EAC Product Development Solutions is passionate about transforming our client’s ideas, needs and challenges into innovative, marketable products that support successful brands — That’s why we created our EAC Design & Engineering Services Team.
Our team consistently works with manufacturers, academic institutions, and engineering and design organizations throughout North America to solve all kinds of engineering challenges.
Finding, selecting, and trusting an outside engineering group is a tall order. We get it. There are a lot of questions people have as they vet potential partners. Here are answers to the top 10 questions people ask about our engineering services. We hope this helps.
1. What engineering services does EAC offer?
Our engineering services team provides mechanical engineering, product design, industrial design, proof of concept, IoT / Smart-Connected design & development, and analysis (FEA) services to help individuals and organizations realize their product ideas and get to market faster.
We are proud to say our engineering team can handle just about any engineering challenge thrown our way. Our complete engineering capabilities include CAD, detailed technical specification product requirements, design validation and optimization, IoT (Internet of Things), smart connected products, manufacturing, FEA (Finite Elements Analysis), simulation, analysis and more.
You can check out our Engineering Services Brochure for specifics on our design and engineering principles, services, manufacturing competencies, and our software competencies.
Still have questions about our engineering services and competencies? You can always send us a message here, and we will be more than happy to personally answer any inquiries you might have.
2. What is the EAC engineering services background?
This is a question we get asked a lot.
We have offered our engineering services for over 21 years and counting. Throughout the course of these years, we have completed over 400 engineering service projects on time and under budget!
It is important to us that you know our engineering services team leverages years of experience and extensive knowledge of industry standards and tools to deliver manufacturable, innovative designs. This is a distinguishing and highly valued characteristic of our company.
3. What is the EAC engineering services project process?
If you have an idea or a project request, our engineering services team will work with you initially at no cost to further scope out your vision. We do this to ensure we have all your proper project requirements and to figure out two things: 1) What you are looking to do and 2) If we are a good fit.
Once we fully understand your engineering project we build out a statement of work. Our statement of work outlines our plan and what we are going to do.
After our statement of work is defined, the team carries out the project delivery under the watchful eye of your dedicated project manager.
Throughout the duration of the project, our team will keep you updated with the daily or weekly status updates. The frequency of the updates is entirely up to you.
No matter the size and the duration of your project, we still use the same project management process for every engineering service project we complete.
4. What are the professional engineering costs?
Our professional engineering costs generally do not vary, but the amount of work we do for customers varies according to the goal. (Keep an eye out for another blog that will dive into this with more detail)
Our engineering team considers the type of project you are looking to complete, the work you need to be done, your project size, your project timeline, and much more.
Because our fees and rates fluctuate due to so many factors, we offer a Free Project Scope to address your specific engineering needs and requirements. This way you can be assured you will get the most accurate engineering project quote. We’re not trying to play our cards close to our chest. We’d legitimately like to talk through your project and provide the best, most accurate quote possible. No strings attached.
5. What similar engineering projects has EAC worked on in the past?
With over 400 engineering projects completed on time and under budget, we have a plethora of project examples to demonstrate our expertise. We’ve worked on everything from consumer products to industrial equipment. We’ve optimized designs for traditional manufacturing, various molding methods, and IoT requirements.
For example, see how our Engineering Services team helped Condux International (Case Study) and Core Distribution (Case Study).
You might also check out how our engineering services team helped Milestone AV Technologies complete a critical project 40% faster.
6. What happens to the intellectual property of my engineering project?
The intellectual property of the engineering services project EAC completes for you is entirely yours. We call this out in our statement of work.
You can think of our engineering services team as your contracted in-house engineers. The rights to everything we do are completely owned by you. If we create something for you, it is entirely owned by you.
At the end of your engineering project we gladly turn over anything and everything we used to create and solve your engineering needs.
7. Can EAC help with fabrication or fabrication partners?
Although we don’t have specific fabrication partners, we are able to help you find companies that can fabricate and produce products for you. Over the years we’ve built a long list of trusted manufacturers.
Whether you are looking for an initial prototype run, a full production run, building only a few products, or you need help transitioning and optimizing your current design for full production—we can help.
Our engineering services team is more than happy to assist you in the process, as well as guide any conversation with the production facility. If you would like our expertise, we’re happy to help.
