Services · Systems Engineering
A device is built on paper first.
A development starts with requirements and architecture, and with the questions of what the device may cost and how it will be verified. We draw up a sound plan with you before we start on component development.
What we stand for
The concept has to hold up
Requirements
Few projects start with a finished requirements specification. We gather the requirements from you, write them down in a testable form and submit them to you for approval.
Development, production and operating costs
Development is the smaller part of the cost. Unit costs and the effort in the field result from the same decisions, so they belong in the same plan.
Verification
We define how each requirement will be tested at the same time as the requirement itself. By the end of planning, it is therefore also clear what test equipment is needed and what testing will cost.
Planning is mandatory
IEC 61508, IEC 62304 and the Cyber Resilience Act call for a planned approach: documented requirements, a risk analysis and evidence for each requirement. The concept phase provides that basis.
The questions we answer with you
Build it or buy it?
For every function, we check whether a ready-made module costs less than developing your own. At small volumes, the numbers often come out differently than expected.
Microcontroller or embedded Linux?
The decision depends on memory requirements, real-time behaviour and update capability. It determines how the device will be maintained over ten years.
Which function sits where?
Control in the microcontroller, operation in the application, evaluation in the cloud. Where you draw the line determines what can be changed independently later.
Which regulatory approval, and what does it cost?
Standards, test scope and test lab belong in the plan. If regulatory approval is only considered at the end, it costs time the plan does not have.
How many variants does the product have?
Countries, feature levels, successor generations. Planning for variants from the start saves a second development later.
At what volume does it pay off?
Component choice, test effort and manufacturing process all depend on volume. We work through the scenarios that are realistic for you.
The architecture decides what remains possible later.
Your benefits at a glance
Fewer iterations in development
When electronics and software start from the same requirements, you avoid the correction rounds that otherwise follow the first integration.
Unit costs are fixed by the concept
Component choice, ease of assembly and testability are decided in the concept, and you pay for those decisions across the entire series.
Calculable costs after market launch
Update capability, maintainability and component availability are concept decisions. They determine what the product will still cost in the field.
Development costs built up from work packages
At the end of the concept phase, the work packages are defined with their scope and dependencies. This shows what development will cost up to series readiness.
Safety and evidence
Clarity on qualification
We clarify in the concept phase which standards apply to your product and which class it falls into. From that, we derive the safety requirements together with you.
Risk analysis to the relevant standard
Hazard and risk analysis for safety-related systems, risk management to ISO 14971 for medical devices.
Cybersecurity risk assessment
The Cyber Resilience Act calls for a documented risk assessment as part of the technical documentation. It is produced in the concept phase, because it shapes the architecture.
A management system under external audit
Sales, development and manufacturing of electronic and electromechanical assemblies and systems are certified to ISO 9001. Beyond that, our management system conforms to ISO 13485, IEC 61508, IEC 62443 and ISO/IEC 27001.
- IEC 61508
- ISO 13849
- IEC 62304
- ISO 14971
- MDR
- Cyber Resilience Act
From idea to plan
The assessment, up to an indicative price, is free of charge.
Capture the requirements
We capture what the product is meant to do and write it down in a testable form. The idea becomes a list you can debate while debating is still cheap.
Constraints and risks
Volume, target costs, approval route, deadlines. Plus the risks that could derail the project.
Architecture
Here it becomes clear where the system boundary lies and how the blocks talk to each other, as well as which function sits in hardware, which in firmware and which in the cloud.
Feasibility
We measure or build in advance whatever remains unclear: a preliminary design, a calculation model, an experimental setup. The biggest technical risks have to be resolved before development starts.
Plan and price
The architecture and concepts turn into the plan: which work package when, with what effort and which dependencies.
Handover to implementation
You receive the requirements specification, the risk register, the architecture description, the hardware and software concept, the qualification concept and the project plan with its cost framework.
How you can see the project status at any time
Access from day one
Requirements, architecture documents and estimates are open to you from the start of the project.
Requirements and tests in one system
Requirements and tests are written, reviewed, released and versioned, so what was ordered can always be looked up.
Regular alignment
A short meeting every one to two weeks: project status, open technical questions, organisational matters.
Transparency from the start
We have an idea but no specification. Is that enough?
Yes, that is the normal case. It is what the concept phase is for. We ask the questions, you bring the knowledge of your market. At the end there is a document both sides can sign.
Do we then have to commission the implementation from you too?
No. The requirements, architecture and plan are handed over to you and written so that any development partner can work with them. After the concept, you decide who to continue with.
What does a concept phase cost?
That depends on the scope, which we agree beforehand. The assessment, up to an indicative price, is free of charge. The concept phase itself is a separate order with a defined result.
Where is the work done?
In Offenburg, and nowhere else. We work with our own people. Whoever designs your system sits in the same building as the people who later build and test it.
Do you work with AI?
Yes, systematically. Anything a tool contributes goes through the same checks as any other work: review, cross-check, test. We build our AI system ourselves, so we know what it does, and we keep improving it.
Tell us about your next project.
Tell us about your product and your schedule. We will tell you how we would approach the project and whether we see any major risks. The assessment, up to an indicative price, is free of charge.
