Dragon Innovation

JUNE 22, 2020

The New Product Introduction (NPI) process is a complex one. Understanding the associated working concepts and tools will help you prepare for what goes into manufacturing a product at scale. One way that we, at Dragon Innovation, showcase this process is using a tool we all know and love: LEGOs. In this example workshop, you will walk through five steps to understand the NPI process , starting with a working prototype and moving through working directly with a Contract Manufacturer (CM), identi

Manufacturing 71

Manufacturing Tools Innovation Examples 71

Dragon Innovation

MAY 28, 2020

Experts from Dragon Innovation and Farnell were featured in a live Q&A session, answering questions on 'Custom vs. Generic Parts - What’s Scalable for Manufacturing My Product?' for this live webinar recording, that has been packaged to be watched on-demand.

Innovation 64

Innovation Manufacturing Packaging Supply and Demand 64

Dragon Innovation

MAY 19, 2020

Given the many hurdles to bring a product to mass production, it can be considered a minor success to get to the point of Contract Manufacturer (CM) selection. Going through a robust Request for Quote (RFQ) process and choosing a CM partner is one of the most important decisions you will make on the path to production. In the CM selection process, there are steps you can take to begin to build trust, while also taking into consideration that the CM has their own revenue targets and the need to m

Manufacturing 88

Manufacturing Quality How To 88

Dragon Innovation

MAY 15, 2020

What happens if in the heat of battle you accidentally drop your Nerf N-Strike Hyper Fire Blaster and break a critical gear component? The battle is over and whole thing is a waste, right? Wrong. Using Onshape's cloud based CAD design software and a Markforged 3D printer, Dragon Innovation CEO, Scott N. Miller was able to design and 3D print a broken gear to get back in the action.

Innovation 80

Innovation Software 80

Dragon Innovation

APRIL 28, 2020

On this panel from the 'Sustainability in Manufacturing Virtual Summit' , experts from the Manufacturing, 3D Printing and Product Development industries discuss 'Design for Repair / Reuse / Recycle' and the impact of sustainability when bringing a product to market.

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Sustainability Manufacturing Supply and Demand Industrial 58

Dragon Innovation

APRIL 27, 2020

On this panel from the 'Sustainability in Manufacturing Virtual Summit', experts from the Manufacturing, 3D Printing and Product Development industries discuss using 'Environmentally Friendly Materials' and the impact of sustainability when bringing a product to market.

Sustainability 64

Sustainability Manufacturing Supply and Demand Industrial 64

Dragon Innovation

APRIL 23, 2020

Dragon Innovation CEO & Co-Founder, Scott N. Miller kicked off the Earth Day event : 'Sustainability in Manufacturing Virtual Summit' with a keynote presentation on the topic of sustainability and manufacturing. Learn at a high level how the topic of sustainability impacts the process of manufacturing, while bringing a connected hardware product to market.

Sustainability 40

Sustainability Manufacturing Supply and Demand Innovation 40

Dragon Innovation

APRIL 17, 2020

In this multipart blog series, Dragon Innovation material expert, Nicolas Avril , will explore the pros and cons of selecting different materials when designing and manufacturing a connected product in high volumes. This blog examines the use of wood.

Sustainability 80

Sustainability Innovation Manufacturing Electronics 80

Dragon Innovation

APRIL 10, 2020

There are three types of patents: the utility patent, the design patent and the plant patent. Only the first two, however, are typically sought by technology companies and inventors.

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Company 98

Dragon Innovation

APRIL 7, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is an extremely challenging situation. Faced with this global crisis, it has been amazing to see how people and companies around the world have responded, through many different approaches. The span across industries, from medical, repair and logistics , to engineering, 3D Printing and manufacturing, have all really shown the benefit of communication, leadership and teamwork.

Manufacturing 82

Manufacturing Global Logistics Industrial 82

Dragon Innovation

MARCH 27, 2020

Global manufacturing choices are almost endless, but with innovation and progress what works today may not work in the future.

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Manufacturing Procurement Sourcing Strategies Manufacturing Sourcing 97

Dragon Innovation

MARCH 24, 2020

As we all continue to confront the global crisis of COVID-19 , it’s been amazing to see the hardware and manufacturing community step up to contribute in so many different ways. From the 3D printing community to the open source design community , we’re all banding together to help fight this problem.

Manufacturing Procurement 85

Manufacturing Procurement Sourcing Resources Manufacturing 85

Dragon Innovation

MARCH 19, 2020

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” - Mr. Fred Rogers.

