182: Consumer Product Hardware Trends in Mid 2023

June 29, 2023

With Brian Thompson, Head of CREO at PTC

Hosted by Kevin Mako, President of MAKO Design + Invent

182: Consumer Product Hardware Trends in Mid 2023

Heading the CREO CAD software division at PTC is Brian Thompson. With 16 years devoted to CAD design engineering, Brian played a pivotal role in shaping hundreds of enduring products that remain in production today. In the subsequent 14 years, his focus shifted to developing CAD software solutions that empower designers to optimize hardware product development. Today, Brian eagerly shares invaluable insights with inventors, startups, and small manufacturers, shedding light on the latest trends in design for manufacturing. His guidance aims to accelerate the processes of design, engineering, prototyping, and manufacturing, enabling faster, more efficient, and higher-quality production of products.

Today you will hear us talk about:

Customers are embracing the utilization of innovative technologies in the design process.
Design tools now incorporate simulation capabilities.
Additive manufacturing is gaining prominence.
The market has become more fiercely competitive than ever before.
Hardware products cannot afford manufacturing issues, quality concerns, or prolonged time-to-market.
Design for manufacturing within the additive tools of CREO.
There has been a significant increase in model-based product development.
Design is an iterative and continuous process.
The conventional definition of model-based design.
Various aspects, including simulation, NC toolpaths, tool design, manufacturing fixture assembly, marketing, brochure development, etc., are pushing manufacturers to leverage 3D CAD data.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

1:20 – LiveWorx 2023 CAD design conference.
3:00 – Trends for physical consumer product development in mid-2023
3:15 – There is a lot of new design technology emerging, and designers are really trying these technologies to try and take advantage of them. Adoption is high.
4:00 – Additive prototyping and additive manufacturing are improving the design and development process.
5:00 – Leading-edge design is important, but has not always been at the forefront of traditional big corporate industrial design trends.
5:45 – What are the new technologies to get a new hardware product idea to manufacturing faster than ever before?
5:50 – In 2023, hardware companies can not afford a quality issue with their new product release, customers won’t allow it.
6:05 – Designers want to work as efficiently and effectively as possible.
6:45 – Model-based hardware product design
7:00 – Model-based design means that everything that is required from concept to manufacturing is included within a 3D CAD model, all in one place.
8:00 – Deliver everything in the CAD model, a central model. This saves a lot of time.
9:00 – Start with bringing in manufacturing-grade CAD models and thinking of manufacturing processes as you are ideating the initial concept CAD of the product.
10:15 – Design is an iterative process, you’re not going to nail every part of it the first time.
11:00 – Contact switching between tools wastes a lot of time and can create design errors.
12:00 – Build your CAD model in one package from ideation to engineering, to prototyping rounds, to pre-production, to short-run production, and then iterated into full-scale production.
12:30 – Have reasonably sound manufacturing logic built into your original concept CAD models.
13:15 – CREO is building in a strong model-building platform to go end-to-end in hardware development.
14:00 – Lots of new tools are being baked right into CAD software as it’s all part of the core CAD tools.
15:15 – Hardware startups will find a lot of value in getting a core concept through to prototyping and additive manufacturing fast, so you can get real units out to real customers to thus be able to iteratively improve based on customer feedback and engineering manufacturing feedback.
17:00 – The market is competitive these days, so you want to get to market quickly and efficiently but never sacrifice quality in hardware.
17:15 – The market does not demand a number of features, but they do expect a global standard of quality.

Brian Thompson Links:

LinkedIn | CREO | PTC | Onshape

PTC Links:
https://www.ptc.com/
OnShape | Creo

Kevin Mako Links:
Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter

Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality.

MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves.

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