Tag Archives: Product Development

What type of products do we design

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Product types we have designed

A frequent question we get is “What types of products do we specialise in”?

It doesn’t have a simple answer because the range is huge. The reality is that electronics design and the embedded software that runs inside those products intersects with every aspect of modern day life.

Eastern Innovation Business Centre

Eastern Innovation Business Centre

It came up again at a networking event at Eastern Innovation Business Centre in Mulgrave where Susan Su of Suspire Digital gave an excellent presentation on having a clear value proposition that defined your business offering. My summary is that you have to define the customer you want in terms of :

  • Who are they?
  • What problem are you solving for them?
  • What does success look like?
Susan Su of Suspire Digital

Susan Su of Suspire Digital

The networking session afterward is where people ask you what you do and that is where the conversation about what types of products we can develop came up.

Examples of the types of products we have designed

I thought I’d provide a list of electronics products we have been involved in developing.  90% of these products ended up Made in Australia which is the other side of this coin. Designing modern, competitive, electronics products that you can manufacture profitably in Australia. The list is alphabetical.

  • 2.5KW BLDC motor controller from a 12V automotive battery
  • 22KW Rail Inverter
  • 2D shock sensor with event logging and shock profile capture
  • 2D tilt sensor
  • 3 phase medium voltage distribution switches
  • 36KV dual vacuum bottle medium distribution disconnect switch
  • 3D shock sensor with event logging and shock profile capture
  • 3D tilt sensor
  • 3G based remote water metering system
  • 415VAC 3 phase power factor correction
  • 4-20mA thermistor transmitted for power stations
  • 42V boost converter from 12VDC with 99% efficiency
  • 48VDC 3 phase distribution switch
  • 48VDC distribution switch
  • 915MHz mesh networked power monitors
  • Active RFID 2D positioning System
  • Active RFID based forklift proximity alert
  • ADSL Service Detector
  • Air Ram based Saline Syringe Simulator
  • Analogue guitar effects pedals
  • Assisted ladder climbing device
  • Automated bar code reading for a test sample identification
  • Automated blinds, curtains and controllers
  • Automated In System Programmer for Production
  • Automated Switch Tester – high volume production
  • Automated vacuum hand grip
  • Automatic Rain Tank Valve Controller
  • Automatic toilet seat closer
  • Automotive Body Computer
  • Automotive Electric Winch
  • Automotive high side driver (relay replacement)
  • Automotive Immobiliser
  • Automotive real time data capture and forward unit via 3G
  • Automotive Siren
  • Automotive stabilised power supply for digital radios
  • Automotive surveillance camera power supply and video capture
  • Automotive Thermostat Monitor
  • Automotive winch and capstan management system
  • AV routing and control for presentation systems
  • Bagpipe electronic tuner
  • Bagpipe practice cutoff switch
  • Battery Operated Rainwater Tank management system
  • Battery powered children’s toys
  • Battery voltage monitor for touchscreen kiosks
  • Bed wetting training system
  • Bin Cycle Reminder
  • Biological steraliser spray system
  • Blood analyser and multi-parameter tester
  • Bluetooth Based RS232 Extender
  • Bluetooth mesh based lighting controls
  • Bone Conduction Hearing Aid for those with temporary hearing loss
  • Box moving robot loss of suction detection
  • Brushless DC Motor Controller – BLDC
  • Bus refrigeration controller
  • Bus refrigeration UI
  • Cable Cutover Set
  • Cable Fault Locator Bridge
  • Cable Pair Identifier
  • CAN interface for Rail Inverter
  • CAT-M1 solar powered air quality monitor PM10, PM2.5
  • Cell Therapy counterflow centrifuge cell sorter
  • Child safety monitor to prevent being inadvertent left in a vehicle
  • Circuit Tracer
  • Circular economy product dispenser for packaging reuse
  • CO monitoring for truck depots
  • Communications Set for Telephony Service Technicians
  • Concentrated Solar Power Dish Controller
