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Yes, you CAN count insects. Priio designed the hardware for the Z-Trap which helps reduce the need for insecticide in orchards. (Our prototype design shows up on the 2011 timeline.) Check it out: http://linkd.in/zXR36z
OFFICE MANAGER Kristin Quintana graduated from Ancilla College and IU/Kokomo where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in general studies. She came to Priio as a fresh graduate, but it’s likely that previous jobs as a lifeguard and nanny were the best preparation for her current role.
What you should know about her: When she and her husband are not taking videos of their cute little daughter, she is plotting ways to support her jewelry habit.
Role model: Rosa Parks for being outspoken about her beliefs.
Trouble spot: Cannot be seen in public without a tan.
Please join us at the Priio open house this Thursday, November 17 from 5 to 7 p.m.
We’ve been hard at working getting everything in order at our new location – 5706 W 74th Street, Indianapolis (in Park 100).
We hope you’ll join us for munchies and libations as you tour the new digs. (There is lots of color – Sgt. Pepper would be proud.)
Development is a tricky word. To some, it means a process or path to being. To others it means evolution. And to yet others – research.
While research is an excellent practice, the word is often an unfortunate (and inaccurate) synonym with development. A lot of companies have sections called R&D (research and development), but the two terms have distinctly different – albeit complementary – purposes. Research leads to outcomes. Development has a goal.
People with a product to develop not infrequently require a good bit of research for setting up the particular parameters by which a path to development may be blazed. This actually requires a completely different skill set when it comes to fulfilling the task.
There are warning signs that a project may be slipping from development into research, such as:
You may notice the frequent “if” statements. Unfortunately, these can get your development process all “iffed” up – and you will almost certainly veer off the path leading to a design outcome.
Development is what happens after all the research is done. An understanding of the difference is good design practice – and good stewardship.
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The end of October will see Priio operations coming out of a new home base. The business is moving to a space in Park 100 on the northwest side of Indianapolis at 5706 W 74th Street. The new facility will provide 10,000 square feet, divided between office and shop space, with some room to grow.
“We believe this new space will better support our growth and business goals over the next five years,” says Priio president Larry O’Cull. “We needed more office space to accommodate our recent staff increases, as well as shop space to support our expanding prototyping capabilities.”
O’Cull says the new office space offers good accessibility for clients, being literally yards off the 73rd street ramp off I-465. He’s also excited about the snazzy new floor plan which has a pretty face and a good personality. “Our new space truly embodies and facilitates our integrative/collaborative work environment,” he says. “It totally says‘Priio.’”
Priio will host an open house at their new location on Thursday, November 17 from 5 to 7 p.m. Everyone is welcome. You may RSVP at lknight@priio.com.
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Priio is happy to announce the addition of a new software development position, filled by Daniel Havener.
Havener earned his BSCO from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, then worked at Wavetek (now JDSU), Integral Technologies and Allison Transmission developing software for communications, digital video, security and electronic controls. He is now a welcome member of the embedded software team at Priio.
Havener and his wife have three little daughters and he confesses to being a SciFi fan (as all the best people are).
EMBEDDED SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Daniel Havener earned his BSCO from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He worked at Wavetek (now JDSU), Integral Technologies and Allison Transmission developing software for communications, digital video, security and electronic controls before joining the ranks at Priio.
What you should know about him: He is wrapped around the pinky fingers of three little daughters (and a lovely wife) and therefore has little spare time. When he does, however, he likes to support his “movie buff” habit and read science fiction. (He knows all about the Kobayashi Maru and he’s not afraid to use it.)
Role model: Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father – also a father of three – who invented a lot of very cool stuff (including the $100 bill).
Trouble spot: Evidently answers to several different names, including ‘Scooter’.
Priio is happy to announce the addition of Oluwokay “Victor” Johns to our roster of peeps as an embedded software developer.
Victor hails from the Los Angeles area where he earned his BSEE from California State University. After graduation he worked for Modular Mining Systems in Tucson, Ariz., and later worked for Cummins, Thomson, Willtek/Acterna and Technicolor, earning his MSECE from Purdue/IUPUI along the way.
He is crazy good at tennis, and is currently in training for a tournament circuit. (Consequently, he is also extremely good at table tennis and is giving our current champ, Gordon Huang, a run for his money.) When not working his software magic at Priio, he likes music, movies and hanging out with his wife and two grown sons.
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The Frankenstein monster has always gotten a bad rap. Sure – he was weird looking and scary and a metaphor for unchecked political forces, but if we remember correctly he was also, after all, just a prototype.
There are all kinds of prototypes, ranging from the duct tape and cardboard variety which don’t even resemble the thing they may actually become, to the looks-like-feels-like product which is functional enough to use in field trials. In between there may be several generations of prototypes which move a product along its evolutionary path.
The roughest prototypes may not have beauty in the eye of the beholder, but they always answer one critical question: does the idea work? In the case of the Frankenstein monster, the concept was definitely flawed. But better to find out early, eh?