8. Can the EAC engineers work on-site with our engineering staff?
Our EAC engineering services team can work on-site, but we do have some geographical limitations. Contact us to see if having our EAC engineering services onsite could be an option for you.
9. How many resources can EAC devote to my engineering project?
We have a staff of highly trained and educated engineers, but we are not limited to just that. The resources assigned to any specific project depend on the timelines and tasks defined in the statement of work.
If your engineering project requires additional resources and contractors our team is well equipped (and networked) to work with and manage additional help to complete your project.
10. Does the EAC engineering services team have any references?
Of course. Here are just a few examples of what our customers have had to say about our engineering services:
“EAC was able to decrease the overall weight by nearly half. They did a nice job coming up with innovative solutions to reduce the amount of machining required by the hanging fixture.”
- -Josh Siebert, Engineering Manager, Condux International
“We needed 3D modeling expertise and experience in getting a design to manufacture stage. EAC looked at the mechanics of our product in detail and produced a well-optimized design and high quality drawings.”
- – Eric Wahl, Owner, Colorado Solar Inc.
“The most valuable part of partnering with EAC goes back to having faith very early on that the technical rigor and detail was being addressed. I was assured that the EAC team was going to do the diligence necessary to create a good design because of this.”
– Mike Ardito, Director of Product Development, Milestone AV Technologies
To view other EAC customer testimonials you can always scroll to the bottom of our Design & Engineering Page.
Beyond the typical questions we get asked about our engineering services, we thought it might be beneficial for you to learn the benefits of out outsourcing your projects and how hiring outside engineering help can shorten your time-to-market and give you a competitive edge.
Furthermore, don’t hesitate to contact us about Design & Engineering Services questions.
Here’s why engineering processes affect services and why streamlining information could solve the whole problem.
The Problem: Lack of Communication
Let’s be honest, engineering and manufacturing departments do not always communicate product changes to service. This is just the start of how your engineering processes affect services.
The Result: High Costs
When technicians reference outdated product information and arrive with incorrect parts, this leads to longer service visits, extraneous costs, longer downtime, and lowered customer satisfaction.
The Solution: Streamlining Information
Streamline the way you service teams access and use product information. The best way to accomplish this involves accurately transforming eBOMs (engineering bill of materials) to sBOMs (service bill of materials) and maintaining the fidelity of that information after engineering changes.
It’s time to stop letting your engineering processes affect services.
Take full advantage of the product data your organization has already created.
Structure service manuals and part information based on how a specific product is configured and serviced. Reuse engineering and manufacturing data in the service environment. Provide configuration-specific information to service technicians. Create a single point of access for your service content. Avoid text – use and repurpose graphics, animations, and CAD information when possible. And link service information to engineering information so changes propagate.
Next: Identify Your Service Needs
Identify what should go in your sBOM to ensure your sBOMs meet the needs of the service department. Examples might include what is serviceable versus what is replaceable, the status of a part, the components, models, grouped items, and more.
The Goal: Transforming Your Services
Remember: the ultimate goal is to make your customers happy. As a result of combining best practices with the right technology to support service and parts information management and publication you will see a higher customer satisfaction, improved technician effectiveness, improved brand reputation, higher profitability (due to lower revenue and service cost), time savings, and higher revenue (from repeat business and customer loyalty).
We have a team of technical communications specialists that would love to talk with you about your current state and current initiatives…
This is a guest post from our friends over on the Formlabs Blog.
What do Formula 1 race cars and Marine One have in common? Many of their high-performance drivetrain and engine components started life in Kapfenberg, a quiet little town nestled in the Austrian Alps.
Pankl Racing Systems specializes in developing and manufacturing engine and drivetrain components for racing cars, high-performance vehicles, and aerospace applications with more than 1,500 employees, and worldwide subsidiaries in Austria, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Slovakia, and Japan.
Every single part that Pankl makes requires a series of custom jigs, fixtures and other tooling that are designed and fabricated specifically for that part. The result is a proliferation of custom tools, adding significant cost and complexity to the manufacturing process.