  • Concrete levelling controller
  • Container Terminal Vehicle Management and Container Tracking System
  • Container tracking and handover system for ports and terminals
  • Conveyor Belt Controller
  • Conveyor control system for coin sorting
  • Corrosion Protection Data Logger
  • Countdown Screensaver for the Olympics
  • Covert vandalism detection
  • Crane lift monitoring and reporting
  • Custom Audio Mixer for English Language Training Assessment
  • Custom LED signage
  • Dashboard Mounted Intelligent Alert Module
  • Dashboard Mounted LCD Module with Keypad
  • Data Logger File Format Converter
  • Differential Voltage Buffer for Data Logging
  • Digital bagpipe
  • Digital Compass
  • Digital Pump State Controller
  • Digital Temperature Sensor
  • DNP3 enabled Smart Grid Power Controller
  • Down hole tool for underground boring
  • Drift racing high precision GPS tracking with RTK
  • Drone electronic controls – multiple
  • Early Fault Detection system for power distribution
  • Early Fault Detection system for SWER power distribution
  • Earth Leakage Measurement device for Safety Certification
  • Electrically Held distribution switch
  • Electrically Isolated Air Plunger Actuator
  • Electromagnet Therapy Apparatus
  • Electronic level sensor – gravitic spirit level
  • Emergency battery bank for mobile phone charging
  • Emergency warning radio systems
  • Epidural Procedure Simulator
  • Exit Gate Access Controller
  • Fashion agile jewelry with user select-able appearance
  • FLEXIO Platform Remote IO with Data Logging
  • Fork Lift Proximity Alerter using active RFID
  • Fork Lift Speed Limiter
  • Freezer management system including safety controls
  • Gate Entry Keypad
  • Gate Entry Touchscreen
  • GPS tracking tag with 3G/GPS/BLE/Qi wireless charging on board
  • GPS tracking with 4G, primary cell battery, wirepas, accelerometer
  • Graphical Data Visualisation for Windows
  • Hand detection for a hand dryer
  • Hand Held Vehicle Access Updater
  • Hex pulse water meter AMR with wirepas mesh networking and 4G gateways
  • High data rate vehicle telemetry system with real time reporting
  • High reliability level crossing light management system
  • High Voltage condenser monitoring
  • High Voltage Disconnect Switch Controller
  • Horse tracker for training with GPS
  • Humidity Sealed Touchpad
  • Hydration tracking BLE drink bottle
  • iButton based Vehicle Access Controller with Event Logging
  • In place earth bond tester
  • Indoor lighting controls with presence sensing
  • Industrial iButton Reader
  • Industrial Proximity Card Reader HID iClass
  • Industrial Proximity Card Reader HID Proxcard II
  • Industrial Proximity Card Reader Indala
  • Industrial Proximity Card Reader MiFare
  • Industrial pump controller
  • Industrial Shock and Vibration Sensor
  • Industrial Timer Module
  • Infra Red 2D positioning System – IR
  • Internet of Things devices since 1998
  • IoT monitor for household appliances in field test
  • IR beam grid sports simulator that uses real balls
  • IR glasses for drowsiness detection in truck drivers
  • IR Vehicle Identification System
  • Key management systems
  • Kick Boxing Impact Measurement Device
  • LCD Based Spa Controller
  • LED Downlight
  • Lightning Protection Interface
  • Line powered 3 phase recloser with integrated voltage and current monitoring
  • Load Dump Protected Power Supply
  • Load Dump Protection Module for Vehicle Mounted Telemetry
  • Loading Coil Crosstalk Measurement Tester with 120dB range
  • Locker access control system
  • LoRa based people location services for residential care
  • Magnetic field detector for geological surveying
  • Marine winch manager
  • Modular battery charging and UPS systems
  • Modular scientific test instrument
  • Motorcycle rear lights and indicators
  • Multiple Automotive after market ECUs
  • NB-IoT general telemetry module
  • NB-IoT water management device
  • Non-invasive blood pressure monitoring for children
  • Non-mobile mobile phone
  • Novel musical keyboard
  • Outdoor Infra Red based communications system – IR
  • Oxygen deprivation system for elite athlete training
  • Oxygen sensor for furnaces
  • Parallel Banked High Current Capacity Battery Charger
  • Passive DI
