Todd and I, along with some family members, decided on a whim to go to the viewing. Assuming the viewing, like every other event in town, was a big event, I made a large sign to hold up that said, “Mark Cuban – Sign my Chord Buddy” and I brought a Chord Buddy with me. The viewing was to start at 8pm. Todd met me at the park and ride on the west side of town around 7pm. We didn’t want to drive downtown and try to find parking because we assumed it would be a mad house down there. We were right. We didn’t get off the bus until almost 8pm (typically it’s a 20-25 minute trip). The crowd downtown was like I’d never seen it before!

Once we got off the bus, we made our way to the Westin. I went to the concierge and asked if he could direct me to the Mark Cuban Shark Tank viewing party. He looked at me funny and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re not the first person to ask, but we think it’s a hoax.” Disappointed, we left the hotel and started walking over to The Super Bowl Village. On the way, Todd was checking the Twitter information about the party.

In reading through the tweets again, it seemed like this wasn’t a large event, but more of an underground event. Some of the messages even seemed to be in code. After reading this for a few minutes, we deciphered “BAR” and “BALLOONS” from the tweets. We decided to go back and try the bar inside of Shula’s restaurant. Acting like we belonged there, we walked into the restaurant, past all of the patrons waiting to be seated, and wedged our way into the bar.

The first thing we noticed was balloons! As I turned the corner, there stood Mark Cuban with about a dozen other people watching Shark Tank on a small TV screen. I nuzzled up to a table that was close to Mark and started watching…trying to blend in and not get throw out (evidently arrests had been threatened before we arrived). After 5 or 10 minutes, Mark said, “Okay guys, I need to get out of here.”

I had already pulled out my Chord Buddy and a Sharpie, so I seized the opportunity. As Mark was walking out, I stepped in front of him, held out my Chord Buddy, and asked, “Could you sign this for me?” He stopped in his tracks, and with a surprised expression, said, “Where did you get that?!” I said, “I designed it. I worked with Travis, and Todd developed the prototypes.”. Mark said, “That’s really cool! I want you guys to come with me! I want to tweet you!”

After a few pictures, Mark took us into a private area they had cordoned for the “big-wigs”. It was a non-crowded, darkly lit area. Mark asked if he could take our picture and tweet it out. He has over 900,000 followers! Of course we said, “Yes!”

We exchanged a short conversation and we left the hotel. The only disappointment came during our conversation with Mark in the private section. We asked if he was going to the Super Bowl. He said, “No. I’m only here tonight and tomorrow. My company, HDNet, is throwing a big party tomorrow night with Katy Perry and Peyton Manning.” As he’s feeling around in his pockets, he says, “Man, I’d invite you guys to come, but I’m all out of tickets.”

All in all, it was a great and memorable experience. Perhaps Mark will remember us the next time one of our clients is on Shark Tank!

—————–
Impulse Product Development is a team of experienced product development engineers based in Indianapolis, Indiana. We’ve assisted many clients with their product development needs. If you’re interested in learning more about Impulse Product Development, or if you’d like to have a conversation to see if we may bea fit for your company. Please contact us.

It was a great opportunity for Impulse Product Development to help Chord Buddy design and develop their product, a guitar learning system. We were fortunate to work with them from the initial concept phase, through engineering, prototyping, design refinement, and deliver the design for manufacturing. We wish them success on this product and their other products to come, and we look forward to being a part of designing future consumer products with them.

Impulse Product Development – Indianapolis, IN

Impulse Product Development is seeking a part-time sales intern.   If you, or someone you know, is interested, please visit the Job Posting.

Impulse Product Development is a full service product development company. We provide product development services (conceptual design, engineering, prototyping, and production support) to our clients in the consumer products, automotive, and medical/scientific industries.

We recently completed a project with a division of a Fortune 500 company that had this exact problem. In dealing with the after affects of the economic downturn, they had gone through a major restructuring. Large numbers of people were let go, and many of those that stayed were shuffled to other product lines. Only a fraction of the designers / engineers were left. Yet the list of products do be developed, some of which were right in the middle of the development phase, did not change. Adding to the struggle was a hiring freeze.

