Eccel Technology Ltd Partnership Custom Design Process

Stage 1: Production of a Product Design Specification.
This stage will be charged at £350 per day plus expenses incurred, such as
travelling costs, and will be billed in full day increments in advance.
Typically, this process only requires 3 man-days, but if the design is complex
or information required from the customer is limited and requires more
assimilation effort by Eccel, it can require longer and cost more. This stage is
vital to success. A good specification leads to a good product, produced on
time with desired performance outcomes.
The deliverables of this stage will be to:
➢ Produce an accurate agreed functional specification for the hardware and
software design for the project.
➢ Produce an accurate financial cost and time required quotation for the
development of a small number of prototypes by Eccel Technology Ltd.
(Stage 2 below).
➢ Produce an approximate financial costing for the supply by Eccel
Technology Ltd of the final units in the volumes requested by you. (Stage
3 below. Quotation accurate to within 20% at this pre-development
stage).
Requirements from you our partner must include but are not limited to:
➢ Full description of connection requirements to the PCBA we will design,
including current and voltage input and output specifications on the
device inputs and outputs, and any specific interface details such as
communication protocols required.
➢ Specification of functionality of the software we will design for the
MCU(s) on the PCBA.
➢ Specification of range requirement, if passive RFID is a function of the
PCBA, and/or RF connectivity to the PCBA is required.
➢ Specification of performance in terms of power consumption and battery
life (if applicable).
➢ Details of any other electronics and/or software that is required of the
PCBA, for example sensor interface and processing, RF communications
such as Bluetooth LE or UHF MODEM etc.
➢ Packaging requirements including overall product dimensions and
enclosure requirements such as encapsulation, IP rating, operating
environmental temperatures and humidity, vibration and shock
endurance etc. Labelling requirements and any approvals required such
as FCC, CE (RED) etc. Details of production test requirements.
Eccel must fully understand the customer’s requirements for the finished
product. Eccel Technology will deliver the requirements set out and agreed in
the specification so it is critical that customers engage with this stage of the
process in order to receive a product with the functionality and design
requirements they expect.
Stage 2: Feasibility and Scoping
For new applications which require a lot of additional functionality over current
Eccel standard products or which operate in unknown environments, a
feasibility study is conducted. This stage is charged like Stage 1 at £350 per
day plus any expenses incurred. The feasibility and scoping work typically
takes 1-2 days, although if environments or applications are very complicated
this may take longer.
If the application is deemed feasible, Eccel will conduct a scoping exercise to
determine the expected total development price of the project which is then
communicated to the customer.
This is done to ensure that the project costs can be met by the customer. A
price to purchase materials for developed prototypes is also disclosed to the
customer at the end of this stage.
Stage 3: Software and hardware development and production of a
prototype(s) for customer test and acceptance
This stage will be accurately quoted in stage 2 above. It will be billed 100% in
advance of work commencement. Costs for this stage will depend upon the
complexity of the development and range from under £5K to £50K depending
on project complexity. Timescales can vary between 1-12 months, again
according to the complexity of the development.
The costs for this stage will be divided into engineering and development
(labour) time and the cost of materials. These will be itemised separately on
the Eccel quotation and proforma invoice.
This is important as explained in stage 5 below.
Stage 4-Prototype revisions and finished design specification
After the customer has received and evaluated the prototype(s) delivered by
Eccel any changes that are required to be made will be incorporated into a
finalised product design specification. Changes may be small changes to
firmware, or perhaps small hardware changes to either enhance functionality
or replace components which are difficult to source.
Any changes required to specification will be charged at £350 per day until a
final specification is arrived at.
At this stage a meeting will be held between Eccel and the customer. The
objectives of this meeting will be:
1. The customer communicates any required changes to specification for
the final product from the prototype whether hardware or software. A
timescale for changes is agreed to fit the customer requirements and
Eccel design capacity and a plan is signed off.
2. Eccel discusses the cost of the bill of materials for production with the
customer and highlights any potential concerns over component sourcing
so that these can be discussed. Re-design options are explained if this is
believed to be the best solution and a lead time for components is
agreed.
3. Further meetings are held until the final design specification is formally
signed off.
4. A production plan, including lead time and prices is then agreed and
initial orders are placed for manufacture. Eccel provides a full
manufacturing quotation to the customer at this stage to cover various
unit price quantities as requested.
Stage 5: Delivery of production units to customer order requirements
This will be quoted provisionally in stage 2, and accurately in stage 4 above. A
rebate of 10% of the unit price will be given until the “labour” element of the
design and development costs in stage 3 above have been recouped by the
customer. External spend in stage 3 for materials and design specification in
stage 1 above as well as feasibility testing in stage 2 will not be included in this
rebate.