  • Personnel Proximity Alerter using active RFID
  • Pet management product for dogs left indoors during the day
  • Pet Translator novelty toy for cats
  • Phantom powered compact microphone
  • Pipe and Cable Locator
  • PIR Based Vandal Displacer
  • PLC Protocol Converter
  • Plumbers Safety Testers
  • Pool and Spa Pump Controller
  • Pool chlorinator and chemical management
  • Pool water level management
  • Portable Appliance Tester – PAT
  • Portable waste compactor management and monitoring system with GPS and
  • remote reporting
  • Power usage monitoring and reporting
  • Precision liquid level sensing system with SDI-12 telemetry
  • Pressure distribution monitoring for patients recovering from injury
  • Programmable Air Blower
  • Programmable Conveyor Step Controller
  • Programmable Lathe
  • Proportional controller for vehicle mounted hydraulic equipment
  • Protocol Converters For Security Systems
  • Pump Controller Protocol Converter
  • Pump Loss Of Prime Detector
  • Quad pulse water meter AMR
  • Quadlock phone charger
  • Radio based apartment water metering
  • Rain sensor for automated opening roof systems
  • Remote Fuel Level Monitoring
  • Remote Thermostat Monitor
  • Remote Water Metering
  • Replacement tram GPS system (VPIS)
  • Retrofit produce weighing systems for field harvesters
  • RF based nurse call system
  • RFID Vehicle Identification System
  • RGB LED Lighting Controller
  • Robust industrial pump control and monitoring
  • Robust shock and vibration monitors
  • RS232 Based DSO for Windows
  • RS232 Data Capture Wizard
  • RS232 iButton Reader
  • RS232 Port Multiplexer
  • RS232 Protocol Analyser
  • Rugged Vehicle Management System
  • Rural water trough level monitoring
  • Safeturn Bicycle Turn Indicator
  • SAW atomiser technical review
  • Scent management system for buildings
  • Security system for coded entry to buildings and rooms
  • Septic Tank Sludge Level Meter
  • Sigfox temperature monitor
  • Single Phase Power Factor Correction Controller
  • Smart city local environment monitoring
  • Smart city presence and usage monitoring
  • Smoke Alarm Repeater and Exit Indicator
  • Solar battery charger and inverter
  • Solar power sharing in multi-tenancy buildings
  • Solar powered LED bollard light
  • Solar Thermal reflector controller
  • Solar Thermal water temperature profile sensing
  • Sports timing gates that use RF and eliminates the overhead wiring
  • Stage PA and foldback or eDrummers
  • Studio Quality Instrument Interface
  • Studio Quality Microphone Preamplifier with Phantom Power
  • Telemetry Host IoT Web Service
  • Temperature Controller for Reptiles
  • Temperature Probe
  • Thermal Cutout for Spa
  • Thermistor Based Temperature Sensor
  • Three Phase Power Factor Correction Controller
  • Time Domain Reflectometer
  • Touchpad for Pump and Blower Control
  • Tracking solar system producing PV electricity and hot water at the same time
  • Transit Sentinel Shock and Tilt Monitor for goods in transit
  • Trickle Charge Battery Manager
  • Truck automatic safety brake system
  • Truck Grid parking management system and remote gateway
  • Truck parking management system for container terminals
  • Truck Parking Wireless Keypad
  • Tyre Pressure Measurement and Reporting System for Trucks
  • Ultra Low Power Battery Operated Telemetry
  • Ultra low power reminder timer
  • Ultrasonic monitoring of pumps with remote telemetry
  • Underground Cable Sheath Fault Locator
  • Underwater LED Pool Light
  • UPS Battery Bank Controller
  • UPS controller and UI
  • USB Air Solenoid Valve Controller
  • USB Based DSO for Windows
  • USB iButton Reader
  • Vehicle Area Network using Wireless Communications
  • Vehicle mounted air quality monitoring and telemetry
  • Violin pickup and preamplifier
  • VMS signs
  • Voltage Surge Arrestors
  • Waste compactor management and monitoring system with remote reporting
  • Waste disposal volume metering
  • Waste disposal physical parameter monitoring to determine waste type
  • Water Pump Controller
  • Water quality monitor
  • Windows Based Fractal Generator Software
  • Windows Based GPS Tracking Software
  • Wireless Data Logger
  • Wireless iButton Reader
  • Zero Crossing high voltage distribution switch