In working in the product development industry for over 16 years, I’ve seen this, and similar, scenarios many times. And I’ve seen companies deal with it in one of three ways:

1. They force their engineering staff to work overtime.
2. They ignore time lines and “do what they can do”.
3. They contract with an outside design service to temporarily increase their design / engineering capacity.

Options one and two might work – for a short time. Rallying the team to put in extra time and effort works, but over time the rally call will fade. Eventually, the staff will become disgruntled, deliver less than satisfactory work as a result of the increased stress level and work load, or both. Ignoring time lines and just “doing what you can do” also works, but eventually, upper management won’t accept missing deadlines. Working with an outside design and engineering service however is the option that many engineering managers turn to.

While it’s obvious that there are costs involved with hiring an outside product development company like Impulse, those costs can be very easily managed. Impulse Product Development understands that we are only going to be used on an as needed basis. We expect a fluctuation in the work load and we are efficient at dealing with it. We understand that, while our goal is to develop a long term relationship with our clients, each time we are hired, it’s a temporary situation. That’s a great benefit to the company looking for the capacity boost. Of course, I have a biased opinion, but here are two examples that show this isn’t just my opinion.

One of our clients, that develops a tremendous number of consumer products, maintains a conservatively sized design and engineering staff. Their goal is to never layoff an employee due to market conditions. When they need additional design, engineering, or simply CAD resources, they call us. Sometimes we will work on only one project with them. Other times we will work on 4 or 5 different project. If / when the workload drops, we get “laid off”, not their employees. This is standard operating procedure for Impulse and it maintains morale within at our client’s company.

The second example I alluded to in the second paragraph above. The company I referred to develops consumer products, and we were asked to help out with a project that was in the middle of the product development cycle, complete with certain milestones to be met like release for tooling quote and tooling release. Impulse was able to come in, quickly gain an understanding of the project, and help them reach each of their timeline goals. Here’s what the Senior Manager for the product line said about Impulse’s involvement on the project,

“When I reached out to Impulse, we were in the middle of developing a ground up product. We had just gone through a major restructuring in which I lost a significant portion of my internal design and engineering capacity.  We still had a project to finish and we had to hit customer deadlines that were set before the restructuring.  Impulse flew to our offices the next week to meet with our team, to gain an understanding of how we operate, and to fully align on the objectives for the project.  We communicated well enough throughout the project that Impulse completed all of the design tasks from their offices which helped keep the cost down. Impulse’s experience and speed allowed us to release data for tooling on time, under budget, and at a higher level of detail than we are accustomed to. Our upper management team now uses our experience with Impulse as an example of how to leverage outside resources when we are struggling with capacity issues.”

Outsourcing portions of your product development or product design isn’t for everyone, but many companies view it as a great alternative. Impulse Product Development is a team of experienced product development engineers based in Indianapolis, Indiana. We’ve helped many clients work through the challenges of fluctuating staff requirements. If you’re interested in learning more about Impulse Product Development, or if you’d like to have a conversation to see if we may, or may not be, a fit for your company. Please contact us.

When we asked them what what wasn’t being delivered, the typical response is something along the lines of  “detail”.   Sure, the data was delivered on time, but the “T’s” weren’t crossed and the “I’s” weren’t dotted.  Some of the fine detail of the product was left to the tooling vendor to finish up.

We recently released a design for tooling for a new client, and we had a follow-up conversation to discuss the design and our working together to make sure he was satisfied with the work we did.  He said, “I was very impressed with the timing and quality of your work.”  Hearing that he was impressed with our timing didn’t surprise us because we hear that from most of our new clients.  We’re fortunate in that we can deliver quickly.

What surprised us was his comment about quality.  We’d never heard that before and we were confused as to what that meant — How can a design be “high quality”?  When we asked him what that meant he said that they had never released data that had level of detail included – and this was a division of a Fortune 500 company that develops a very large number of consumer products.

