21 years on, why independence still matters
Published: January 2025
James McLusky
Director
Choosing how to structure your new development program can be a daunting prospect and there are many approaches with varying degrees of merit. However, you might not be surprised to find that as a director of a 100% independent, employee owned design consultancy celebrating its 21st birthday, I believe that true independent insight will always add value to any development.
Some of the advantages may not seem that important at first and some can be simply opaque, but when brought together they can elevate the potential of any program and provide a significant return on investment.
Why an independent design consultancy
To illustrate this personal view, I’ll outline key factors for choosing an independent design consultancy.
Independent advice
Engaging with an independent consultancy brings invaluable technical and strategic advice free of conflicts of interest.
This experienced advice is rooted in the best interests of our customers. As a 100% employee-owned consultancy, our long-term success is measured by repeat business and reputation.
Independence allows us to explore innovative, cost-effective solutions with the flexibility to use any material or production process. This avoids biases toward established in-house methods that can limit breakthrough opportunities or increase production costs without adding value.
Long-term partnership
Once the design concept is mature and proven, our independent engineers can produce a manufacturer-agnostic Design Data Pack ready for Design Transfer to any appropriate partner. This allows:
- Project teams to find the best technical and strategic fit for their needs. Be it process, location or support.
- Procurement teams to negotiate openly with multiple potential suppliers from a position of strength, negotiating the best deal.
- Future-proofed control of your products. You retain your freedom to move production globally as you require.
Your champion
Working with the original design team can ensure that the core Design Intent will be protected throughout the development process. “That concept that your CEO gave you £5M to develop will be the same concept that comes off the production line” – that is the core promise of an independent consultancy like Shore.
As developments move to production, we often fulfil the role of our customers’ champion on the production floor. We protect your interests with a strong technical champion with no agenda or conflict of interest.
Agnostic innovation
Open your design to innovation from the start and allow the product to evolve into the best it can be.
An experienced independent design team will, by definition, have a broader range of knowledge across multiple manufacturing techniques. It’s one of the distinct benefits of working at a design consultancy, you never know what the next project will be, what the challenges will be and what new things you’ll learn.
Don’t be limited by the capabilities of a single supplier and their established processes.
Own your Intellectual Property
While it’s common to retain protected rights over your device’s intellectual property (IP), the manufacturing techniques are often overlooked. From the outset, there can be blurred lines around who owns a specific new process or specialist production technique. A new process could serve as an enabler for the manufacturer’s broader network, adding to the provider’s existing competitive advantages.
How independent support drives ROI for our customers
Now, some examples of how Shore’s independent technical support has generated a large and measurable return on investment (ROI) for our customers:
1. Regaining control
Over a decade ago we generated a significant ROI for a customer.
Their current product had been designed by their contract manufacturer’s in-house team within what had seemed an attractive package. The issue was they now had a significant yield issue due to a design issue that was adding cost to every product manufactured.
Shore tackled the project in open collaboration with all parties, ultimately retaining the same supply chain. The relationship just needed to be improved. We did this by re-designing the product from scratch, improving its user focus, reducing the bill of materials (BoM) cost and, importantly, designing out those yield issues. The customer was back in control with their new design.
Within one year of launch we had saved $10s of millions and the new design was well received by the market, so much so it won an award and ranked number 1 in the market for the first time in the company’s history. Proudly, this success directly contributed to the long-term survival of their European factories.
2. Freedom to pivot
We were asked by a long-standing customer to help them re-vitalise a flagship product; re-establish its commercial viability and increase its appeal.
Our approach was to analyse the BoM and the associated production process in collaboration with the manufacturing partner. It quickly became apparent that any classic cost efficiency measures didn’t make a difference to the cost of goods (CoG). The only way to reduce cost was to introduce new manufacturing techniques as well as radically remove features and components.
So, this is what we did. It was a hard process, but all unnecessary elements were stripped out and the remaining components were re-engineered for more efficient manufacture, hitting the cost target but also freeing up the budget to invest in the vital next-generation features. The resulting device is commercially viable, launched globally, and more pleasingly than anything else has been warmly embraced by existing and new users. In turn, this helped ensure the long-term future of the company in an increasingly challenging environment.
3. Our customer’s champion
Finally, we helped another long-standing customer reduce unit costs as their technical champion. This project centred on developing a low-cost, single-use disposable device that required typical engineering tolerances and reliable, repeatable performance.
The overall development was a collaborative and enjoyable process. But the manufacturer wanted to use Polycarbonate; a good choice, a premium material which would easily ensure they could meet the targets of performance and reliability with minimal effort; but cost wasn’t a factor that had been considered. Acting in the customer’s interests we challenged this assumption; this premium material was over-specified.
A short review of several candidate materials followed: covering properties, tolerances, costs and performance; supported with detailed Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The evidence supported the decision to change to Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) instead. A lesser material, but still an engineering resin more than capable of meeting the device needs.
Following verification testing all requirements were met, including the technical and repeatability targets, but at half the original unit cost in volume production.
Don’t just take my word for it
“My experience working with Shore has been nothing short of game changing for our department. Shore brings the correct blend of creativity, artistic endeavour and solid mechanical engineering to deliver solutions that have impressed our organisation at all levels.
The key thing for me that separates them from their competition is the quality of their work and the maturity of design. Shore is more than just an industrial design house… they deliver realistic solutions to your challenges, often raising questions that drive out options that you have not thought about.
I do not hesitate in recommending them to anyone else within our organisation or out with.”
R&D Project Leader, New Concept and Technology Development
Is an independent design consultancy right for you?
If you’re developing a pharmaceutical or medtech device, partnering with a truly independent design consultancy like ours ensures the development of a design solution through an adaptable and flexible process. You can take advantage of the most effective production techniques while retaining valuable IP at the best possible cost with the best long-term partners.
As a 100% employee-owned design consultancy, our team is personally invested in delivering long-term value, combining expertise with a commitment to our customers’ needs.
I really believe that independence matters.
If you’d like to find out how our independent consultancy can support your device needs, contact our Business Development Manager, Holly Milston.
