Worried about outsourcing your rugged product design?

Don’t worry, and the chances are you are not alone. It can be a huge step for any organisation to take so if this is something you are considering, here are a few facts and pointers that will help to
dispel some of the fears associated with outsourcing.

First of all. Not every company has dozens of employees offering a multitude of in-house design resource, hence there has been a steady rise in the number of OEM’s outsourcing their rugged
product design to companies like BOSTON DESIGN. The reasons for this are many, but the simple fact is outsourcing can be highly beneficial with the right partnership in place.

Let’s take a look at three good examples of how this relationship can work well…

1. Cost Efficiency
The most obvious benefit of outsourcing is saving money. Business overheads are significantly reduced when your organisation does not have to pay for staff and specialised software it does
not need on a day-to-day basis. Adopting a flexible cost model offers a tactical advantage by allowing you to react quickly whilst keeping your annual R&D costs to a minimum on a more strategic level.

2. Flexible Resources
Development projects can require rapid staffing scale-ups and hiring full-time employees is not always economical and adding temporary or agency staff can be time consuming or risky. Rugged product development often requires highly specialised skills that are not always easy to find (or even available) in the local area, so finding readily available engineers with the right skill set has always been a headache for managers and HR alike. The benefit of having a known and trusted design partner is quite simple… You already know what their capabilities and services are, and when these are no longer required they can simply be switched off until needed again, helping to avoid superfluous costs to your business or project.

3. Project Management
With engineering and project management resources often stretched to capacity, it can be challenging for OEMs to assign internal resources to new projects. However, it’s even more challenging (or disturbing) to turn away new business opportunities and many companies will continue to take on new projects but poorly manage them due to insufficient resources. This is not a good scenario for the end customer, the OEM or its already over-stretched employees. Outsourcing can provide a viable and sustainable solution to this problem as the design partner can assume many of the day-to-day project management and supply chain tasks, freeing up your internal resources to do what they do best – looking after the customer!

Outsourcing really can deliver value added services to rugged product OEM’s Finally. When considering a design partner, don’t let size be a deterrent. Small, well established companies such as BOSTON DESIGN are continually coming up with innovative ways to expand their service offerings and challenge the big guys! We only work with known freelance engineers and manufacturing companies from the industry and between us we can provide OEM’s with design or even full turnkey manufacturing services if required. We hope you have found this article interesting and informative. Should you wish to discuss any project requirements with us please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Thank you for your time and we look forward to hearing from you,