Impulse Product Development is a team of experienced product development professionals based in Indianapolis, Indiana.  If you struggle with timing issues and would like to release highly detailed data to your tooling and manufacturing sources, contact us today.

Keith brings with him a diverse consumer products background and over 14 years of product design experience.  Prior to us, Keith served as a design engineer at Haworth, Herman Miller, Parker Hannifin, The Exhibit House, and other companies.

Keith holds a BS in engineering degree from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan and a Masters Degree in New Media from Indiana University.  We are pleased to have Keith on board, and look forward to a prosperous future with him.

___________________

Impulse Product Development is a team of experienced product development engineers based in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Please contact us for your product development needs.

Product Development Engineer

Impulse Product Development – Indianapolis, IN

Impulse Product Development is a full service product development company.  We provide product development services (conceptual design, engineering, prototyping, and production support) to our clients in the consumer products, automotive, and medical/scientific industries.

Job Description

Impulse Product Development is seeking a full-time mechanical / product design engineer.  The qualified individual will be highly motivated, creative, energetic, able to work at a high level with minimal direction, customer service oriented, and excited by the prospect of  joining a small but growing company.  We are looking for an individual that is passionate about their work, gets satisfaction from getting things done, thrives on challenge, has a keen attention to detail, has a desire for excellence, and driven to improve both themselves as well as those they come into contact with.

Job Responsibilities

This position will involve all aspects of the product development process: conceptual design, mechanical engineering, prototype assembly, project management, production support, etc…  There will be an emphasis on mechanical engineering and CAD design.  A “whatever it takes” attitude will be required to meet tight deadlines, maintain strict customer service standards, and to assist in growing the business.  Corporate thinking and typical nine-to-fivers need not apply.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent.
• Strong fundamental skills in designing and analyzing structures, enclosures, mechanisms and assemblies.
• Strong communication and standard computer skills.
• Understanding of part design for injection molding.
• Understanding of other manufacturing process a plus.
• Non-corporate work experience considered a plus.
• Must easily adapt to different industries, different clients, and different expectations.
• 3D CAD experience a must.
• Pro/E Wildfire 3+ experience heavily considered.
• SolidWorks experience a plus
• Experience with prototyping processes
• Critical qualities include attention to detail, professional demeanor, creativity, efficiency, and enthusiasm.

Please send resumes to resumes@impulseproductdevelopment.com

Some companies recognize the need to continually update, evaluate, and challenge their existing product line.  And because of that, they have a process in place for generating new product ideas – not just ideas, but valid, marketable, profitable ideas that result in a continual evolution of their product line.

Unfortunately, there are also companies that don’t recognize the need to continually update, evaluate, and challenge their existing product line.  They don’t realize that the reason they’re struggling has a lot to do with the absence of a process for generating ideas for new products.  Instead of developing a process for generating new product ideas, they generate excuses.  Here are some of the excuses we’ve heard:

1. It’s too expensive to develop new products.

It sounds cliché, but it’s too expensive to not develop new products.  If a company makes a profit by designing, developing, manufacturing, and selling products, the company must invest in new product development.  If they don’t, there eventually won’t be anything to sell.

2. We don’t have the time to come up with new ideas.

“We don’t have time” is just another way of saying “it’s not important”.  Think of every other area of your life where you have said, “I don’t have time”.  In every scenario, what that really meant was, “It’s not important to me”.  People say they don’t exercise because they don’t have time, but what they really mean is it isn’t important enough for them to make it a priortity.  People say they don’t have time to fix the (fill in the blank: car, gutter, screen, deck, etc…), but what they really mean is it isn’t important enough for them to make it a priority.  Investing the time required to generating new product ideas and to new product development in general must become a priority if a company is going to survive.

