Why Outsourcing Engineering Design Can Benefit Your Business
As an owner or manager of a business in the engineering and fabrication industry, you may have considered outsourcing engineering design and/or drafting as a potential way to reduce costs, increase efficiency and access a wider range of specialized expertise. These are all valid reasons to consider outsourcing, and finding a reputable design company like IMSA Projects has the potential to provide even more benefits.
There are a number of reasons why outsourcing engineering design can increase efficiency. An in-house design team can be limited in capacity and skills which causes a need to put a lot of resources into the hiring and training process for your team. In contrast, outsourcing awards you the ability to quickly upscale or downscale the amount of resources in the design phase of a project and access specific skills which are suited to each project.
Outsourcing engineering design is also a great way to access certain expertise using a ‘pay as you go’ system. A project might just need 50 hours from an engineer over the period of a month to verify their drafting teams’ designs and in this way, you wouldn’t have to worry about downtime for your employees not to mention software, hardware, and training expenses.
Andre Nagel, Mechanical Draughtsman at IMSA Projects, working remotely from home
Drawbacks To Consider Before Committing To Outsourcing Your Designs
The design process is intricate and requires clear communication flowing in all directions. It is important, especially in the early stages of working with a design company, to establish channels of communication where information and expectations are clear. Once a relationship has been established it is possible, for quality engineering design firms, to then take on project management tasks and communications which pertain to the design process.
The better the design firm you partner with, the quicker this transition is achieved as they work hard to familiarize themselves with your systems and requirements. The risk of partnering with an inexperienced design firm is that they always rely on your expertise for guidance and take up more of your time. An inexperienced engineering design company is also at risk of bad resource management. Not being transparent about resource availability and capabilities could leave you in a position where deadlines are missed and quality is below expectation.
Another risk is the theft of intellectual property (IP) which is often in the hands of the design firm you’re outsourcing to. If not done intentionally, IP is often disclosed to external parties by mistake due to a lack of systems around IP protection.
E-house designed and rendered by IMSA Projects
Maximizing Your Business Efficiency: The Advantages of IMSA Projects
At IMSA Projects we understand the benefits and risks of outsourcing your engineering design and drafting. Our team receives training in communication skills in order to establish trust-based relationships which help us quickly get to a point of understanding our client’s processes and requirements. This puts us in a position to better understand where we can provide value. While we look to always broaden our range of skills and expertise we are transparent about our capabilities in a project to avoid overpromising and under-delivering.
Our team has built-in training and skill development programs that help us stay up to date with the latest technologies and systems for the design process. This takes a big burden off of our client’s shoulders when it comes to worrying about efficiency. Our communication channels and project management tools ensure that our clients don’t need to worry about spending time managing us. We use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and other measures to protect our client’s IP and ensure confidentiality.
If you are considering outsourcing engineering design and drafting, we encourage you to contact IMSA Projects to discuss how we can help. We believe that our commitment to creating value for our clients along with our knowledge and expertise is what makes us an excellent partner for most businesses in the engineering and fabrication industry.