Thomas McKee Design Engineering Book a call →
Service · Manufacturing Preparation

Make a design manufacturable and efficient.

A design that works as a prototype is rarely ready for volume production. It takes complex, precise engineering to make sure the parts are easily manufacturable and simple to assemble. With design for manufacture and assembly, tolerances, detail production CAD and a complete drawing pack, plus technical liaison with your manufacturer, I can take your project to efficient production.

Book a free intro call → See what you get
Who it's for

If your design works but isn't ready to make

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"It works as a prototype, how do I get it built consistently, at different volumes?"

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"I've got a factory lined up, how do I hand them a design they can actually make?"

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"How do I keep the cost down in manufacture and reduce continuous production costs?"

Getting a product to manufacture is its own discipline. The design decisions that make something easy, cheap and reliable to build are not simple, and need an experienced engineer to carry out. Handing an un-makeable design to a manufacturer leaves them guessing and doing their own design work, and you'll pay far more for a product that ends up completely different from what you imagined.

What you get

Everything a manufacturer needs to build it right

Production-ready parts and assemblies and a fully defined documentation pack, so what you designed actually gets made. The core of it is the DFMA work, the detail production CAD and a full drawing pack with GD&T.

01

Design review workshop

We start with a workshop to understand the volumes, costs, methods and supplier. Then we go through the design together.

02

DFMA report

The design refined for how it will actually be made and assembled, fewer parts, simpler processes, lower cycle time and less that can go wrong at scale, written up as a design for manufacture and assembly report.

03

Detail CAD & drawing pack

Detail production CAD and a complete manufacturing drawing pack with GD&T, plus a tolerance stack analysis so parts fit and function across a whole production run, not just on the first golden sample.

04

Tooling support & supplier liaison

I stay with it through tooling and design refinement, and act as your technical liaison with the manufacturer you've chosen, so the engineering conversation runs smoothly on both sides.

Deliverables include:

  • ✓ Design review workshop
  • ✓ Design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA) report
  • ✓ Detail production CAD
  • ✓ Production drawing pack with GD&T
  • ✓ Tolerance stack analysis report
  • ✓ Support through tooling and design refinement
  • ✓ Supplier liaison with your chosen manufacturer
How it works

From proven design to production

1

Free intro call, then design review workshop

We talk volumes, target cost and where it will be made. I confirm what preparation the design needs and scope and price it before anything starts. Then we go through the design together.

Free · 30 minutes
2

Design for manufacture

I refine the design for its manufacturing process, injection moulding, sheet metal, die cast and so on, as well as for assembly. I resolve tolerance issues and design out cost, complexity and failure modes, and write it up as a DFMA report.

Scoped phase
3

Documentation pack

I produce the detail production CAD and the full manufacturing drawing pack with GD&T, so your chosen factory has an unambiguous package to quote and build from.

Scoped phase
4

Tooling & first production

I stay in the loop through tooling, first articles and pre-production, liaising with your manufacturer and resolving the issues that always surface, so ramp-up is smooth and the knowledge carries through.

As needed
Scope

Clear on both sides

What you bring

  • → A functionally proven design, one that works and isn't expected to change fundamentally.
  • → Your target volumes, cost and timeline, and any regions you'll sell into.
  • → The manufacturer you plan to use. Sourcing suppliers isn't my wheelhouse, but I'll liaise with whichever factory you choose.

How I work

  • ✓ Design decisions judged on lifetime production cost, not just unit price.
  • ✓ Fluent liaising with manufacturers in both the UK and China.
  • ✓ I've been on the factory floor, so the preparation is grounded in how things really get built.
  • ✓ Happy to work under an NDA, and to fit around your existing supply chain.
Medium-to-high-volume consumer products shipped at Ooni Injection moulding & sheet-metal DFM Delivered double-digit % BOM cost reduction on shipped products
Questions

Before you book

Do you make the product, or get it ready to be made?
I get it ready. Manufacturing preparation is the engineering that turns a working design into something a factory can build repeatably and economically, the detail CAD, drawings, tolerances and DFMA work. I then work alongside your chosen manufacturer through tooling and the first production runs.
Do you find the manufacturer for me?
No, sourcing suppliers isn't my expertise. What I do is prepare the design and the documentation so it's ready to hand to a factory, and then act as your technical liaison with the manufacturer you've chosen, so the engineering conversation runs smoothly. If you need a recommendation, I'm happy to point you towards where founders usually look.
Can you liaise with a factory in China?
Yes. I've taken consumer products into medium-to-high-volume manufacture with overseas suppliers, and I can coordinate tooling, first articles and quality with your factory in China as well as the UK, bridging the engineering and the language of manufacture on both sides.
Isn't this just about making it cheaper?
It's about lifetime production cost, which is a bigger number than unit price or tool cost: cycle time, assembly labour, tooling maintenance, scrap and warranty. Designing those out is where the repeated savings are, and they build up over the long run.
My design isn't quite finished, is it too early?
Possibly, for the stand-alone service. But it's always best to consider DFM as early as possible, and it's how I approach my design work from the very start, so if you have a designer working on your product and you'd like me in on early prototypes to review, I'm happy to scope for that.
Plenty of studios say they do DFM. How is this different?
Design for manufacture can mean many things, sometimes just choosing a manufacturing process. It can be make or break for a project, and it's worth getting a real engineer involved. If these studios have that, great, just make sure it comes from having actually taken consumer products through tooling and medium-to-high-volume production, and from being on the factory floor while they were built. That's a different thing from an industrial design studio that lists DFM next to its styling work.
Where it fits

The last mile of the full journey

Manufacturing preparation is the stage that gets a proven design onto a production line. It's a natural final phase of full Product Development, where I carry a product from first idea all the way to something ready to manufacture. If you've done the earlier work elsewhere and just need it made properly, this stands on its own too.

Start here

Take your idea into production

Book a free intro call and tell me about the product. We'll work out what it needs to be production-ready, and I'll scope and price it before anything begins.

Book a free intro call → UK & China liaison