To fulfill tight production deadlines, process engineer Christian Joebstl and his team introduced stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing to produce custom jigs and other low-volume parts directly for their manufacturing line in the company’s new €36 million state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
While 3D printing was initially met with skepticism, it turned out to be an ideal substitute to machining a variety of these tools, surprising even Pankl’s demanding engineers. In one case, it reduced lead time for jigs by 90 percent–from two to three weeks to less than a day – and decreased costs by 80-90 percent, leading to $150,000 in savings. Read on to learn how Joebstl and his team implemented their new 3D printing-based process.
Custom jigs in-use for motorcycle gear manufacturing
Pankl has been in the business for more than 30 years. Has 3D printing been a long-standing part of your practice?
Surprisingly, not at all. We didn’t have any 3D printers until less than a year ago. A colleague of mine had a request for a custom cover to hide some areas from impact in a shot peening machine. We used to buy parts like this from an external supplier, and one such tooling cost about €1,200. I was thinking ‘there has to be another way.’
Having been familiar with 3D printing from my education, I started looking and found the Form 2 3D printer after reading some reviews online. My colleagues understand the value in 3D printing now, but at the beginning, they were extremely skeptical. They thought 3D printing was more like a toy.
In our business, we expect that good equipment is inevitably also expensive. Most of our machinery starts at $100,000 and goes well beyond that. When my colleagues saw that the Form 2 only costs about $3,500, they asked me, “Why should we buy a toy?”
We ordered multiple custom sample parts to conduct tests, and it turned out that the 3D printed parts were capable. Holes and length tolerances were within the ±0.1 mm interval. I researched the material costs for my amortization calculation and discovered that a 3D printed set of the tooling for shot peening would only cost $45. I summarized this into a presentation for the board and took the parts to the kickoff meeting of the new gear plant. They were finally convinced, and we decided to buy our first Form 2, which we soon scaled up to three units.
In what cases has 3D printing helped trim production timelines and save costs?
Pankl was selected to manufacture entire gearbox assemblies for a well-known motorcycle manufacturer in 2016, and we swiftly began to set up the new production facility. Manufacturing these gears is an elaborate process. Forged steel parts go through multiple stages of machining using automatic lathes, followed by heat treatment and stress relief.
Each stage of turning in the automatic lathes requires custom jigs for every individual gear type. Machining these parts is costly, and adds significant complexity and risk to the manufacturing process.
Our schedule was tight because we had to produce many more gear types than expected. By the time we got to designing and ordering tooling, we were already supposed to start producing the first acceptance lots. We couldn’t just design the custom jigs and get them next day. If we had outsourced to traditional machining service providers, we would have had to wait six more weeks before we could start production–so we decided to produce the parts in-house on our Form 2 3D printers.
With 3D printing, you can simply take the same design, send it to the printer, and then have the finished part ready by the next morning. This leaves time to check the part on the manufacturing line and make any necessary changes. It also simplified the design process, providing the design freedom to produce jigs in any shape. In conventional CNC milling or turning, you are constrained by the need to design machinable parts, and every extra curve, hole, or chamfer adds complexity to the process.
Using a single Form 2, we can print a single jig in 5—9.5 hours, and running all three of our machines enables us to produce about 40 jigs within a week.
A simple machined jig costs about $40—50, but more complex parts can cost up to $300. 3D printing reduces these direct costs to $8.5—25, and significantly lowers overhead costs in design, purchasing, and storage, resulting in more than 90 percent overall cost reduction. Considering we’ll have to produce more than 1,000 jigs over the course of production, 3D printing will help the company save more than $150,000.
How did these parts fare on the production line?
We’ve had lots of problems in the past because the cooling media in the lathe is very aggressive on plastic parts, and makes them brittle after some time. Parts 3D printed with Tough Resin have shown resistance against our cooling media, and they are strong enough to withstand the intermittent load that these parts have to endure. Holes and length tolerances normally lie within the ±0.1 mm interval, which satisfies the requirements for our jigs.
We’ve already produced more than 300 3D printed jigs to manufacture small batches of 200 parts of each gear for the trial production run. Soon, we’ll scale up production to 1,000-2,000 parts per batch and the production capacity of the facility will increase to more than 1.5 million gears per year.
What are some other applications where you have used 3D printing?
Prototyping, shot peening, masking, and manufacturing various jigs and tooling. For example, when we have a new connecting rod design, we 3D print prototypes to discuss complex features on the part. It’s much easier if you can look at the part, and hold it in your hands.
