As businesses expand and reach into new corners of technology and innovation, there are needs for engineering that are essential to companies’ operation. But this doesn’t mean that every company with engineering needs is ready to take on the employment of an entire engineering staff, and hiring one or two engineers isn’t the answer either, as a few people may not have the breadth of experience and expertise to handle the challenges that come their way. The truth is that companies need engineering teams--fully dedicated teams with all the latest equipment, software and knowledge to get the work done. And without investing in an entire engineering department, the answer is outsourced manufacturing engineering design services.
Here are nine reasons why you want a turnkey engineering solution:
If you’re looking at hiring your own engineer vs hiring an engineering design service, you don’t have the ability to scale projects. You might have a single project that one engineer with his or her specialized experience can handle, but you might also run into a bigger project that absolutely overwhelms your small engineering team. By hiring an outsourced engineering design service, you’re able to give them any project, big or small, and they’ll be able to turn it around quickly because they have the staff and the knowledge to do it. Time is money, and if your business is being held up waiting for an overworked engineer or two to produce results, that is hitting you in the bottom line.
Not all engineering is the same, even in the same general disciplines. Just like an electrical engineer is not the same as an aerospace engineer, design engineers have specialties and certifications that set each one apart as the expert in their field. By hiring an outsourced design and engineering team, you are getting access to the expertise of that entire team. Your team will have the knowledge and skill set you need and can quickly, efficiently and accurately offer advanced solutions. Engineering is an essential industry where a slip of the math can have disastrous consequences; you want the very best people in the very best positions to be doing the calculations and design.
Outsourcing engineering design is a good idea because that’s what we do. You have your specialty, and we have ours. We know the ins and outs of the industry; the latest news; the laws, regulations and guidelines; the computer software and the machinery. We pride ourselves on being the best of the best in what we do, just as you pride yourself in doing what you do best. We wouldn’t presume to tell you how to do your job because you’re the expert--you know your customers, your market, and your financials. The same goes for us.
If you decided that you needed manufacturing engineering design and hired a few engineers, you’ve got a big cost of entry. Not only do you need to hire engineers who can act as generalists (or hire more engineers who all have specialties) but you have to equip them with the software, materials, and technology that they need to do their jobs. And that startup cost is not small. By outsourcing, you’re tapping into an engineering firm that has already paid for those things, and the costs of technology get spread out across all of our clients’ work--it’s not all coming out of your budget. Plus we’re ready and trained to use all of these tools at a moment's notice, so there’s no learning curve that must be met. We have the material, we have the training, and we’re ready for the work.
Just as you probably don’t need to own your own private jet because you don’t fly enough to justify the cost, you probably don’t do enough manufacturing engineering design to justify the costs involved with that either, so you don’t have all of the manpower and materials needed. That makes sense; that’s good business. Recognizing that we have the economies of scale--we are dedicated to what we do and well prepared with all we need to do it--we are better able to serve you and meet the needs of your company in whatever role you need us to fill.
We mentioned above that if you’re hiring one or two engineers to handle your manufacturing engineering design work, you’re going to end up hiring generalists: people who are pretty good at a lot of things. Jack of all trades, masters of none. If you want a team of professionals and specialists in your back pocket, ready to be pulled out at a moment’s notice to handle whatever problem comes your way, you want a dedicated professional team of turnkey outsourced engineers.
Aside from the cost of hiring engineers, buying them equipment, getting software licenses, and purchasing materials, there’s a cost to setting aside part of your office to put them in. You may have to expand your office, or use an annex. Engineering design is not always a quiet profession and can’t just be tucked into the corner of your office space. So on top of payroll and equipment, bear in mind that these engineers are going to need space of their own--space you have to pay for.
You may have several engineering projects, but you may just have one or two. You may have periods of intense engineering work, but then long lulls when you don’t have anything for your engineers to do. Such is the nature of small to medium-sized design businesses. There’s nothing wrong with this--you do all the work that you can, and you hire the people that you need to hire, but there’s no need to sink all of the money we’ve mentioned above--payroll, materials, software, office space--into an engineering team that doesn’t have consistent work to do. Hiring a turnkey outsourced manufacturing engineering team to help you on an as-needed basis can save you a lot of money.
Because we are vertically integrated, we are able to produce everything from start to finish. We start with design ideation, work through concept development and testing, go through pre-production, make sure that everything is running at the best possible specifications, and can produce the components for that product all in one place. We’re a one-stop shop of design, engineering and production.
At RCO Engineering, we’re prepared to serve as your full service design and and engineering source - from conception to production. We can get you a rapid prototype whether you need compression molding, injection molding, other low volume production services and more!
We can get you a rapid prototype whether you need compression molding, injection molding, other low volume production services and more!