Prototyping
How enclosure design, electronics, and assembly change as a working prototype becomes a product that can be manufactured consistently, reliably, and economically.
Prototype
Rough enclosures and electronics chosen for easy testing are perfectly acceptable during development.
Production design
Take the same concept and make it possible to manufacture consistently, reliably, and at an acceptable cost.
A handheld electronic device
Small assembly choices add up
Across 10,000 units, that means:
80,000
additional screws to purchase, handle, and install.
Beyond the parts
The AVA Labs approach
We try to account for production requirements early, even when building rough functional prototypes.
Designing every prototype for mass manufacturing prematurely can introduce unnecessary costs and limit changes. Instead, refine the design as the underlying technology is validated and manufacturing requirements become clearer.
A working prototype and a production-ready product are two very different things.
A prototype is primarily intended to prove that a design works. Production design takes that same concept and makes it practical to manufacture consistently, reliably, and at an acceptable cost.
Consider a handheld electronic device with a 3D printed enclosure, a circuit board, and a rechargeable battery.
During prototyping, the enclosure might be printed in several pieces, assembled with screws, and modified repeatedly as the design changes.
The electronics might use off-the-shelf modules, oversized circuit boards, and connectors that make testing and troubleshooting easier.
That’s perfectly acceptable during development.
But when that product moves toward manufacturing, the priorities begin to change.
The enclosure may need to be redesigned for injection molding. That introduces requirements for wall thickness, draft angles, parting lines, and how the different pieces fit together.
The electronics may be consolidated onto a custom circuit board to reduce size, assembly time, and component costs.
Even something as simple as fastening the enclosure becomes important.
Using twelve screws instead of four might not seem significant during prototyping, but across ten thousand units, that’s eighty thousand additional screws that need to be purchased, handled, and installed.
Production design also introduces considerations like assembly instructions, quality control, repeatability, testing, and regulatory requirements.
At AVA Labs, we try to account for these requirements early in development, even when we’re building rough functional prototypes.
That doesn’t mean every prototype needs to be designed for mass manufacturing. Doing so prematurely can introduce unnecessary costs and limit our ability to make changes.
Instead, the design is refined as the underlying technology is validated and the manufacturing requirements become clearer.
A successful prototype proves that a product can work. A successful production design proves that it can be manufactured repeatedly, reliably, and economically.