Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do we begin an engagement?

A: We start with your ideas or your current product that you’d like to replace.

Some of the things we work together to define are:

• Target system cost
• Physical I/O (Analog inputs, Digital Inputs, Relays, etc.)
• Enclosure size and size of display as well as membrane keyboard or touch screen
• Regulatory requirements (UL, FCC, RoHS, etc.)
• Define Human / Machine Interface by deciding what are the important pieces of information to communicate to the end user for each step of the process
• Network requirements (hard-wired, wireless, cellular, remote web browser viewing, sending email for particular events, data monitoring and pushing)
• Data logging requirements

We really try to understand your product and your needs. Sometimes, you are replacing an existing product that has grown tired. Other times, you are creating a new system. In either case, we become your Development and Engineering partner to augment your staff and come up with the best product in your market.

Once we’ve defined these attributes, we document them in a specification. After that is agreed upon, we start work.

Q: Do you require NRE payments for the product development?

A: We do not usually charge Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) cost for the development effort. We look for a financial agreement that works for both parties. We are interested in products that require that we produce 50-100 pieces per year and have a lifetime of many years. With those parameters we can usually come up with a pricing model that works for both of us.

Q: How long does the development take?

A: It depends. First, how much of the standard components we already have can be reused? Designing and building enclosures is typically a long lead time item. We have custom designed plastic enclosures that can be used for your product, which accelerates development time. We also have custom designed modular circuit boards that can be quickly adapted to your application, which also saves time. Finally, we have many software components that are available for reuse in new applications.

If we can reuse some of these components, we can usually have a first-shot prototype in six to eight weeks from project inception. Production versions quickly follow, depending on initial order quantities.

Q: How do you warranty your products?

A: Our standard warranty is one year if the system is not subjected to environments or situations that are outside of normal use.

Q: Can you send data to my custom back-end data monitoring system in the cloud?

A: Yes, we can interface with most types of back-end cloud systems, given a specification.

Q: What size product quantities can your supply?

A: We can ship anywhere from 10 to 100 units per month. We work with $10M companies and >$1B companies equally well; meeting your delivery schedule requirements.

Q: I don’t have staff to write user manuals for the product. Can you help?

A: Yes, we have staff that can write user and administrator manuals for the products we create. Our goal is to be as much of a product development group for your company as you require.

Q: We need help designing the panel that your control will go into as well as connecting to third party sensors and devices. Can you help?

A: Yes, we have Electrical Engineering staff that can design panels, develop wiring procedures and design interfaces to third-party components.

Q: Are your other customers concerned about you being a sole supplier of a critical component?

A: This comes down to building a relationship based on mutual trust. We build that trust over time by delivering on all of our commitments. We have never missed a delivery date for any of the products we supply.  We have also placed our mechanical, hardware and software designs, schematics, source code, etc. in escrow that would be made available if we are unable to honor our commitments.

Q: How do your total product costs compare with off-the-shelf hardware/software?

A: Our finished OEM products cost 50-60% of a similarly configured off-the-shelf PLC-based hardware. In addition to the cost difference, our products are fully finished with production software and a 12-month (twelve month) warranty on the entire product. Comparable PLC-based hardware must have the PLC ladder logic and HMIs designed and developed and may not come with warranty on the software.

Q: Do you provide technical support for your products?

A: We can provide your customers with tech support for our controls and the hardware and mechanical components they connect with.

Q: What is the product quality of your controls?

A: Since 2014, we have shipped thousands of OEM products to our customers. We have a defect rate of less than 1% over these units. We do component testing of each board after manufacture. We also do system testing of each completed product after assembly with tests that exercise all application functionality. We also track each board and system we produce in a purpose-built database designed to provide traceability and accountability of our manufacturing and testing processes.

Q: How do we get fixes for a hardware or software problem we report?

A: We control the hardware and software for everything we produce. We can quickly provide software fixes and feature improvements. All of our software updates are field upgradable by inserting and removing an SD card or USB flash drive into the control, restarting, and confirming the update. We also have the ability to upgrade the firmware over the network.

Q: I have customers in many different countries, speaking many different languages. Are your products multi-lingual?

A: We can deliver products for users in any language spoken today. We have delivered controls that can be user-configured to work in English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese and other languages. A single control can work with any one language at a time. We can use your translation resources or we can contract it out to a translation service.

Q: I hear about network security problems with IoT devices. What do you do to address these issues?

A: We understand network security and keep up to date on the latest attack techniques and actively work to ensure our products are not affected. Our network communication can support SSL encryption with latest TLS1.3 drafts.