Innovative Design
Techniques Slash
Time to Market

Viking's new 56-K modem took form through conceptual design studies in Compression's industrial design department.

Working with the industrial designers, Compression's mechanical engineers translated
the design into a 3D CAD model.

The CAD database was also used for tool design.

When Viking Components Corporation, a well-known manufacturer of computer memory and internal modems, made a strategic decision to enter the marketplace for 56-K external modems, it looked around for a design vendor who could meet the demands of a very stringent development schedule. Viking chose Compression Inc., whose corporate headquarters are in Louisville, KY. Compression calls its techniques "vertical integration." Its slogan is that vertical integration creates accountability, which the company achieves through aggressive program management.

To meet Viking's demands and its tight introduction date, Compression's team rethought the size, shape, and functionality of the new modem. For one thing, the PC board to be used was uncharacteristically large, in part because Viking wanted one design that could be adapted to future, more powerful products to avoid redesign costs and time. Compression's designers came up with an innovative idea, a vertical configuration that accommodates the larger board but retains a competitively small footprint of 2 1/2 x4 1/2 inches.

John Goodin, Compression's program director on the Viking project, notes that "when you are dealing with a commodity item, quality of design is a factor that is equal in importance to ease of servicing and manufacturability." In the case of the modem, Viking's engineering and marketing managers had no hesitation in approving it.

Goodin calls the design, modeling, tooling, and production process a case of true concurrent engineering: the goals of design and the requirements of the electronics capabilities were pursued in parallel. Compression's mechanical engineering department translated the 2D conceptual drawings produced by the industrial design department into 3D CAD files. These were then used by the rapid prototype department to create a painted stereolithographic appearance model, which served a number of functions.

It was used by the electronics designers to prove out the compatibility of the case, its internal components, and such factors as the location of connectors and mounting holes. Second, it served to validate the manufacturability of the product as designed. Finally, it provided Viking with a preproduction prototype that could serve advertising, packaging, and sales promotion ends.

The final time-critical step was tool design. Compression's tool design and CAM department created mold splitting and tooling files, and tooling began. Four weeks later the company "shot" the first article parts for mold evaluation and delivered them to Viking for approval, after which an initial production run of 17,000 units began.

The entire design and tooling sequence took 10 weeks, not counting two weeks occasioned by a small radiation problem with the chip set. As Goodin put it, "In 12 weeks it was on the shelf selling through distributors." A conventional process of linear decision-making rather than concurrent engineering could have consumed as much as eight months, he estimated.

For more information on the Vikings modem , consult the company's Web site at http://www.vikingcomponents.com. For more information on Compression Inc. and its services, call 1-888-SPD-2-MKT (1-888-773-2658).