“I know of several cases where companies either created metal tooling or had parts molded after doing only one or two prototypes made by some other process,” says Tony Furdock, Priio’s prototype build coordinator. “After spending a lot of money they discovered the design wasn’t at all what they expected – and the adjustments were expensive, as you can imagine.”
While feasibility is an important function of prototyping, there are other, equally valuable aspects of prototyping that are often overlooked – as in the case of pre-manufacturing. There may be times when you need a bridge over troubled waters – that is, a bridge to cover the gap between design and full scale production. One or two models will not do – you need 12, or 20, or 200.
“With prototyping on this scale you can put an item out there for people to actually use,” says Furdock. “This answers questions about whether or not the ergonomics are correct, in addition to determining whether or not your design feasibility and manufacturing practices are appropriate.”
In the end, it costs far less money and provides results much faster to do several prototypes than invest in the hard tooling, especially if the project is complex or novel. And it’s also a good way to determine what will make the product easy to manufacture and reproduce.
There are even times when multi-unit prototyping can serve as the actual manufacturing process. “I did prototypes for one company that designed a very low-volume part,” says Furdock. “They only needed 50 to 100 parts produced each year, and since we were able to prototype using the suitable materials, they chose to manufacture their product that way.”
The bottom line is that prototyping, in its many iterations, is an integral part of good design. It not only proves or disproves a concept as viable, but also allows you to discover any unintentional monsters early in the process. (And well before you learn your mistake is actually pronounced Frankenschteen.)
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EMBEDDED SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Oluwokay (Victor) Johns hails from Los Angeles where he earned his BSEE from California State University. Making his way eastward, he worked for Modular Mining Systems in Tucson, Ariz., then continued his career with stints at Cummins, Thomson Willtek/Acterna and Technicolor, earning his MSECE from Purdue/IUPUI along the way. He joined the Priio staff in 2011 and says it’s way better than his first job as a busboy at the Federal Building in L.A. (although he admits that job had a better weather package).
What you should know about him: He has mad tennis skills. (You should never get him started talking about tennis…) However, when NOT talking about or training for tennis tournaments, he likes listening to music, watching movies and hanging out with his wife and two grown sons.
Role model: Colin Powell – a child of immigrant parents who worked hard and rose to a position of great prominence. “He seems like a very straightforward, family-oriented guy,” says Victor. “If I could have my sons model themselves after a famous person, it would probably be him.”
Trouble spot: Everyone’s scared to play him in ping pong.
We’ve all heard the proverbial story about little things that have big consequences:
For want of a nail, a shoe was lost;
For want of a shoe, a horse was lost;
For want of a horse, a rider was lost;
For want of a rider, a battle was lost;
For want of a battle, a kingdom was lost.
To me it is funny how this very old saying is still very true – only today in our industry it has become the for the lack of…(of all things)…a glue.
For want of a glue, the seal was lost;
For want of a seal, the battery was lost;
For want of a battery, the product was lost;
For want of a product, the production was lost;
For want of production, the factory was lost.
As we face a summer of product shortages caused by an earthquake/tsunami/meltdown, we see how interdependent our technology is.
Our challenge is to figure out a way to make it work anyway. And we do – with a little extra creativity and a little extra time. (An excellent thing to remember when back-timing a project!)
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Take a restaurant. It’s a pretty straight up business. You build a dining room and a kitchen, hire cooks and servers, and voila – you got game. (In the hip, literary sense, as few people order actual game.)
But is that all there is to it?
Case in point, one businessman opened a new concept bistro in an upscale community. He envisioned a cool hangout with gourmet burgers, local micro brews and neo-retro lighting. He communicated this cool factor to his architect, and the architect didn’t disappoint – until it came time to actually live in the house Jack built.
While the dining area was very pretty, the bathrooms were inconveniently located, the kitchen was too small and there was little storage space.
All very problematic, as it turned out. A small kitchen increases the likelihood of accidents, discomfort and a general loss of efficiency which eventually trickles down to slow (and sometimes incorrect) food delivery. A lack of adequate storage space requires multiple orders per week which take up a manager’s time and offer less opportunity for bulk pricing.
With regards to the physical design and layout of this restaurant, the end user was not just the customer who is eating, the end user was also the staff who keep that eating customer happy.
Design thinking is holistic, incorporating both the practical and the pleasant. Pure engineering may get you a dull but efficient box. And yet, thinking only in aesthetic terms will often get you something beautiful but awkward. Good design thinking, on the other hand, takes excellent (efficient) engineering and makes it pleasing for the end user.
The secret is to start with the practical needs and work up from there. Design, by definition, requires parameters. The needs of the end user (that is, the problem that needs to be solved) provides those parameters.
Therefore, identifying and understanding the end user is a key to good design. Had the restaurant architect thought also about the staff as well as the patrons as end users, he/she would’ve designed the layout differently. And that would, indeed, be good game.
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