Innovation 53

Innovation 53

Dragon Innovation

MARCH 17, 2020

There are advantages to using both CNC machining and 3D printing for creating prototypes quickly and iterations of designs. Although many businesses offer both, it is worth understanding the differences between them both.

Manufacturing 107

Manufacturing 107

Dragon Innovation

MARCH 11, 2020

Why incorporate sustainability in supply chains. If you’re a hardware company in 2020, the sustainability of your products should be a driving factor when considering product design and supply chain. According to a study published in 2019, there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that modern consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products.

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Sustainability Supply Chain Design Supply Chain How To 85

Dragon Innovation

MARCH 6, 2020

Every product starts out as an idea. As innovation continues, it's the responsibility of the inventor to protect that idea, as you go from prototype all the way through high volume manufacturing. Understanding the patent laws and processes is a first step to making sure you protect your intellectual property and products.

Innovation 55

Innovation Manufacturing 55

Dragon Innovation

MARCH 3, 2020

Dragon Innovation , CEO & Co-Founder, Scott N. Miller and re:3D , Co-Founders, Matthew Fiedler and Samantha Snabes were featured in a live Q&A session, answering questions on Sustainability in Manufacturing for this live webinar recording, that has been packaged to be watched on-demand.

Sustainability 79

Sustainability Manufacturing Supply and Demand Packaging 79

Dragon Innovation

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

When choosing a factory or contract manufacturer to produce your product, one may go through the Request for Quote ( RFQ ) process. During this process you are creating uniform documents to help factories identify what goes into your product via your Bill of Materials ( BOM ). As we know BOMs come in all shapes and sizes, but the one thing that a lot of people miss are more detailed instructions on how each part should be quoted.

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Manufacturing How To 60

Dragon Innovation

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

Dragon Innovation, CEO & Co-Founder, Scott N. Miller and Dr. Hassan Rashidi were featured in a live Q&A session, answering questions on Design for Manufacturing for this live webinar recording , that has been packaged to be watched on-demand.

Manufacturing 112

Manufacturing Supply and Demand Packaging Innovation 112

Dragon Innovation

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

By now, you are likely aware that the order of operations to deliver electromechanical products to customers is complex and elaborate. Mixed messaging and confusing or contradictory terminology makes the manufacturing process even more perplexing. To get you up to speed, we’ll start by demystifying these pre-production milestones: EVT, DVT, and PVT.

Manufacturing 87

Manufacturing Quality 87

Dragon Innovation

JANUARY 1, 2020

Whether you're at the beginning stages of building your prototype or are ready to go from prototype stage into high volume manufacturing , it's always good to have a handle on the key terms that will often come up with regard to manufacturing. Updated: 1/1/2020.

Manufacturing 78

Manufacturing Innovation 78

Dragon Innovation

FEBRUARY 7, 2020

The process of going from one-to-many for your consumer electronic product can be a complex journey. The first time you are launching a product particularly, it can feel like “one step forward, two steps back.” Although, when you see a delighted customer using your product in the wild, it all becomes worth it. While we know the journey does not follow a linear path, there are milestones you need to hit along the way.

Electronics 83

Electronics Manufacturing How To Packaging 83

Dragon Innovation

FEBRUARY 4, 2020

The coronavirus is on top of everyone’s minds across the world, but especially in China and the Far East. This issue is certainly one the world is watching and hoping to be resolved soon. From a manufacturing perspective, the timing is also extremely challenging. Chinese New Year ( CNY ) is one of the most traveled time periods for the very large population of China.

Manufacturing 58

Manufacturing China 58

Dragon Innovation

JANUARY 27, 2020

Changes in industry or your business may cause you to reevaluate your current operation, so looking at the pricing of your contract manufacturer (CM) is a logical step. Keep in mind, however, that while jumping to a new CM may seem like it can give you some immediate initial savings, it can also lead to some significant losses if you’re not careful.

Cost Reduction Strategies 68

Cost Reduction Strategies Price Reduction Manufacturing Industrial 68

Dragon Innovation

JANUARY 21, 2020

Being in manufacturing for a long time, we’ve always had great concern about workers’ safety in the manufacturing of a product, but little visibility or regulation on what happens to the product and people that interact with it after the original consumer is done using it.