Once we had to design a custom connecting rod for a customer, who wanted to verify if it’d fit into the building room of a cylinder and that it wouldn’t hit the chamber or the cylinder head itself while turning. We 3D printed a prototype and sent it to them. Once they confirmed that the design worked, we could start production with confidence. The alternative would have been to produce a machined part, which would have been more expensive for the customer and required eight weeks of waiting time.
We also 3D printed special adapters for grippers on an automated handling system. To achieve the perfect grip between the gripper and the part, you have to take the negative of the part, and form the fingers of the gripper according to the shape of your part. Normally we would have milled or cast it, which would have been substantially more expensive.
Recently, we used Flexible Resin in a shot peening machine to increase the friction between the self-cleaning jigs and some other parts. The friction between the metal parts was too low to transfer the turning movement. I added some 3D printed elastic brakes in the tooling to increase the friction so that the turning movement was transmitted from the bottom to the top. Getting these parts from an external vendor would have taken weeks.
Do you have any other plans to use 3D printing within Pankl?
One of my goals is to get more orders from other divisions within Pankl. We’ve had success with 3D printed parts in our production line, and I see countless other applications that could benefit from 3D printing. I want to show other engineers the parts we make, and the applications where we use them, to make them aware that this technology is available to them in-house.
I started with this project when other colleagues showed interest in our new processes. I sent around information on the 3D printing materials, such as their mechanical properties, what they look like, and the particular use cases they’re suitable for. I also printed sample parts for other departments, described the design specifications and how they can order something.
SEE WHAT YOU CAN CREATE WITH A FORM 2
Explore the materials to discover the one that fits your needs.
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We’ve already printed parts for aerospace and drivetrain divisions. They send us the designs, we produce the parts for them, and they receive finished parts that are ready to use in their machines. Pankl is a large company, though, which makes this a slow process. We have to overcome the same hurdles as we did initially within our department, and I believe many other companies have these concerns about 3D printing.. But looking at the results we’ve achieved, I’m positive that they’ll recognize the value in the technology.
Product lifecycle management (PLM) is a more complex ideology than what meets the eye. Many companies assume that IT departments should be responsible for PLM although this should be reconsidered. For example, you wouldn’t have your engine rebuilt at a place that specializes in oil changes. This same logic applies to PLM systems for numerous reasons. Here are five reasons why IT departments shouldn’t internally manage your PLM systems.
1. PLM is not an IT specialty
“This is not something I learned in school.”
Just because your IT department is educated and certified does not guarantee they will follow the best system practices and the most cost-effective maintenance. After all, PLM systems are engineering-centric. They are complicated and unrelated to any marketable IT certification.
In order to support these systems, a great level of expertise, specialized knowledge and know-how is required. Ultimately, these systems are complicated because they require information outside of your technology department’s core focus.
2. IT Departments are unfamiliar with PLM
“I don’t know anything about it.”
Once again, let’s look at this in a completely different perspective. Imagine you are in critical condition and a specialized piece of equipment is needed for your survival. Would you let a nurse perform this task without proper training and experience?
Similarly, your IT department does not want to be held responsible for a system they know virtually nothing about. These enterprise systems are different in comparison to the products they are trained to maintain. In order to uphold a stable environment, many PLM systems require extensive knowledge and management. If your IT department is unfamiliar with your PLM, you could be jeopardizing the top and bottom line of your business.
3. IT departments are understaffed
“We are a small team with an entire company to support.”
According to a recent study, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported companies having an average of 4.2 individuals in every IT department. In larger companies, there is on average 11.9 IT staff supporting more than 500 employees. In smaller companies, less than 3 IT professionals are left to support around 250 employees.
Despite the increasing complexity of the IT business function, IT departments have remained small. Many of these departments are even lacking the resources needed to employ help desk technicians and system administrators. If this is the case, who is watching over your specialized PLM system?
4. IT departments don’t have enough time
“There is not enough time in the day.”
Fixing end-user issues and general day-to-day activities take up a considerable amount of time for any IT department. Their labor resources are only able to stretch so far.
Aside from keeping up with their extensive workload, many find it next to impossible to avoid larger projects from being delayed. Performing proper maintenance and implementing any new software is out of the question. This leaves the enterprise environment to suffer, and in most cases, fail.