3. Our product line is doing so well we don’t need/want to invest the time to develop new products right now.

For any organization that designs, develops, and manufactures products, new product ideas are the life blood of the organization.  All products have a finite life cycle.  Some will last longer than others, but in the end, the product will die.  And if there are no new products to to take the place of the expired products, the eventual result will be the death of the company.  Look at a company like Apple.  After the success of the iPod, they could have sat back and said, “Things are good.  Let’s not invest in new products right now.” They could have done the same thing with the iPhone, etc…  If they had done that in either scenario, Apple wouldn’t be what it is today.  Their competition would have blown right by them.  If your product line is truly doing well, that’s not the time to decrease your investment in new products.  That’s the best time to increase your investment toward developing new products.

4. We don’t really know how to come up with new ideas.

Therefore they don’t even try.  They sit back and hope that someone in the company will come up with something before the existing products run through their life cycle.  Many times in smaller companies, all of the growth potential hinges on the ability of one or two people to come up with the next profitable product idea.  Often, it’s the President/Owner of the company who is typically pulled in countless directions that have nothing to do with generating the next product idea.  The reason the company doesn’t know how is because they’ve never tried.  Maybe the President doesn’t want to give up that control or give that freedom.  Maybe the company is resistant to change.  Maybe they’re afraid they won’t be successful.  There are countless reasons / excuses.  Not knowing how is a result of not deciding to invest the time and energy into making it happen.  Don’t try to figure out how to come up with ideas before deciding to do it.  Make the decision and commitment to invest in new product development.  Then go figure out how.

There are many other excuses that we hear, but they’re just that – excuses.  And just like anything in life we can choose to accept responsibility for our choices or we can make excuses for our choices.  Investing time and money into generating product ideas is a necessity if your company is going to survive and grow.  Make it a priority for your company.

Impulse Product Development is a team of experienced product development professionals based in Indianapolis, Indiana. We’ve helped many clients work through the challenges of generating new product ideas. If you would like to discuss how we can help you with generating new product ideas, please contact us today.

“What do you do?”

We get asked that question almost daily. The simple answer to that question is, we partner with our clients to design and develop their products, but the real answer to that question is much more complex.  We work with our clients in whatever capacity necessary to help them design and develop their products.  Our number one goal, is to help our clients.  If we’re not filling a specific need for our clients and helping them, we shouldn’t be working with them.  Sometimes we’re an additional CAD designer when they’re struggling with capacity issues.  Sometimes, when they’re frustrated with a lack of new ideas, we’re asked to generate additional ideas for a product or portion of a product.   At other times, we’re and integral part of their product development team.   Many times it’s somewhere in between those extremes. We work with our clients in so many different capacities it’s hard to define exactly what we do.

But isn’t the better question to ask, “What do I need?”  It’s not about what we do.  It’s about what you need.  Once you determine what it is you need – what challenge, problem, or issue you’re trying to resolve, you and we will be able to determine if Impulse is a fit for your company.  The following list identifies specific product development problems that we have helped our clients solve.  Does reading through the list bring to mind any challenges you’re having?  If not, Impulse may not be a fit for you. If so, contact us and have a conversation to see if Impulse might be able to help.

DESIGN / INNOVATION

• We’re always chasing the competition; reacting to them instead of the market.
• We don’t innovate.  We just follow the competition.
• We don’t develop new products because our existing product line does so well.
• We don’t develop new products because we don’t have the expertise.
• Our products aren’t fresh, lack style, and don’t stand out in the marketplace.
• Our products are uncomfortable or difficult to use.
• Our products look and feel outdated.
• We don’t generate enough product ideas.

ENGINEERING

• We’re constantly struggling with product cost.
• Our products are difficult to assemble or cost more to assemble than they should.
• Our product costs are too high as a result of poor material utilization.
• We don’t develop and test our mechanisms virtually before testing them physically.

RESOURCES

• We could bring more products to market if we had more design/engineering resources.
• We struggle with capacity issues.
• We don’t explore the task of cost reducing our existing products because we don’t have the resources.
• We could gain a higher margin if we had the resources to cost reduce our existing products.
• We often lose time because the members of our product development team are required to accomplish tasks outside of their core competencies.

