly, compared with the allowable strain for the polymer you have chosen.
Will the mechanism keep working after years of use?
Contact pressures and stresses in hinges, latches, buttons and drive parts, with fatigue life estimated for the parts that cycle each time the product is used.
Can the moulding be made cheaper and more reliable?
Even wall sections, cored-out bosses, ribs in place of thick sections and draft on every face that leaves the tool, so the part fills and ejects cleanly with less sink and warp.
Will the surface be too hot to touch?
Outer surface temperatures of appliances, chargers and wearables at full power, set against the touch temperature limits you work to.
Can marketing start before the tool is cut?
Photorealistic renders made from the CAD for launch material and retailer presentations, while functional prototypes are built and tested.
Stages and studies most used for consumer products
Concept design
Rough sketches turned into several concepts, each compared against target cost, size and the way the product will be assembled.
Drop test and impact simulation
Transient impact of products dropped onto floors, edges and corners, including heavy internal parts such as batteries and motors.
Non-linear analysis
Large deflection, contact and plastic yield, for snap fits, living hinges, clips and over-moulded parts.
Fatigue analysis
Life of springs, hinges, triggers and frames that are loaded on every use.
Prototype & Test
Printed, machined or mixed prototypes in polymers or aluminium, from functional test parts to presentation models with a production-like finish.
Production
Injection moulding, CNC machining, 3D printing and sheet metal, from short runs to volume, with the same team on hand when the design needs changing in production.
Photorealistic rendering
Images of the product made from the CAD, ready for packaging, retail listings and pre-launch marketing before the first parts are moulded.
Before you start
What to send us
- CAD, sketches or an existing product to start from
- Target cost, production volume and the market it is for
- Materials and grades, especially for plastics
- Drop heights, orientations and surfaces you need to meet
- Use loads, forces or cycle counts for mechanisms
- Power, ambient and surface temperature limits for heated products
Can you simulate a drop with the batteries and electronics inside?
Yes. Internal parts can be included with their mass and stiffness, which matters because a heavy battery moving inside a housing is often what causes the damage.
How do you handle plastic material properties?
Plastics vary with grade, temperature, strain rate and, for filled grades, flow direction. We use data for the grade you specify, at the temperature and loading rate the part sees where that matters.
Do we always need a physical prototype?
Usually, for anything handled or assembled by hand. Where analysis answers the question, such as the strength of a hidden internal bracket, a prototype is sometimes not needed, which saves a build.
Can you start from an existing product?
Yes. Existing parts can be reverse engineered, including from 3D scans, and old paper drawings converted to CAD, giving a model to improve from.
Tell us about the product you are developing
