Electronic design: why an integrated design center can help you better develop your product

From the idea to the mass production of your product: what essential expertise do you need?
How to mobilize all the necessary resources at the right time and secure all stages of your development? Discover all the advantages of an integrated design center to guarantee and optimize the design, industrialization, and series launch of your new product.

⚙️ 1- Being able to anticipate industrial constraints from the design stage

By working with your manufacturer’s R&D team, you anticipate all industrial imperatives to guarantee the feasibility of your project and secure its series production. The design teams of an integrated design center communicate to the industrial teams with transparency all the information: plans, Bill Of Materials (BOM), and qualifications to guarantee their completeness and compliance.

Opting for an integrated solution has the advantage that the design center can collaborate directly with the production factories. The teams are used to cooperating using a harmonized language and respecting the same procedures. This synergy allows avoiding delays and reducing risks during the different phases of the project, to save time, cost, and reliability.

Unlike independent design centers that will not have complete control over all phases of industrialization, pre-series, and production, an integrated R&D team is in constant contact with those of the factory. It also has direct access to industrial equipment, which simplifies and accelerates validations during the industrialization phase. The fluidity of exchanges between services is an undeniable asset for those who want to ensure optimal and simplified management of their project thanks to the piloting of a unique partner.

The interest of an integrated design center is also to benefit from a tailor-made project team that can mobilize the necessary resources and skills in case of unforeseen events or even emergencies. The team is formed taking into account all the required skills and the most suitable methodology for you, depending on the nature and progress of your project.

Beyond their availability, the R&D engineers of an EMS manufacturer (Electronic Manufacturing Services or electronic subcontractor) will also bring you invaluable added value thanks to constant expert support throughout the project. In terms of industrialization, you are certain to obtain an optimized architecture of all your systems (hardware, software, and mechanics) to make your series production reliable and efficient at an optimal cost.

💡 2- Benefit from the experience of seasoned teams – R&D and industrial

By benefiting from complete expertise in Design for Excellence (DfX), you are guided from end to end to optimize your manufacturing processes and minimize the number of iterations during the development phase. This DfX phase facilitates and improves tests. It allows securing the supply chain by controlling the purchases of components and their quality level.

Buyers take care of sourcing your components. Sometimes, they manage to divide by up to three the supply risks thanks to:

• • A complete and detailed analysis of your BOM (Bill of Materials);
  • A careful selection of each component based on their quality, availability, and obsolescence.

To optimize the cost of your product, and its industrialization, the DfX methodology must be implemented as early as possible in the project so that all global constraints are taken into account from the start.

Did you know that the development phase represents 80% of the total cost to be incurred for the manufacture of your product?

📈 3- Succeed in your “Time-to-Market” by minimizing risks

Several modes of operation are possible depending on your needs and the maturity of your project:

• An agile methodology: ideal when your project still needs to be specified in its specifications or some of its functionalities;
• A V-cycle method with systematic testing procedures and validation stages at each stage of the project.

Quality engineers and test protocol experts integrated within the design center of the factory allow you to accelerate the development of prototypes and the adjustments to be made. It quickly leads to the ideal design, and a reliable and profitable product.

In addition, an integrated design center also has knowledge of all regulatory aspects, such as the IATF16949 standard in the automotive sector. You are thus accompanied by experts in the various stages of compliance and certification of your product for its market launch.

✅ 4- Opt for the freedom of an à la carte service offer !

Do you already have an idea?

An integrated design center has all the essential expertise in electronics and mechatronics to realize your project by ensuring all stages of pre-industrialization:

• Eco-design;
• The realization of the PoC (Proof of Concept);
• Hardware, software, and mechanical architectures;
• Test strategy (design for test)

From the definition of your need to the writing of the specifications, an integrated design center will assist you and guide you to make your specifications clear and finalize them. It coordinates, structures, and facilitates all stages of development.

You already have the specifications of your project?

If your project is sufficiently advanced in its design, an integrated design center can guide you in all the preliminary stages to the series launch of your product: from the first prototypes through industrialization and production, to the final coordination of all test and validation protocols.

By working with an R&D team integrated into the manufacturing plant, you are certain to launch the industrialization and series production of your product, under the best conditions.

Note: Experts trained in life cycle analysis are an asset to eco-design your product. You will minimize its environmental footprint, optimize the performance of its components while limiting its energy consumption.

“Impulse”: the integrated design center of LACROIX

More than 100 engineers at your service

The integrated R&D teams of LACROIX allow you to benefit from all their experience in the fields of automotive, HBAS (Home and Building Automation Systems), Defense/Aeronautics and IIoT to advise and support you as best as possible. Based in Rennes, Impulse is integrated into the 6 electronic production factories of LACROIX. It will meet your requests, whatever the maturity of your project thanks to tailor-made support, adapted to your needs.

Whether you are already well advanced or at the start of your project, or simply constrained by a lack of resources and the urgency of rapid development, we guide you either in the elaboration or finalization of your specifications, as well as in the realization of your PoC (Proof Of Concept).

As an integrated design center, we will assist you throughout your entire project if you wish, supervising from end-to-end all phases of industrialization up to the series production of your product and carrying out all the tests steps and certification procedures, in accordance with industry standards and regulations.

A 360° expertise to support all your projects

With multidisciplinary expertise acquired through numerous projects already carried out in all the main industries, the integrated design center Impulse is able to provide you with solutions to your issues, thanks to their wide range of expertise including connectivity, energy management, Data & Machine Learning, among others.

Choose Impulse gives you access to a fast prototyping line, a key asset if your product is innovative and needs a quick validation to integrating new features or components.

Need a turnkey IIoT solution?

Impulse is also able to accelerate the development of your project thanks to its bricks. Fully secure, open, and interoperable with your own business software, our LX Connect platform allows you to centralize the remote monitoring of your remote management equipment, for example, automate the updates of your equipment while benefiting from a high level of protection in terms of cybersecurity, in a simple and efficient way.

Secure the production of your project by entrusting it to the experts of our Design Center IMPULSE