We use the design thinking strategy for innovation to turn your product into a successful project beyond EnCata. We will collaborate with your team, until the product prototype will be tested and refined in real conditions.
EnCata is a hardware product development company with a systematic approach to solving Clients’ issues. Like any design and innovation consulting firm uses its standard approaches, we also use our ones. We focus on end-user value. The value for users, technological feasibility and economic efficiency are the foundation of the design thinking process at EnCata.The design thinking strategy justifies our practical approach to product development and helps create a structured process of developing innovative solutions.
Our team as an internal design thinking firm knows that implementation of design thinking for entrepreneurs or lean startups and small businesses means the same: they will gain benefits of design thinking in business. Design thinking as a strategy for innovation in business is one of the methods of achieving innovation. EnCata uses it to solve Clients’ problems.
By defining a strategy first, we can easily develop your idea into a successful product. EnCata chooses design thinking as a prior product development approach as well as TRL, Lean, and TRIZ. Design thinking is a methodology that provides a solution-based approach to deal with problems by engaging the end-users.
We act as your extended R&D team which is faster than hiring engineers locally. The breadth of our technical expertise is unique.
Our dedicated team is ready to scale up quickly. We utilize AGILE lean development process that leads to 30-50% faster delivery.
Our development location enables us to be cost-effective and deliver premium R&D and engineering services at 1/3 of the price compared to that of in N-W Europe and USA.
EnCata applies a holistic approach to product designing, which means taking into account all areas from initial development to launch, sale, and further maintenance. Generally, modification or a little improvement of one defective stage does not significantly improve the final result. This approach assumes description and monitoring of the whole development process in our strategy.
Our projects pass five main interconnected stages. We are happy to collaborate with the Client’s team on the stages to share the efforts and increase productivity. Such repetitions are commonly referred to as iterations. The first stage is Empathy, which implies expert consulting to learn more about the problem through immersion in the physical environment, which can help gain a deeper personal understanding of the project issues. During the Define stage, we put together received information and gather ideas to establish features, functions, and any other elements to launch the project. At the Ideation stage, we start to generate ideas. Up to this stage, we have gained enough information to identify new solutions to the project statement, and we can begin to look for alternative ways of viewing the problem. Then we create versions of the product or specific features found within the product, in other words, Prototyping. Finally, our team rigorously Tests the complete product at the prototyping stage and selects the best one to develop it or to present to our Client.
In EnCata we believe that all team members should be involved in the process from the beginning, where the idea is being discussed with the Client . The importance of engineers’ participation in the whole process is that their experience and view from the point of production, reliability, and cost can give valuable insights to the team.
We develop a feasibility study for inventors and people in business who have an idea or a concept. Using design thinking tools for the feasibility study, we provide the Client with concept assessment from the end-users point of view and their benefits. Additionally, we clarify the requirements for the product, based on user experience, as well as give information about the viability of the business. In some cases, we can even dissuade the Client from the initial idea to offer a more relevant direction for developing their idea based on an analysis of the user market.
We pay close attention to the Product research and development (R&D) stage for a detailed calculation of pros and cons to prevent failure of the project. At the product research and development stage, our team helps adjust the concept of the initial idea based on an analysis of market behavior and a study of opportunities and risks, bringing the user to the center of the discussion. Further product development aims to improve the developed product for a successful market launch in the future.
Many organizations and companies widely use Enterprise design thinking across various sectors. We also use it to collaborate with diverse teams on larger enterprise-level projects and especially on industrial design stages, focusing on user outcomes. The industrial design brings the shape and appearance to an original idea. When creating the industrial design, we are not only focusing on the appearance aesthetics. We pay close attention to the convenience of use and to the issues that may arise along the way of turning an invention idea into mass production.
Proof-of-Concept Prototyping, the next stage after Industrial design, makes it possible to test the basic principles of an operation. During this stage, we confirm the hypothesis of the invention idea. In case of failure, we will offer an alternative option that will not change the original concept of the product.
Rapid prototyping allows us to get information about the interaction of the product with the real world in a form that presentations and 3D models on screen can not do. Furthermore, prototyping allows us to check the technical solutions laid down by our engineers during the development process.
At the design for manufacturing stage, the final stage of development, we prepare all the necessary documentation needed to launch a large-scale production. Relying on the design thinking approach, our customers thoroughly elaborate the idea and get the product ready for mass production.
Clients often turn to us for help with implementing their innovative ideas. They also have their roadmaps.In most cases, we start with design thinking consulting, using its traditional parts of the design toolkit (empathy, understanding, contextual imagination, and prototyping).We know that design thinking in technology, as well as in any other field, has its own advantages, such as getting effective solutions to common challenges and ensuring that the finished deliverable achieves maximum results. However, these advantages are often overlooked when using more traditional methods of solving problems.
We discuss each application with the Client and work via internal and external research. We analyze the idea to the smallest details during all interviews, meetings with competent team members, and simulations of a specific situation. As a result, the Client receives a concept that complies with their original goals, and, moreover, they are one step closer to implementing the idea into a real competitive product.
We focus on the entire product lifecycle, from concept to implementation and market launch. EnCata's knowledge, resources and experience in innovation enable our Clients to bring a product to market with minimal cost or time.
