Simplexity Product Development specializes in product development engineering, simplifying designs, reducing costs, and enhancing technology reliability
Published: 2024-08-20 | Author: VisionariesNetwork Team
Founded in 2005 by Steve Mott and Minh Duong, Simplexity Product Development is a product design and engineering services company. It serves customers all over the world with full system product design and engineering services. The company was born from a predecessor company called Product Design Group, or PDG for short, which was acquired by Flextronics and later consolidated. PDG was founded in 1992 by several ex-Hewlett-Packard engineers who dreamed of providing the best practices in product development for technology companies. Simplexity continues the heritage from PDG with many of the same engineers continuing to work together.
It continued to grow and established several locations, including the headquarters in San Diego, California, an office in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. "The Portland/Vancouver office opened in 2006 at the request of a key client that asked Simplexity engineers to support projects locally." In 2010, Dorota Shortell took over from Steve Mott to be the chief executive officer for Simplexity.
In 2017, Simplexity opened its Seattle office, staffed by former Stratos Product Development engineers who wanted to continue providing world-class product development services in the medical, biotech, and consumer arenas. In 2019, it received Quality Management System ISO 13485:2016 certification related to Product Design and Development that is pivotal to medical products. This serves to show that even beyond medical device development, Simplexity cares about quality on all projects.
From concept ideation to the creation of prototypes and their testing, Simplexity helps technology leaders across several industries: consumer electronics, wearables, commercial applications, molecular diagnostics, and medical devices. The medical device customers rely on the company's expertise because the company has an ISO 13485 certification.
The Simplexity commitment to quality runs right through the design and engineering of the products. Its engineers collaborate with the clients in order to understand their needs and work out a solution which would meet the client's requirements. Whether it is the provisioning of the engineers on the manufacturing floor for early prototype builds or the creating of manufacturing critical documentation, Simplexity is committed to quality in product delivery.
Product Feasibility Assessments
Also, Simplexity provides product feasibility studies to assist the clients in proving their concepts. Such assessment type is regarded as paramount in defining whether a product will be viable from the performance view point, manufacturability and cost. The company's engineers offer early discovery work to help customers decide on if their concept can be transformed into a product.
Examples of product feasibility studies that clients have hired Simplexity to conduct include determining if there exists a motor, drivetrain, and battery combination capable of delivering sufficient power to perform a mix operation in 30 seconds while still fitting within a compact size at reasonable cost. Other work the company has conducted includes size and design simplification studies for determining the possible size of a new handheld printing technology.
Product Requirements and Architecture Explorations
When handling a complicated product with multiple subsystems, it is quite important that in the beginning of the process, product requirements and architecture explorations are well-documented. In doing so, it will be quite easier to illustrate functional interdependencies through consideration of several options concerning system design. At Simplexity, it involves engineers and clients coming together as one to create product requirements and also develop high-level technical product requirements.
It also provides architectural explorations like the development of rough CAD models of the mechanical design options, selection of critical electrical technologies or components, and documentation of system behaviors to be implemented in software or firmware. Through this, it helps clients to further refine and make intelligent trade-offs that may be necessary for achieving their highest-priority product goals.
More importantly, Simplexity offers development of the PRD meant for planning, designing, and developing a new product. The PRD allows for distilling intended uses and refining user needs, finally setting out the high-level technical requirements of the product.
Dorota Shortell, Chief Executive Officer
Dorota Shortell has been at the helm of Simplexity since 2010, bringing over 20 years of experience in engineering and new product development to her role as CEO. Prior to taking on this leadership position, she held various leadership and engineering roles since 1999, including serving as director of Simplexity's Portland/Vancouver office. As CEO, Dorota sets the company's strategy while maintaining alignment with its core values. Her passion is to understand clients' needs deeply and create optimized products through simple design.
As an expert in her field, Dorota brings a range of skills to her role. She has experience leading executive management teams and boards of directors, as well as creating a culture of inclusiveness, flexibility, and excellence within the organization. She is also skilled in simplicity in engineering and product development, including incorporating design for manufacturing and assembly. Additionally, Dorota has expertise in helping develop business and fostering positive client relationships, designing and developing new products, public speaking, and engineering and product design.
Throughout her career, Dorota has demonstrated a commitment to innovation and excellence. In her previous roles, she managed various engineering projects across multiple locations nationally and internationally. She also worked as a mechanical engineer, designing gear trains, mechanisms, injection molded parts, and various electro-mechanical products. One of her notable achievements was designing a composite material forearm crutch, which was published in the Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development. Furthermore, Dorota has shared her knowledge by teaching graduate-level courses at Loyola Marymount University, including Elements of Design and New Product Design & Development.
"No matter which stage of design you are in, our experienced team offers many engineering services to help you reach your product development goals with accountability and expertise.”
Browse our most recent publications
