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Mechanical Engineering For Prototypes, Manufacturability, and Next Gen Products

AbeMcKay
Mechanical Engineer

Since joining 219 Design’s team, I’ve learned a lot about our unique design process and past successes in mechanical engineering. This post highlights from some of the projects I found the most exciting at each stage of the process.

-Abe McKay, Mechanical Engineer

What We Do

219 Design is a Silicon Valley based interdisciplinary product engineering firm. With in-house expertise spanning mechanical, electronic, software, and firmware engineering and a breadth of cross-industry experience, 219 Design accelerates product development and innovation for every one of our clients. 

Our Design Process

Mechanical Engineering for Research and Ideation

research ideation mechanical engineering

219’s brainstorming methodology is collaborative and effective. We came up with many ideas together that could show the versatility of DuPont materials in engaging and new ways. We had a lot of fun in the process too.

-Julian Velazquez, Innovation, Prototyping, and Design Lead at DuPont Silicon Valley Technology Center

We take our clients’ ideas and make them into realistic product concepts. 

When DuPont’s Silicon Valley team wanted to bring their advanced materials to life in an engaging way, 219 led ideation sessions to develop tangible concepts that achieved their goal. Together, 219 and DuPont decided to showcase some of DuPont’s advanced materials through a pair of creative devices: a sophisticated lightweight drone and a pair of augmented reality (AR) glasses, both made primarily out of DuPont materials. 219 went on to build these prototypes, which are now on display at the DuPont Silicon Valley Technology Center. DuPont’s team frequently uses the drone and AR glasses with customers to help spark new ideas about what is possible with their building blocks.

Mechanical Engineering for System Architecture

219 applies an interdisciplinary approach to consistently produce thoughtful, unique, and innovative outcomes.

Matt Callaghan MD, Founder of OneBreath

We take concepts and develop detailed system architectures that take the guesswork out of product engineering.

Having explored, prototyped, and tested a wide range of concepts from usability, functionality, and aesthetic standpoints, 219 Design helped OneBreath focus in on the right path forward for their final design. Based on our prior learnings, we chose a form factor and layout that made sense from usability, manufacturability, and serviceability points of view. We selected a user interface that provides future proofing and cleanability at a low cost. We laid out a plan for the systems that provide the actual ventilation functionality. We designed an approach to the chassis and enclosure that is easily manufacturable and provides for ease of service in the field. This system architecture was carried forward with support from 219 Design all the way through to manufacturing. 

Mechanical Product Engineering

product mechanical engineering

In 219 Design, I get a great team of engineers who understand our strategy and help me to execute against it.

Mariel van Tatenhove, VP Product, Keyssa

We work through every last detail of a product part by part until we have a polished design ready to manufacture.

Our client, Velasso, wanted to bring internet connectivity to bike locks. Linka came to 219 with a 3D printed mockup that had led to a successful Kickstarter campaign but still needed to be turned into a well engineered, working manufacturable design. The 219 team dove into the details of engineering the lock part by part, including designing a reliable mechanism, a manufacturable, durable, weatherproof, and tamper-resistant housing, and figuring out the user install and mounting process. The result was a solid, highly detailed design that provided a strong foundation for going to manufacturing.

Mechanical Engineering for Manufacturing

manufacturing mechanical engineering

The team at 219 was thoughtful, motivated, and committed throughout development – offering innovative ideas that showed they took my customer’s interests to heart.

Paul Nangeroni, Head of Product and Vehicle Engineering

We work with manufacturing partners to dial in the mass production of a finished design.

Having designed, prototyped, and tested a smart lock for an electric scooter-share company, we were ready to transition to mass production. We produced the documentation package for the various parts and assemblies. We evaluated and selected the right contract manufacturers to work with. We dialed in the assembly process on the ground in China, and the install process back in the US. We put in place a supply chain enabling our client to easily order large quantities of smart lock modules. As a result, our client was able to rapidly deploy a large fleet of smart-lock enabled scooters and to have a dependable supply of lock modules for upcoming scooter designs.  

Tackling Your Challenge

In this overview of 219 Design’s process, I’ve only touched on a few of our hundreds of projects, skipping over many juicy details like thermal dissipation techniques, waterproofing, finite element analysis, and our soft goods experiments. All of us at 219 would be happy to share more stories. Reach out if you have a project that you think could benefit from our team’s expertise and resources! 

Date published: 08/01/2019