This is not an exhaustive list and some line entries cover multiple products, multiple clients or both.

Australia Made And Owned logo

Australia Made And Owned

And again, this is a list of products designed in Australia, so they can be Made in Australia. This is also why we are members of the Australia Made Campaign.

A previous version of this list from 16 years ago can be found at Electronics Manufacturers are the people we serve.

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design, Embedded Software Development and Electronics Manufacturing, focusing on products that are intended to be profitably Made In Australia. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for more than 40 years.

You can also follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

This post is Copyright © 2025 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd

Key elements for Product Design

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Key elements for Product Design

Design Rush offer an index of service categories covering a wide range of design capabilities from mobile development, web development, product development, and a fairly comprehensive range of design and marketing services.

I was recently asked to contribute to an expert insights discussion on Product Design versus Industrial Design and found some of the other contributions quite useful.

The big take away from me is the lack of clear differentiation between terms like Design, Development, Industrial Design, Product Design, Engineering Design and… you get the idea. How can first time buyers navigate this space or tell if a particular offering covers everything they need?

If this is of interest to you then you might also find this post on the overall Product Development Process useful in navigating some of this territory.

Product Development Process

Product Development Process

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development, focusing on products that are intended to be Made In Australia. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for more than 40 years.

You can also follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

This post is Copyright © 2024 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd

 

 

Product Development Case Study

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Startup strategy

This is a classic startup tale where a small team do incredibly good work to get an idea into a demonstrable form and then build a team who can complete the package.

A Melbourne based business came to us with a mechanical prototype operated using three Arduino modules and hand wired actuators and drivers that had allowed them to prove the operating principle of their cell processing system. The system was managed by an Excel spreadsheet that allowed them to code the interactions they needed in the spreadsheet itself. This is one of the most impressive uses of Excel as a process controller I’ve seen.

Now they needed us to take that and make it into a robust version that could be transported.

This is a very good example of solving the problems you need to in order to take your next step. This minimise cost now, reduces time to the next step and reduces technical risk.

What we did was to create a set of PCBs that acted as custom shields for the Arduino modules and also provided mechanical support for the drivers, sensors and indicators. The hand soldered wires were replaced by crimped connectors and the whole assembly was now robust enough to put on a plane and allow them to demonstrate to industry experts and potential customers. This they did very successfully.

From Concept Prototype to Production

The next stage was to ditch the Arduino modules and create a more capable embedded system. But they also needed to put together a Control Interface for managing the instrument including in a GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) environment with laboratory automation, and an editor for creating the programs (recipes) that defined the cell processing steps.

And lastly they also needs to get the manufacturing systems in place and the service support software.

To manage the risks they divided these tasks between three different businesses.

Product in action
Product in action

Another Melbourne developer did the control interface and also took control of the manufacturing processes. These processes require ISO 13485 Quality Management Systems which they had in place but we do not.

Successful Endeavours did the electronics, embedded software and the communications interfaces that ran on the tablet used for the Control Interface and the Service and Production Support software.

Contactpoint took on the Centrifuge Protocol Builder which is a web based tool that allowed creation of protocols and also simulation of them in use in order to refine them off the machine. This is very important because we are talking about processing human cells and if you mess up a batch you have to get more. Which could involve surgery. Contactpoint have an excellent Centrifuge Protocol Builder case study on their site which I recommend you also check out.

Protocol Builder
Protocol Builder

And getting to market

The final step of course is how you sell, distribute and support a product like this which is international in scope. Another great thing they did right was to aim global from day one. So they negotiated and closed a deal with an international distributor who already had the global presence in that market and were able to handle the logistics and presence to support the instrument. The product was launched at the Melbourne ISCT 2019 conference in May 2019.

Market Launch at ISCT 2019
Market Launch at ISCT 2019

We wish them every success with this Designed in Australia, Made in Australia, world first technology product. For us, this one just ticks every box we care about.


Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development, focusing on products that are intended to be Made In Australia. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for more than 30 years.


You can also follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.


This post is Copyright © 2021 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

Lessons in Product Development

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New Product Development

In Product Development Process we looked at all the steps in Product Development. The need can vary a lot and so it is also useful to hear from those who have bright new products to market. So it is with pleasure I can direct you to an excellent resource with eight lessons from top executives.

