The customer is a one-of-a-kind crazy genius, and we love him for it. This post is about the third project we’ve done for him. He simultaneously hires two nearly identical firms and gives them the same project with almost no budget restrictions (but very fast and strict time restrictions). The company with the best design by the due date moves forward for pilot production. Henway’s designs were chosen two times in the past, and we saw these products for sale at CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart—a special treat for us. This time, the project was a battery-powered TENS device with variable frequencies and strengths for each output. By the time we arrived, the mechanical CAD team had developed the plastic housing, and production tooling was in progress.
We took one good look around the project and then got to work. Even in a hurry, Henway takes steps. We first defined the requirements: cost, regulatory considerations, user interaction, team member responsibilities, etc.
We then explained the steps to meet the deadline and win the design contest. With everyone on the team aligned, we started on the schematic design. Like an Olympic relay team, we passed the PCB files to the production team, who turned around custom PCBAs in three days. Still warm, our firmware engineers uploaded test code to validate the new hardware. We quickly shipped four samples to the customer while finalizing the application firmware. We all worked like champions during those weeks, but we got the job done to spec and according to the plan.
We’re happy to report that we are third-time champions and will get to see our design on the shelves again this holiday season.