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11 May When To Do It Yourself

Posted at 07:32h in Engineering Challenges by

Whether to build a custom product or go with something off the shelf can be a tough decision. There are several factors to consider when shopping for off-the-shelf solutions, and cost is only one of them.

Cost

Cost can certainly drive one to go with the off-the-shelf solution. If you’re making a low-volume medical device, you might not reach the economies of scale that enable efficient processes and capital investments to drive down cost. Off-the-shelf solutions can save both unit cost and development cost. Plus, prototyping can be accelerated, making time-to-market shorter. However, as a brilliant engineer, you might be able to come up with a less expensive solution then anything out there, especially if it’s for a very specific application.

Branding

Branding can be another issue. If your product looks exactly like a competitor or it’s just packaged in a gray box, that’s a problem. Often, the case is going to be custom for just this reason. For a custom case, you also get to choose colors, shapes, and dimensions to help distinguish your product in the marketplace. It’s less obvious if you’re using a standard piezo actuator to drive an auto-focus mechanism that is hidden inside an enclosure. Of course, if you’re product is a camera, you may want to spend some time making a high-quality, custom auto-focus mechanism so you can use it as a selling point.

Quality Control and Availability

Buying an off-the-shelf component puts you at the mercy of the manufacturer. Their stated tolerances may be less than you need, or they don’t meet their tolerances for every part they ship you.

Then, there’s the issue of shipping your product. If you have a contract to fulfill orders, that’s great for you, but if your quantities are low, you might just be a fly on the windshield of your part supplier.

  • Your order may be pushed aside to fill a bigger order.
  • The life-cycle may end and nobody tells you.
  • Your part cost can go up next year. Sorry.
  • The latest firmware release could wreak havoc on your controller application.

Focus

Unless you’re 100% vertically integrated, you’ll have to rely on some degree of off-the-shelf components. You can be a very successful device manufacturer without making your own resistors, screws, LCD screens, membrane switch panels, or plastic resin. Concentrate your energy on what makes your product better. It’s always smart to know your limitations.

Does it exist?

The primary reason to build a custom component is that it doesn’t otherwise exist at or near your target price point. It’s pretty compelling, and probably the biggest factor. If what you need doesn’t exist, custom is the only way to go.

Inspiration for your own custom fabrication

Dave sent me a link to Will Urbina’s video showing the build process for a custom 13TB RAID5 Network Attached Storage device to hold exceedingly hard-drive intensive video editing projects. He could have bought a bunch of external USB hard-drives and made do with a fragmented storage solution or purchased an enterprise product for $10,000. Instead, he’s created a high-quality device somewhere in between. Kudos to the video production quality, too.

Will Urbina is a computer designer and a “video production guy”. You can find out about more of his mod projects at www.willudesign.com. Check out these additional videos on YouTube – Part 1, Part 2.

 

 

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