 

Here is the list of lessons:

 

  • Melissa Perri: Learn what your users want before shipping
  • Marc Rubner: Deliver a tangible impact for your customers
  • Christophe Gillet: Assess market viability
  • Brian Tubergen: Prioritize the best opportunities
  • Andrea Schneider and Lauren Gilchrist: Educate stakeholders on modern best practices
  • Jeff Gothelf: Define objectives in terms of business problems
  • Jeetu Patel: Build teams that are motivated to execute
  • Eric Ries: Prioritize experimentation

The collation is by Mike Fishbein who interviewed each executive and there are also podcasts expanding on the ideas.

Mike Fishbein

Mike Fishbein

 

 

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development, focusing on products that are intended to be Made In Australia. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for more than 30 years. This post is Copyright © 2018 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

 

 

Electronics Design: Prototype

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What is a Prototype?

A Prototype is done in order to explore some aspect of a new opportunity without having to fully commit to it yet. Prototype has a number of potential meanings including:

 

  • the original or model on which something is based or formed
  • someone or something that serves to illustrate the typical qualities of a class; model; exemplar
  • something analogous to another thing of a later period
  • biology. an archetype; a primitive form regarded as the basis of a group

So a Prototype is either an early model or a smaller scale development to test a new idea.

 

Why Prototype?

So for engineering, we Prototype to reduce risk, and we learn from Prototypes to improve the likelihood of project success by being better informed for the next round of design. So a Prototype is a core Product Development Process Risk Management strategy.

 

Product Development Process

Product Development Process

A Prototype can also reduce other risks such as financial risk or market risk and isn’t always done for technical risk reasons.

 

Financial risk can be managed by breaking a project up into a series of stages and only committing funds to a stage when its predecessor has been successfully completed. A Prototype is often done ahead of a major block of Product Development to test whether the technical approach is likely to succeed and provide early warning of unexpected problems or interactions.

 

Market risk can be managed by trialling a new product idea with a smaller group of candidate customers to gauge their acceptance of the product. This has to be well managed however as history has shown that this approach, especially in the case of focus groups, can often just elicit the outcome the company hoped for and not a real example of how the market will react. Just look at all the failed Coca Cola new flavour launches.

 

And of course, technical risk can be managed by making Prototypes that implement the highest risk features as early as possible. We covered this in Improving Product Development.

 

A Prototype can often be used during Engineering Analysis in order to evaluate the effectiveness of different options for addressing the Requirements. This is covered in Electronics Design Process.

 

Successful Endeavours Development Process

Successful Endeavours Development Process

And then having designed a product it is normal to build a Prototype to ensure the final solution works as expected. This manages the risk that production tooling might need rework or even redesign.

 

How to Prototype?

This depends on the problem you want to solve. For this section we will focus on technical risks. A Prototype is very useful to allow you to measure some essential elements of the final product without committing to a final solution. So you can explore:

 

  • modelling a problem and simulations
  • noise and interference
  • power consumption
  • performance versus cost (compare several different prototypes)
  • responsiveness
  • system resources required
  • hardware versus software solutions
  • temperature rise
  • materials properties
  • shape and usability / ergonomics
  • fit (especially PCBs in mechanical housings)
  • …

And the list can go on. The key is to determine where the risk is and manage that. In Project Management Pre-preparation we looked at using a Prototype to reduce both technical and financial risk at the same time. In this case, other developers hadn’t been able to produce a working product so the client had a clear risk to manage. And our approach was to make a jig that allowed us to explore the sensing that was needed and get real data to then analyse and develop a solution. The same jig allowed the solution to then be tested before we designed the Electronics PCBs and Embedded Software needed for the final product. And the client was able to authorise each next level of expenditure with confidence based on us having delivered against the requirements for the previous stage.

 

Simulation

Simulation

And of course, 3D Printing for Electronics has enormously expanded the possibilities for mechanical prototypes by allowing anyone to quickly build and test the fit of objects together. It is also a viable option for low volume manufacturing.

 

3D Printed Spacer

3D Printed Spacer

3D Printed Spacer Fitted

3D Printed Spacer Fitted

 

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development, focusing on products that are intended to be Made In Australia. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for more than 30 years. This post is Copyright © 2017 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.