EnCata can provide your startup with comprehensive product development services in a variety of materials and manufacturing techniques, as well as technical calculation services.
Turn to EnCata for our premium consulting services (concept overview, design, parts and product workability) only when you need it.
Come to EnCata with your project to produce parts for your prototype in EnCata. Build and test your prototype in our MakeIT Center fablab - we don't charge access fees!
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Our hardware engineers are focus on the entire product/service lifecycle, from concept to implementation to market launch. EnCata’s knowledge, resources and innovation development expertise allow our Clients to develop and expand their businesses faster and leaner.
Warehouse and fulfilment robots, Plant and Process Automation, Lean Manufacturing, Digial Twins Development, Connected Equipment, Predictive Maintanance, Industrial Computer platform
Medical devices & equipment, IoMT, Diagnostic Tools, Robotics and Precision Placement, Optical System, Medical Instruments & Consumables, Micro and Macro Fluidic Systems, Custom Rehabilitation Equipment
Smart Farming, Food Delivery Robots, Smart Agriculture and Crop Management, Sustainable Farming, Food Ribitics, Farm Apparatus Design, Farm & Irigation Automation, Agricultural Mechanization, Greeenhouse Automation, Climate Monitoring
Cut your development speed and costs by half with our in-house design, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities for breakthrough new products from just an idea phase.
Laboratory Instruments, Test Benches, Biological Storage, Microfluidics, Biological Laboratory, Spectrometers, Automated Clinical Instruments, Custom Scientific Apparatus, Pilot Plants, Chemistry Laboratory, Centrifuge, Sample Preparation
Industrial IoT gateway, Compact Industrial Box PC, SCADA automation, Performance Trackers and Sensors, Logistics, Real-time Monitoring, Retail Systems, Inventory Tracking, Production Flow monitoring, Fleet Management
EnCata works with both fixed term and agile contracts.
1. Once you have approached us with the project, we conclude the NDA and send the information to the Sales Manager for further evaluation and project planning.
2. The Sales Manager or Sales Engineer will contact you to clarify your goals, requirements and tasks to accomplish. This process is very close to business analysis. When the details are agreed with you, a cost estimate and a quotation are prepared.
3. If you accept the quotation, we will prepare a Technical design specification to document scope of work and requirements and conclude an agreement.
4. After we've signed the agreements, we'll assign you a Project Manager who will gather a project team and report on the project progress.
EnCata employs around 30 engineers with Master's and PhD degrees in electrical and industrial design, mechanical engineering, prototyping and manufacturing from European universities. Each employee is an expert in his or her field.
The majority of specialists are of middle or senior levels. Their range of influence is broad enough to encompass the entire new product lifecycle. Our specialists resolve legal and certification difficulties during the concept stage, optimize production costs during the 3D model development process and create necessary documentation for firmware support. Juniors make up only 15% of the team. They constantly upgrade their qualifications under the supervision of seniors.
EnCata is always willing to work with its client. We have everything we need to create a collaborative site. Both parties can work on the project simultaneously. The Customer, for instance, and his/ her team designs the electronics while we work on the enclosure. When teams work together to achieve a fantastic result, it is always a win scenario.
EnCata’s team is always willing to discuss all the necessary details about the project proposed. Our full-fledged team of professionals will interrogate you until both parties are satisfied with the procedures necessary to complete the job.
It certainly can. For any product, EnCata creates a design documentation package and a process documentation package that is suited to the production. It should be noted, however, that the technologists at the customer's chosen plant may make changes or impose their own requirements on the documentation design. EnCata, in turn, makes it easier for the client and the technologist to communicate. EnCata does not mass produce, although it can undertake small-scale production at the request of customers.
Yes. As a highly professional design and engineering firm, we make sure that all discussions with our clients and all information regarding your invention, idea and other proprietary information are kept confidential.
We follow a LEAN approach in product and business development and thus we strongly recommend patent filings only after you are at least part-way through development. This is because patenting is expensive and early patents can already become obsolete or irrelevant later in the development phase. Typically, EnCata's work generates many patentable opportunities for our clients and the best strategy is to file patents at TRL-7, i.e. when early beta prototype is ready and when a startup is ready to start batch production and marketing.There is, however, another strategy, which is to use provisional patents which can be loose and are not to be disclosed to the public for 18 months. These are much less expensive and time consuming, generally costing below $500.
EnCata will always sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement and keep your intellectual property confidential during the development phase and then we can recommend several third-party patent attorneys when the time is right.
Our in-house professionals handle almost all electronics work, including interface design, protocol development, communication design, schematic design, PCB Design, Firmware design and battery management. If the Customer requires a service that Encata does not supply, we have partners that can meet that need.
We certainly do. EnCata employs electronics specialists who deal with low-level firmware. We also have experts on staff who can implement high-level software code.
EnCata employs 12 mechanical and industrial designers and 10 electrical engineers with experience in hardware and firmware. Our team consists of middle and senior level engineers, who have 5+ years of field expertise and have already completed more than 300 projects.
We do indeed help with fundraising through our large business network. However, we typically recommend startups to our partner VCs after we have done some work for the startup and learned more about the team and their core technology. This feedback and recommendation is of great value to all of the friendly VCs as it saves them much time and effort for due diligence.