A US venture backed startup with a world-class research team, utilized Gait’s end-to-end solution to help them to create a commercially viable retail-ready product, from prototype to shipped goods in ten months.
Case Study
With over $70 million of venture-funding raised, this team of highly-skilled engineers, engaged Gait to bring the expertise they needed to be able to bring a retail-ready product to market and introduce their innovative solid state cooling technology to the world.
The Opportunity
With big growth plans and multiple applications to explore with this new technology, the team knew they needed to partner with an experienced team on the ground in China that could ensure the quality and precision of their first retail product would exceed expectations of the market.
The company had been introduced to Gait from another manufacturing partner that didn’t have the right industry expertise to support them. Gait’s experience at working with global premium appliance brands, experienced engineering team and extensive supplier network gave them immediate peace of mind that they would be the right choice for them.
The company along with having extremely high quality and testing requirements, they were targeting to launch the product in the market in 12 months.
The Solution
Project Management
At the very beginning of this project, Gait’s project manager laid out a very detailed plan with prototype builds, engineering verification builds and production part approvals. This project plan was the guiding document throughout the product development and manufacturing process that ensured that all members of the team were aligned on all critical milestones. Weekly calls and detailed task management kept everyone on track and eliminated any surprises during the project.
Engineering Expertise
With such high quality and testing requirements, Gait’s team of design for manufacture, process and quality engineers worked alongside the customer and suppliers to develop custom tools and jigs for each step of the production process.
Supply Chain Management
Gait’s Supply base team managed the 234 piece Bill of Materials across over 20 Suppliers (plastic injection, PCBA, stainless steel, copper, wiring, harnesses, foam, soft goods, sensors, packaging) to ensure production was delivered on time at the target cost price. Ensuring protection of Intellectual Property was also critical throughout this development project, supplier selection and controlling the flow of information was a critical role that the supply base team managed.
The Results
Speed to Market
Exceeding the client’s expectations, Gait delivered the complete end-to-end solution of this innovative retail-ready product, from initial prototype to delivered goods within the target price and within ten months.
Peace of Mind
The client had complete visibility across the full supply chain and were kept up to date with weekly team meetings. This ensured the client had peace of mind that Gait had production and supply chain completely under control.