Frequently Asked Questions — FAQs

We have been operating and delivering solutions to our clients for over 20 years. We’ve experienced the pain as well as the success, and it is because we understand the fundamentals of mechanical engineering that we can quickly pick-up on what it is you are trying to achieve and help you achieve it.

When you work with us, you know you will get sound advice and support. We also like to think we have a flair for design, but if all that sounds too good to be true, why not ask one of our existing clients?

Find out more information on the Why choose D3 page.

The Simple Answer: It maximises your capabilities with short to long-term, significant expertise. You can make a flying head start on your project, with the help of a highly skilled and experienced team.

Yes. If you want to discuss commercially sensitive information with D3, then we will keep everything confidential and can offer a 2-way NDA to protect both parties or we can use yours.

Yes – we can do a complete prototype or production run for you, procure all the parts you need and handle the full build. These costs can sometimes be underestimated by companies with complicated supply chains and procurement departments and outsourcing this to us can often save money.

We use this term to describe the process of bringing ideas from the first concept all the way into production. Every new product starts as an idea which grows and morphs and expands as it develops into a final product. Some products are sold at stores, some solve specific problems, and some stay in a factory to make production easier. These all start with ideas and end up as useful things.

This whole evolution from Idea to Product is called The Product Development Process, and there is a lot to it, much more than most people realise. It seems like it should be simple, but there are a lot of details that have to be worked out besides the design.

We have in house PTC Creo, Inventor and Solidworks so we can easily integrate with any legacy design data you may have. Our designers have prior experience on other packages such as SolidEdge, AutoCad etc and we are flexible on which CAD packages we use.

In short, we serve all industries that can offer a product or service. We have traditionally been delivering for sectors such as Oil & Gas, Renewables, Agriculture, Medical, Construction. But we consist of a team of free-thinking engineers who possess transferrable skills, that can be applied to other industries.

Yes, if a particular project is also on our roadmap we would love to collaborate so that we can both achieve our goals quicker.

This is a great question, yet a proper answer depends on your specific project. Here are some guides:

Product Development: Cost is the single most constraining aspect of Product Development, and it holds back many projects. However, the cost of Engineering is not usually the biggy. It’s not cheap to engineer, prototype, develop, or manufacture, so it’s important to make good decisions all along the way. That’s one place where D3 knowledge and experience can help.

Every new project is different, so without details, we can’t guess the cost for you. However, we constantly see dozens of ways customers pay too much, and in that alone, we can save money. We’ll help you think through options and find ways to minimise this aspect of your new development.

Consulting: Again, it’s impossible to estimate a project without understanding it. That said, spending money on consulting to streamline your hurdles and accelerate your project puts you ahead in the long run. Also, for shorter projects, it certainly saves money over hiring full-time staff.

How It Works: There are many ways to structure relationships, but these are the most common:

If the project is well defined from beginning to end, we can work on a Firm, Fixed Price. We’ll agree on services and price, then work to that.

If the project path is not well defined, or if the end goals are not definitive, we can work on Time and Materials.

Custom options are available, and specific to your situation.

Please call to discuss your project, and we’ll help with a much better idea of cost numbers.

We understand that new innovators in particular are very keen on the success of their new product and often end up stymied by the cost of both development and production. We certainly sympathise with this situation, because we’ve been there.

The short answer is YES, but that is tempered by many factors including the fact that we just don’t have the resources to provide free help for everyone. Contact us if you have something specific to discuss.