DE-RISKING

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CUSTOM MACHINE

DEVELOPMENT

for Startups and OEMs

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Even the Best Engineering Teams Have Blind Spots

You’re under pressure to hit investor milestones. But custom machinery projects are famous for “unknown unknowns”—cross-functional integration gaps, tolerance stack-ups, and facility fit issues that don’t show up until it’s too late.

The Cost:

6-figure rework bills and months of delay.

The Risk:

“Duct-tape” prototypes that function once but fail to scale.

The Reality:

You don’t need just “more CAD hours.” You need a strategic partner who spots these risks before you cut metal.

Even the Best Engineering Teams Have Blind Spots

You’re under pressure to hit investor milestones. But custom machinery projects are famous for “unknown unknowns”—cross-functional integration gaps, tolerance stack-ups, and facility fit issues that don’t show up until it’s too late.

The Cost:

6-figure rework bills and months of delay.

The Risk:

“Duct-tape” prototypes that function once but fail to scale.

The Reality:

You don’t need just “more CAD hours.” You need a strategic partner who spots these risks before you cut metal.

The Way to Clarity & Confidence

1. Map & Mobilize:

We rapidly surface risks, align your stakeholders, and create a prioritized engineering roadmap. No more guessing.

2. Burn & Build:

We “burn down” technical risk using advanced design and FEA, rapid prototyping, DFM, and cycle-time studies. We prove it works digitally before you pay to build it physically.

3. Handoff & Enable:

We don’t just toss drawings over the fence. We deliver comprehensive BOMs, training, and documentation so your team owns the machine fully.

The Way to Clarity & Confidence

Map & Mobilize:

We rapidly surface risks, align your stakeholders, and create a prioritized engineering roadmap. No more guessing.

Burn & Build:

We “burn down” technical risk using advanced design and FEA, rapid prototyping, DFM, and cycle-time studies. We prove it works digitally before you pay to build it physically.

Handoff & Enable:

We don’t just toss drawings over the fence. We deliver comprehensive BOMs, training, and documentation so your team owns the machine fully.

We bring the pattern recognition from hundreds of custom machine projects and development cycles.

We are Poindexter by Design. We specialize in helping startups and OEMs launch custom machinery. We don’t just “do CAD.” We act as a strategic “Red Team” for your engineering process.

We’ve helped companies like Hyphen, Apex, and GAF Roads bridge the gap from “prototype” to “production” by identifying risks before they become expensive disasters.

Stop Guessing

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START MAPPING

Don't commit major resources without a battle plan. Our Machine Risk & Opportunity Map™ gives you a fresh, expert analysis of your concept or machine.

Book Your Initial Diagnostic

Frequently Asked Questions

Hiring takes months you don't have, and generic contractors often lack the strategic "big picture" view needed for complex machinery. When you hire Poindexter by Design, you aren't just getting "CAD hours", you are accessing a specialized team with the pattern recognition of hundreds of machine development projects. We deploy quickly, spot risks your internal team might miss, and burn down technical debt fast.

We prioritize outcomes over hours. For defined phases, like our Machine Risk & Opportunity Map™, we work on a fixed-fee basis, ensuring total budget certainty. For larger execution phases, we offer outcome-based packages or transparent retainers. We believe you should pay for deliverables and risk reduction, not just for engineering hours.

No. We are a "remote-native" engineering team. By leveraging cloud-native tools like Onshape and real-time collaboration workflows, we integrate seamlessly with your team without the overhead of onsite travel. However, for critical phases like prototype debugging or initial builds, we can and do deploy to your facility or shop floor as needed.

You do. We are the business of engineering, not IP hoarding. Upon payment and project completion, all design assets, CAD data, and documentation become your exclusive property. We typically sign your NDA prior to our initial consultation to ensure you are protected from day one.

We manage the process, but we don't own the factory. We focus on what we do best: high-level engineering and risk reduction. For builds, we leverage a trusted network of fabrication partners and shops (or whoever you prefer) to execute rapid prototypes and production parts. We oversee the vendors, manage the quotes, and ensure the parts meet our rigorous GD&T standards so you don't have to.

Yes. While we are Onshape Preferred Partners because of its superior speed and collaboration capabilities for agile hardware teams, we are fully fluent in SolidWorks and other major CAD platforms. We can work within your existing ecosystem or help you transition to a more modern, cloud-native stack if you are ready to upgrade.

We are the mechanical architects of the integration. We handle the complex mechanical design, tooling, frames, and physical automation. For the controls, PLCs, and electrical integration, we partner with specialized electrical engineering firms or work alongside your internal controls team. This ensures you get deep expertise in both disciplines rather than a "jack of all trades" approach.

It is never too late to de-risk a project, but earlier is better. We often enter at the "Crisis" or "Stalled" phase to perform a Machine Risk & Opportunity Map™. We identify the bottlenecks (whether they are tolerance stack-ups, supply chain issues, or integration gaps) and create a "Burn & Build" plan to get the project back on track toward
your milestone