Domestic and Industrial Controls

Many control technologies use older and more expensive devices and techniques. We regularly do projects that take an existing product, add features and reduce cost so that a better product can now be made with a better margin. Reducing the total cost of ownership is important and this is where we can really help.

Some examples of how we can do this:

  • lower cost to develop
  • use more cost-effective devices
  • use more highly integrated technologies
  • replace analog filters and filters requiring trimming with DSP based software filters
  • improve software debouncing, input averaging and filtering
  • non-linear control strategies
  • production line ATE or self-calibration
  • we work with your supply chain to select the most cost-effective devices for you
  • more supportable software
  • lower production failure rates
  • self testing and ATE aware products that reduce the cost of verification and testing
  • low cost ATE solutions
  • abuse protection on inputs, outputs and power supply connections reduces warranty returns
  • better design reduces warranty returns
  • self-monitoring and logging to allow diagnosis of installation problems and identifying that the problem is with the installation and is not a product issue (eg, mains voltages going out of specification)
  • shut down when the power is out of range
  • shut down to conserve battery life
  • SMT for size reduction and to reduce PCB manufacturing costs
  • multiple product variants with a single common PCB reduce total production setup cost
  • EMC and Safety compliance with less iterations reduces compliance cost
  • automotive transient protection including 24V load dumps
  • systems which allow field upgrade or field interrogation of fault cause

Because many of these costs are incurred by different sections of a company or its business partners, they are often not looked at together.

We can help you to identify ways to improve margins, increase market share and reduce nuisance costs by addressing these issues at the development level.