Manufacturing 64

Manufacturing Sustainability Packaging 64

Dragon Innovation

JANUARY 15, 2020

Last week, our team at Dragon Innovation attended the most popular consumer electronic event in the world: CES 2020. We had a great time connecting with current and future Dragon customers, hardware industry partners & friends, along with our colleagues at Avnet, Hackster, Newark, Element14, Farnell and Witekio.

Innovation 53

Innovation Electronics Industrial Industry 53

Dragon Innovation

JANUARY 9, 2020

Building hardware is hard. To launch a new product, you will face many hurdles along the amazing journey from transforming an idea into a viable product your customers love. Over the last 20 years of leading teams that have launched products at iRobot to helping other companies launch their own products at Dragon Innovation, I’ve found that most of the manufacturing issues that derail companies tend to fall into three categories: Cost, Quality, and Schedule.

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Quality Manufacturing Innovation Company 79

Dragon Innovation

DECEMBER 17, 2019

Despite the common goal of protecting the business, safety and security are somewhat separate problems that require a different approach to solving. Both remain hot topics in manufacturing, especially with respect to risk reduction. Fortunately, today’s technology solutions can work to improve both safety and security, sometimes solving both issues at once.

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Security Manufacturing 63

Dragon Innovation

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Twenty years or so ago, while I was a young lad studying polymer engineering at MIT, it seemed that the industry involving high-volume production of innovative consumer products could be summarized as follows:

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Study Innovation Industrial Industry 63

Dragon Innovation

DECEMBER 4, 2019

Understanding how things are put together is at the core of our manufacturing experts at Dragon Innovation. The best way to know how something is put together is, you guessed it, take it apart!

Innovation 60

Innovation Manufacturing 60

Dragon Innovation

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

While arguably the most critical aspect of your manufacturing planning, Quality often comes as an afterthought to Cost and Schedule. Dragon Innovation Project Manager, Spencer Hartfeld answered questions on Quality in Manufacturing for this live webinar recording , that has been packaged on-demand.

Quality 66

Quality Manufacturing Supply and Demand Packaging 66

Dragon Innovation

SEPTEMBER 17, 2019

At Dragon Innovation, we're approached with manufacturing questions all the time. While our business is leveraging our expertise and knowledge directly for our customers, we also like to share our wealth of knowledge more broadly with the manufacturing community. To this end, we'll be answering some questions we receive about the manufacturing process in this short video series we call: 'Ask a Dragon'.

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Shipping Video Manufacturing Innovation 55

Dragon Innovation

OCTOBER 8, 2019

At Dragon Innovation, we're approached with manufacturing questions all the time. While our business is leveraging our expertise and knowledge directly for our customers, we also like to share our wealth of knowledge more broadly with the manufacturing community. To this end, we'll be answering some questions we receive about the manufacturing process in this short video series we call: 'Ask a Dragon'.

Manufacturing 40

Manufacturing Shipping Video Innovation 40

Dragon Innovation

AUGUST 18, 2019

At Dragon, we're approached with manufacturing questions all the time. While our business is leveraging our expertise and knowledge directly for our customers, we also like to share the wealth more broadly for the manufacturing community. To this end, we'll be answering some questions we receive about the manufacturing process in this short video series we call: "Ask a Dragon".

Video 54

Video Manufacturing 54

Dragon Innovation

AUGUST 30, 2019

At Dragon, we're approached with manufacturing questions all the time. While our business is leveraging our expertise and knowledge directly for our customers, we also like to share the wealth more broadly for the manufacturing community. To this end, we'll be answering some questions we receive about the manufacturing process in this short video series we call: "Ask a Dragon".

Quality 41

Quality Video Manufacturing 41

Dragon Innovation

OCTOBER 8, 2019

At Dragon Innovation, we're approached with manufacturing questions all the time. While our business is leveraging our expertise and knowledge directly for our customers, we also like to share our wealth of knowledge more broadly with the manufacturing community. To this end, we'll be answering some questions we receive about the manufacturing process in this short video series we call: 'Ask a Dragon'.

Manufacturing 55

Manufacturing Video Shipping Innovation 55

Dragon Innovation

OCTOBER 3, 2019

In the “Meet a Dragon” blog series we’ll be introducing our team members who help guide your product through the New Product Introduction (NPI) process and ongoing manufacturing. These people act as an extension of your team and are on the front lines with you day in and day out. They have hundreds of years of collective experience helping to build millions of complex products.

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Meeting Europe Manufacturing How To 47