Boulder Startup Week

We’ve all heard of design thinking, but how does thinking about manufacturing factor into your design?

All too often thinking about how someone would make your product comes at the very end of the design instead of being woven throughout the design process. When your contract manufacturer receives your design, it is often surprising they want to make changes – some of these changes are to align with their processes, others are because the resulting manufacturing approach is challenging and can be expensive.

Additionally, how is the product going to be tested to ensure functional product is shipped to your customers? There are different approaches that need to be considered early in the design phase to manage both quality and long-term costs in production.

All start-ups need to evaluate the trade-offs and this session will look at the pros and cons of designing for manufacturing and test including the implications to quality, capacity, and cost. Our panelists have nearly a century of combined manufacturing experience and will share stories of successes and failures they’ve witnessed or have been part of over the course of their careers.

Our panelists include:
Mark Laing – Product Marketing and Business Development Manager, Mentor Graphics. Mr. Laing graduated with a B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Loughborough University, in the UK. He has over 25 years’ experience in PCB manufacturing with particular strengths in test and inspection methodologies with three test companies, namely Marconi Instruments in the UK, followed by GenRad and Teradyne in the US. He then moved more in to software solutions for Router Solutions Incorporated, who were acquired by Mentor Graphics Corporation in 2006. When Mentor acquired Valor Computerized Systems in 2010 he moved in that division where he has been working as both a Product Marketing Manager and Business Development Manager. Mark has been granted two patents, one in the UK and one in the US, and has recently filed two more. With the recent acquisition of Mentor by Siemens PLM, Mark is looking forward to further his career with Siemens. Mark has lived in the US for nearly 20 years and now resides in Lafayette, Colorado, with his wife and two sons.

Walt Oshetski – President, Aspen Test Engineering. Mr. Oshetski has been part of 2 start up companies in Boulder County, including Aspen Test Engineering. Over the last 4+ decades he has designed products such as the MiniScribe’s first disk drive, defined test processes for spacecraft electronic hardware, and software to test medical devices. Walt has a BSEE from the University of Connecticut and a MSEE from CSU.

Seth Schell – Senior Program Manager, Premier Manufacturing. Mr. Schell has 10 years experience in contract electronics manufacturing and specializes in bringing start ups from prototyping to production at Premier Manufacturing. He has seen the financial implications when designing for manufacturing and test are skipped due to save time or money in development.

Moderated by Jenney Loper – Fractional COO and Supply Chain Consultant, JSL Solutions. Ms. Loper, the founder of JSL Solutions, has nearly two decades of experience in developing and manufacturing physical products in Colorado's Front Range. Most of her experience is working with small technology companies that have immature business practices. For much of her career she has created processes and infrastructure in supply chain, quality and manufacturing positioned for sustainable growth. In the last 6 years, Jenney has focused her efforts on working with design teams to better prepare products for manufacturing before transitioning completed designs into scalable production.