Five Points that Bridge the Gap Between 3D Printing and a Production Ready Design
Folks, At EastBridge, our engineers rely on our 3D printers to produce models and early-stage prototypes for emerging new products. The ability to quickly spin out parts with an ever-growing range of resins and metals allows us to quickly iterate and develop proof of concept. Not having to commit to diecasting or injection molding tooling […]
3,000 Factories and Counting…
Folks, I became an engineer because I like building things, specifically, physical products. In my work at EastBridge, I have the privilege to influence and guide the development and manufacturing of countless new cool products. I have the best job in the world, at least for me! When I was a senior process engineer (a […]
The Chaos Wrought by Expertise
Folks, Every industrialization project that we’ve worked on includes a corps of service providers. The disciplines represented can include industrial design, branding, engineering, regulatory, legal, packaging, manufacturing, laboratory testing services, logistics and many others. The specialized (and at times uncommon) knowledge represented by these professionals is foundational to the success of the project and product. […]
Hard to Build (and sometimes) Easy to Break
Folks, Yes, I know – it’s been a while since our last post. The last six months have been extraordinarily busy at EastBridge. I’m back on track now to send out monthly updates. The Cowboy Junkies are a difficult to classify alt country band from Ontario, Canada. They’ve been making beautiful and evocative music since […]
Country of Origin Marking: “Designed In” isn’t “Made In”.
Folks, It’s become sort of voguish to mark consumer product packaging with descriptions such as “Proudly Designed in Silicon Valley” and “Thoughtfully Assembled in the USA”. While the written words may be (technically) true, they’re no substitute for properly listing the Country of Origin (“COO”) on the product and/or package. Mess up on this and […]
New Product Industrialization and the Zone of Proximal Development
Folks, My wife is a special education teacher for primary school kids, and her job is extraordinarily more difficult than anything you or I do. We were recently at one of her work social events and I overheard something about The Zone of Proximal Development. I learned that this is Lev Vygotsky’s theory of learning […]
Methods & Materials: The Foundation of New Product Development
Folks, When I was a young engineer, my first position was in the printed circuit board industry. [And thank you to the Emello family for giving me my start! Back then, I didn’t appreciate the enduring value of having to do every job in the plant. IThat job gave me an “Industrial PhD” that continues […]
Color So Hard: The Dos and Don’ts of Color Matching!
Folks, John Doe, member of the ground breaking punk band X, released a superb solo album in 1995, “Kissing So Hard”. By that time, Mr. Doe had evolved into a country-punk artist and the sixth track “Kissing (So Hard)” proved that he was as much poet as musician. What does all this got to do […]
Applying the Brakes to Early Stage Companies & Designs
Folks, We were recently approached by an early stage medical device company. Without revealing any product details, they’ve designed a specialized bandage that’s used to control traumatic bleeding. The company is led by two physicians and a finance professional. The founders have hacked several bandages and asked for our assistance in making product models to […]
How NPI Changed in 2021
Folks, It was quite a year… Again. Twelve months ago, we were all looking forward to a return to some form of normalcy. At the start of the new year, normalcy appears to be whatever we’re all doing to keep pushing forward. Several trends in new product sourcing and manufacturing emerged or were reinforced last […]