3 Ways To Reduce Cost In Outsourced Prototyping
The Value Of Strategy
Today’s world is replete with a plethora of technological innovations that tend toward increased expansion of knowledge, convenience, and development. From solar energy to cloud computing and the Internet of Things, there are a lot of ways you can maximize your resources through tech today. This is very important in terms of engineering.
When you’re designing something, you’re likely going to require some kind of prototype that you put together before production begins in earnest. The way you prototype can be a determiner in the overall cost of your product.
If you’re going to cut costs from prototyping, you need to put a little forethought into the process. Like anything worth doing in life, this is something easier said than done. However, if you’re careful in the process, you can save money. Following are three ways to do just that.
- Save Prototyping Agencies Engineering Costs
If you want to save money in prototyping, you want to hand the agency you work with designs that they don’t have to augment extensively. Granted, with any prototype, improvements will be necessary, minor or major. But you can reduce those augmentations substantially if you do some of the footwork with your design beforehand.
- Stand On The Shoulders Of Giants
Don’t reinvent the wheel. For example, if you’re engineering a prototype for a certain type of computer chip, don’t develop some new way of allocating energy. Don’t design your own augmented transistors and circuits—unless, of course, such a thing is necessary. Rather, use the advances that have gone before you to “cobble together” something that combines the best aspects of multiple innovations.
It’s a lot easier to “plug in” a solution to a problem that has already been worked on for decades by engineers with resources at their disposal, than to design something totally new to fit the bill. So stand upon the shoulders of innovation giants who have gone before you. Constantly search for diverse components to fit your design, and use them.
A good way to maximize your resources in this way is to design your prototype on paper in a comprehensive way as best you can beforehand. Now granted, the right prototyping agency will likely use such a method of operations to make your prototype, but if you can save them trouble, the process will save you money.
As you design, engineer your final result around strategic applications of existing technology. If you need components stamped, factor that kind of thing in.
- Work With Vetted Prototyping Solutions
One of the best ways to save is to go with a prototyping solution that is known to deliver. 3ERP provides RapidPrototyping-China.com, which offers: “…major rapid prototyping services…providing [a] comprehensive range of rapid prototyping services and additive manufacturing services…[as well as] solutions [for] a wide range of project types in many varied industries.”
When you’ve got a vetted solution who services multiple clients involved with innovation, you’re going to get a better prototype. The likelihood is, if you’re engineering anything at all, you’re probably able to build your own prototype. Outsourcing is a measure you’re taking for the collateral benefits involved with such a solution.
You might as well get the best possible prototyping solutions available. Consider: a better prototype requires fewer re-designs. This also saves money. It makes sense to pay a little more for a better product, because you’re investing in reduced complication later on.
More Affordable Prototypes
Especially in terms of technology, there are quite a few solutions available to design firms today. The market is competitive, and curtailing expenses in development is essential to profitability. Find ways to do as much, and you’ll likely see decreased expenses defining your business’s needs in terms of prototypes.
