Working Together
Our Process
MicroPen Technologies has a track record of working collaboratively with our customers to bring breakthrough products from concept to market entry and commercial success. Our application engineers and materials experts are able to quickly evaluate both the technical and economic viability of MicroPenning for the desired end product and application. We recommend or select a material system. We design a pattern to achieve the desired functionality. We develop a process for fabrication. We assign an Application Engineer and a MicroPen® Engineer to each project. Each application brings its own set of challenges, and we’ve found that bringing together the complimentary capabilities of our team with those of our customer greatly enhances the likelihood of commercial success.
Generally, our process flows along the following steps:
- 1. Feasibility or Proof of Concept
- After our product development team conducts a design review, we acquire the selected substrates and the selected materials and design a basic pattern to determine first-level feasibility. Next, we evaluate the marriage of the materials to the substrate, the behavior of the materials at the point of deposition, and any rheology changes associated with curing or firing. Adhesion of the materials to the surface is fully explored and analyzed at this stage.
- 2. Product Development
- Once a design concept proves feasible, we plan and organize the project. Budgets and timelines are calculated and specific resources are assigned.
- 3. Prototypes
- Utilizing MicroPenning’s rapid prototyping capabilities, we make initial samples, which are then tested by our customer to verify design parameters and product functionality. Collaboration at this stage between our application engineers and our customers in analyzing test results and recommending design and/or material changes is critical. This is where our rapid prototyping capability is truly advantageous to our customers since we can execute product changes in hours.
- 4. Field Test, Clinical Trials, Process Validation
- During this stage, our product development team works with both the customer (external) and our own manufacturing team (internal). Test data, clinical trial results, and all field related information is analyzed for product and application refinement. The MicroPen® manufacturing process is validated and pre-production runs commence.
- 5. Commercialization
- As a company, MicroPen Technologies employs a flexible business structure to deal with the realities of commercialization. We recognize that each product, application, and customer relationship is unique. It is our goal to create value for both our customers and ourselves. Examples of successful business structures have included:
- Component or product manufacturing at MicroPen Technologies
- Licensing MicroPen® technology and processes
- Joint Venture
- Strategic Alliance or Strategic Investment
