Outsourcing aspects of the product development process allows designers and manufacturers to concentrate on core activities. One area which can benefit from outsourcing is surface finish development. Specialist finish development consultancies such as Finish Technologies Ltd. focus on providing off the shelf or bespoke surface finish treatments which meet the aesthetic and functional requirements of the design.
Utilising a consultancy to carry out parallel tasks can significantly compress
the time line from project approval to completion. In many cases the desired
finish treatment is commercially available however, sourcing a supplier
producing exactly what you need can often be a time consuming process.
Finish development consultancies employ comprehensive databases of available
treatments and can usually move straight to a compatible source. At times
when there is no commercially available treatment, finish development consultancies
work with suppliers to develop new products and technologies to achieve
the design goal. Using their experience they can usually eliminate development
paths which may be incompatible with the product's manufacturing process
or end user functionality, saving time in trials.
Working across
a diverse industry base, with a variety of materials, in an array of
applications, finish development consultancies can deliver a fresh set of cost
effective ideas to the new product design process or assist manufacturers
directly to re-develop established products on short deadlines.
Finish Technologies Ltd.
Bracknell based consultants, Finish Technologies Ltd, launched a unique package of services to the Product Design and Manufacturing community this week.
Finish Technologies assists designers to assess future surface finish and coating trends and utilise them in their concept. Then working with engineering and marketing departments, refines the process to the point of production.
Drawing on 20 years experience in the materials and product finish fields, the consultancy takes an existing product finish and applies it to new products and materials or they will develop new product finishes to client’s bespoke requirements. Throughout the development process Finish Technologies acts as project manager, liasing between internal and external contributors, sourcing and validating suppliers, overseeing proof of principle trials and delivering pre-production samples.
At the consultancy’s launch, Technical Director Tina Rippon said, “Finish Technologies assists designers to realise their product vision, while understanding the constraints of the manufacturing process and implementing new processes where needed”.
Using this service will assist manufacturing companies to update existing products with minimal development cost or drive a new concept into production without tying up valuable internal resources.