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Prototype Development: All You Need to Know

Prototyping is the act of creating a functional model of a mechanical component to test and evaluate its design before being mass-produced. It is one of the most important stages in any design process.

In this competitive era, companies want to continuously optimize their processes, which has been a sharp increase in the demand for prototyping services. Prototyping helps reduce failure and loss of investment; it also works towards having a proof of concept and minimum viable product that will help attract investors and get regulatory approval from governmental agencies. Here are a few things to keep in mind while developing a prototype for your business.

Getting Feedback

You must get your engineers and line factory workers to give feedback on ways to improve the mechanical component. Getting feedback at an early stage allows you to make changes based on their needs and expectations.

Involving employees not only allows you to understand what features they need and want to improve their productivity, but it also gives them a sense of ownership, and the company gives them importance.

Understand Your Constraints

While building a prototype, you need to be aware that there are a lot of constraints to deal with. Be clear on your budget, industry rules, time frame for development, and regulations. This will help you not delay the development and help avoid cost escalations.

Protecting Your Intellectual Property

A company’s ability to protect and leverage its intellectual property (IP) is a key factor in its success. You must file for a provisional patent before sharing your prototype with anyone outside your organization. Get help applying for or patent with an experienced IP lawyer. Also, whoever you work with outside of your company, don’t forget to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement.

Hire a Good Company to Build a Prototype

Not every business is a Swiss army and has expertise in design, engineering, or production which is why they need to hire a professional company to help them build the exact prototype of their choice within a short period. While hiring a company it is important to look at their portfolio, experience, and customer reviews.

Small and medium sized spare metal prototypes

Get the Best Prototyping services in Wisconsin

We help companies build a prototype to test their most promising solutions and help translate your vision into reality. If you’re on the lookout for a trusted prototyping partner, we at MD Design & Automation can help. We have a lot of experience under our belt with clientage in several industries in the US, Europe, Canada, and South America. Check out our testimonials here.

Our portfolio of services includes prototyping services, CNC grinding, precision CNC machining services, CNC prototyping, full-service CNC tooling, full-service CNC machining, short-run machining, CNC production, jig, and fixture design manufacturing in Wisconsin, reverse engineering machine parts, and much more. 

Get a quote for your project now. You can also contact us at sales@mddesignwi.com.

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