5. IT departments are unable to give recommendations
“I’m not sure how to do proper system maintenance.”
Accurately running and managing PLM systems involves a high level of patchwork. When problems arise and improvements are needed, many IT professionals are unable to make recommendations due to their limited experience and expertise. Unlike trained professionals, your IT department has limited knowledge and understanding of the diverse environmental factors that should be utilized during implementation. When a system goes down an IT department is forced to relearn everything. This results in longer maintenance. Instead of knowing the ins and outs of PLM systems, an IT department struggles to properly fix the issue.
As you can see, managing a PLM system is no walk in the park. In order to have a high rate of success with these systems, one must have an active approach in place. Despite the persistent idea of reducing costs by internally managing systems, companies often find themselves wasting time and decreasing the chance of success. The reality is, it is just not that simple.
Risk… what does it mean?
For some, it is crossing the street. For others, it is starting a company with the last of their own money, or money from an expectant and hopeful investor.
But, what does it mean for companies/customers? Ultimately, I think it drives everything at a company. For some companies, often publicly traded, risk is not an option. Everything they do must have a strong business case to produce more revenue with little or no risk. Smaller companies tend to be much more willing to take risks. Sometimes it’s the only way to get the growth they so desperately want and need. In between you’ll find many companies along the willing-to-take-on-risk spectrum.
How do you convince your company or customer to take a risk?
One way is to downplay the risk. Not a good idea. It can, and likely will, bite you in the end. No, you must address risk head on. You must out weigh the risk with the potential benefits. Show examples of success. Find and present metrics from those that have gone before you. Show the potential benefit the customer/company can recognize if they accept the proposed risk. Even after all that, you may only open the door to considering an improvement project. It does not guarantee a person or company will proceed.
You must address the risk
Address the risk head on. Show how you, or your company, will mitigate risk throughout the venture. Always keep in mind the customer’s or your company’s view on risk. It could be as simple as a loss of the investment into a project. On the other end of the spectrum could be lost customers, lost revenue, or even lost jobs. By not dismissing the risk, but acknowledging it and trying to prevent it, it shows your commitment to the customer, whether internal or external. It shows you are a partner, not just someone trying to sell an idea and run.
In the end, everyone wants to grow. Very few want to take the risks needed to grow. If you’re trying to help your customer or company grow and improve, you must prove you will do everything possible to manage risk, but not dismiss its existence in the first place.
Assessments help organizations avert risk
Are you in the process of accepting risk in order to improve, grow, or move in a new direction? We offer many solutions that can help mitigate risk — solutions and services with proven track records that adhere to best practices. We also offer a Product Development System Assessment (PDSA) and Functional Group Assessment (FGA) to help align organizations, define strategic direction, and help map the best course forward. Download our PDSA brochure or FGA brochure to learn more. Please share your experience and thoughts about accepting and managing risk in the comments below.
Cheers.
In preparation for the LiveWorx 2017 conference in Boston an amazing team of EAC, PTC, and RCR folks worked to create an entirely new experience for NASCAR fans. The experience was unveiled at the entrance of the Xtropolis exhibit hall floor and allowed LiveWorx attendees to interact with an actual RCR race vehicle using augmented reality (AR). The experience wowed show sponsors and attendees alike.
Racing provides many traditional experiences; the race track, the stands, concessions, meet and greets, etc. You may get to
see a car from a few feet away, but rarely will anyone get a chance to see inside a car or what’s beneath the sheetmetal. Our development team created four ThingWorx View “experiences” for people. Each one allows them to interact with a different part of the car in a different way using nothing but their smart phone or table and the ThingWorx View app that is available for free on both the Apple App Store and Google PlayStore.
In the picture below you will see one example. On an iPad we are able to scan a ThingMark and launch an AR video that shows the fuel system and how a car is fueled.
Another experience lets a viewer watch the official tire change process. It’s really cool stuff.
Moving to the other side of the car lets you see the roll cage structure and displays some really interesting facts and information across the top of the screen.
EAC, RCR, and PTC are using technology, available now, to engage customers and fans in an entirely new way. Let us know if you’d like to know more about how AR and the IoT can transform the way your internal and external customers engage with your products.
