If your company’s product has any “technology” on board, you are guaranteed to be familiar with at least one kind of electronic sensor and likely several. Over the last decade, there have been exponential leaps in sensor technology and their variations – that’s not news at all. By way of the cell phone industry alone, product developers all over the globe have opened their orientation of sensor capabilities on products. But what may be newsworthy of a conversation is how cost-effective many sensors have become and how product developers are using sensors in countless new ways in the commercial and industrial market segments.

As an independent electronics engineering services company, DE Design Works is interacting with dozens of customers who are steering their products toward new features and economical uses you may not even be aware of. In fact, as we write around 100 proposals every calendar year and meet new prospective customers by the dozens along the way, the constant “ah-ha moment” we seem to bring to the party is using different sensor technologies to achieve product goals in new and better ways.

When prospective customers interview our new product team, they most often want to know if we have direct experience with the type of technology they are seeking and that we have made that technology do what they are wanting it to do. And while DE has seen hundreds of different products over our nearly 20 years in business, the answer to that is a slightly uncomfortable variation of “not exactly.” In our opinion, that may not be the best gauge for ranking an outside resource you are considering.

What those same people often recognize during the course of discussions is that we have seen and implemented a VAST amount of sensors and technology components in ways they had not considered – this can be a huge benefit to the prospective customer’s long-term product goals.

We have employed sensors to detect motion, sensors to detect use-case conditions, sensors to improve user experience, sensors to collect device data, to predict maintenance, to sell more products, to signal warnings… you get the idea – the list is … big. And further, when you pair that BIG list of sensors available to the ever-growing list of connectivity options for commercial, industrial, medical, and military markets, the options are only limited by creativity and need.

In summary, DE Design Works, nor any outside engineering services resource; can “know” your product better than you even if we had previously worked with your competitors, but we have very likely seen implementations of technology building blocks like sensors in amazing amounts of ways that could allow your next-generation product to exceed expectations. Drop us an email about your next project – we are always willing to schedule an intro meeting to see if our experience can be a good fit for your product.

Are you using cost-effective sensors to:

• Improve performance
• Increase functionality
• Improve safety
• Prevent damage
• Collect data for product development research
• Collect data to sell other products
• Understand use environment
• Improve product efficiency
• Calibration/Auto-Calibration
• Record maintenance schedule