TIMING

• Getting products designed on time is always a challenge.
• We lose market share because it takes too long to design, prototype, and/or manufacture our products.
• Sometimes the timeline of our product development process is compromised because we don’t have enough design/engineering resources.
• Sometimes a product’s timeline is affected because of our vendors.
• We could bring more products to market if we could reduce the time our products spend in the design phase.
• Our timelines are often compromised because it takes too many iterations to define a mechanism.

PROTOTYPING

• We build more prototypes than necessary to prove out a mechanism.
• We often make too many tooling revisions because we didn’t fully test the product before releasing for tooling.
• We have trouble evaluating designs because our prototypes are never functional.
• Our prototypes usually break before we complete all of the necessary testing.
• Our prototypes never survive long enough for us to get the maximum use out of them.
• When using prototypes to present product designs, we spend a lot of time explaining what’s missing on the prototype (function, color, material characteristics, etc..) instead of discussing the product itself.
• We could get more use out of our prototypes if we could get them made from more production-like materials.

SOURCING

• Tooling revisions are often extensive and time consuming because we didn’t catch and address issues before releasing tooling.
• Tooling revisions often cause us to miss product launch dates.
• Our vendors control our component and product costs because we don’t have any other options.
• We don’t produce as many products as we could because we’ve maximized the manufacturing capacity of our vendors.

Impulse Product Development is a team of experienced engineers and experts that specialize in new product development, industrial and conceptual design, engineering, CAD technologies, rapid and virtual prototyping, contract manufacturing and management and reverse engineering. Centrally-headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, Impulse serves clients across the country.

Wouldn’t it be great to have the ability to develop every product idea that your company comes up with? Unfortunately, that is not the typical case. More often than not, companies come up with more good ideas than they’re able to develop. They don’t have enough internal resources to develop every good idea, so they are forced to prioritize or more likely eliminate good, money-making ideas.

The lack of internal resources could be manpower resources or money resources. There’s no doubt that it’s expensive to develop a new product, and if a lack of sufficient money is keeping your company from developing more products, then it’s obvious that product ideas will need to be prioritized and eliminated. However, if the reason your company isn’t developing more products is because of a lack of manpower resources, that is a situation that, in the end, is actually costing the company revenue.

In the current economic climate, it’s understandable that companies are hesitant to hire – especially highly skilled designers and engineers that often come with a higher price. But, it’s still something a company should explore. If the products that are not being developed do, in fact, show a high probability of being profitable, then a quick cost analysis should show that hiring additional design and engineering staff would actually be profitable investment for the company.

What if you only have a few additional products that could be developed – a situation where additional design and engineering staff would not be used at full capacity? Or, maybe you’re still concerned about adding dedicated staff because, even though you currently have more products to develop than possible, you don’t know what the following year might bring. There are still options available to get those other products developed.

Outsourcing some of your product design is an effective way to not only develop more products but also to control the size of your staff and it’s related cost. One company we work with does that exact thing. They maintain a conservatively sized design and engineering staff. When they see an opportunity to expand their market by developing more products, they outsource the design and engineering. If and when budget cuts come, or when the number of products to be developed decreases, the outsourced work is eliminated allowing the company to maintain that constant level of dedicated staff. Then, as budgets or the number of products to be developed are increased, they call us back in.

The above scenario not only allows the company to operate within a specified and annually varying budget it also allows them to maintain a stable work environment for their in house staff. If they were to add and remove employees as the budget is moved, the result would be a very unstable work environment. Instead, they’re staff has the benefit of stability and as a result there is very little turnover.

Impulse Product Development is a team of experienced product development professionals based in Indianapolis, Indiana. We’ve helped many clients work through the challenges of getting products to market and the need for fluctuating staffing requirements. If you would like to discuss the challenges that you’re struggling with, please contact us today.