Prototype sourcing service
Stronger development through a healthier prototyping habit.
For small manufacturers and startups without a prototype department.
What prototype sourcing means here
We decide where each prototype part goes, by which process, and in what order — and then place the orders on your behalf. Simply "asking a shop that can make it" does not bring the cost or the calendar down. For the same part, changing the process can move the cost by an order of magnitude, and splitting the order across suppliers can shorten the schedule. Those calls are made by someone who has run volume-production development at a major manufacturer.
At small manufacturers and startups, there is often nobody whose job this is, so everything goes to the one supplier the company already knows. Simptech re-selects suppliers from the outside, and builds the plan — including sourcing parts together or splitting them across several shops.
What this has delivered
Three things prototype sourcing gives you
Lower prototype cost, through the competitive suppliers
that large manufacturers use
Shorter lead time, which buys back design thinking time
(and raises development quality)
Less of your own time spent on sourcing
(Simptech delivers everything together)
This suits companies that
- have no prototype department of their own
- have designers doing the prototype sourcing themselves
- have started a new business and are prototyping outside for the first time
- are short-handed and would take any help going
Even companies listed on the prime market sometimes have no prototype department. For smaller companies it is harder still to keep someone dedicated to prototyping, so in practice designers place orders by habit with the suppliers they happen to know.
At Simptech, a specialist who handled prototype sourcing at a major manufacturer proposes the right process and the right cost.
What we source best
Your prototype cost and schedule may well come down
Talk to us about whether the suppliers you use today are still the right ones.
Contact us