Electrothing is a new company started by two University of Cape Town (UCT) graduates to address what they see as shortcomings in the way development is often approached by many South African engineering companies, particularly during the prototyping phase.
Founders Dayne Kemp and Ben Sheard conceived the company last year while working on their Masters theses and finding that the attitude at some South African universities, as opposed to Technikons, is to focus solely on research and providing well-written reports. Although acknowledging the importance of this, the pair believes that students leaving these universities for industry have very little in the line of practical experience.
Kemp and Sheard experienced similar issues during their student employment at various companies, saying that the large majority of these companies would skip certain prototyping steps due to the large costs it would incur. They recognised that this narrow-minded approach, while being more cost-effective in the short term, inevitably resulted in errors that were much more costly to address in subsequent production phases.
A particular area that the pair believe could greatly benefit from affordable prototyping is RF or high-frequency design where simulation is key but is no substitute for field testing. The prospect of being able to change the way prototyping is approached in these industries is ultimately what led the two graduates to start Electrothing.
Over the next few months, the company envisions three phases for rolling out its products and services. The first is the PCB fabrication service which is now fully operational and involves the importing of custom-designed circuit boards for both prototyping and larger-scale production runs.
Phase two will introduce prototyping products and components to assist in the development of electronic systems. This will range from devices such as logic analysers and motor controllers to hardware platforms such as the Raspberry Pi and Arduino. Finally, phase three will involve the development of Electrothing’s own products and assisting other companies in doing the same.
In the long-term, Kemp and Sheard plan to further develop the areas mentioned above and to use them to establish a self-sufficient engineering consulting firm. They see great value in being self-sufficient as this means there are no delays incurred by contractors, costs are significantly reduced by avoiding the rendering of external services and the services at hand have been thoroughly tested and are known to be trustworthy and reliable.
Kemp acknowledges that there is an element of scepticism over the importation of products and services. “Firstly, due to international shipping, custom products will always experience some sort of delay,” he explains. “That being said, our standard PCB fabrication service takes 10 days on average to receive from placing the order.
“We do not believe this is a major setback, considering that ordering components from places like Digikey, Mouser and RS Components can take this long. This does mean, however, that we are unable to assist in urgent services where PCBs are required in three days or less. The products we offer will be stocked locally and the only delays incurred here will be when very large orders are placed which exceed our local stock level.”
To address the issue of minimum order quantities (MOQ), Electrothing is providing various prototyping orientated options with MOQs of 10 for its PCB service. The company says the cost for these options are often a factor of ten less than the local manufacturers who only provide one or two PCBs.
As a South African company, the duo point out that clients will never be expected to deal with its partners abroad. “We are very confident in the quality of the products we are getting from our suppliers, particularly the PCB service,” says Kemp, “and to set clients’ minds at ease we have an excellent returns policy whereby any products/services not meeting the prescribed standards may be returned for a full refund.”
Addressing criticism around the fact that Electrothing is importing products and thereby not supporting the local economy, Kemp asserts that in the long run the company is enabling institutions and businesses to change the way they go about prototyping and focus on the development of good quality, thoroughly-tested products. “We believe that these development stages are far more valuable and lucrative for a country to invest in, rather than skipping them due to the relatively high costs of PCBs and components,” he concludes.
For more information contact Electrothing, +27 (0)21 422 0725, [email protected], www.electrothing.co.za
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