Design guides, workflow tips, industry reports and more

Discover insights from a survey of over 200 senior manufacturing decision makers.

Uplevel your DFM knowledge with our master class. Learn about how "least effort design" can make CNC machined parts more economical, faster, and less risky to produce.

Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) is a language of symbols and standards designed and used by engineers and manufacturers to describe a product and facilitate communication between entities working together to produce something. By deepening your knowledge around how to create a well structured GD&T, you will improve communication with your machine shop and ensure everyone […]

Here at Fictiv, we’re all about speed and quality. We want you, the engineer, to get your parts on time—and to get the parts you need and were expecting. Fictiv provides more options and fewer constraints and gives you a system-level view of your design that offers a broad enough sense of how it will […]

Fictiv’s CNC Design Guide helps hardware designers and developers control costs and ensure quality CNC drilling, milling, and turning outcomes.

Anodizing is one of the most common surface treatment options available for cnc aluminum. We’ve probably all seen anodized pieces used in a variety of applications, ranging from some of Apple’s iPhones and iPods to sprockets on motorcycles and karts. This article will walk you through the design considerations, as well as the applications, for […]

What could be more exciting than the development and launch of a new product?  The rush of the experience – grounded in the hope of unprecedented success. Legendary products like Apple AirPods, which captured 60% of the market in record time and the Apple Watch, which made Apple the world’s biggest watch manufacturer in 2018, […]

Fictiv’s CNC Design Guide helps hardware designers and developers control costs and ensure quality CNC drilling, milling, and turning outcomes.

Uplevel your DFM knowledge with our master class. Learn about how "least effort design" can make CNC machined parts more economical, faster, and less risky to produce.

Get our DFM for CNC machining checklist, which summarizes the essential design for manfuacturability rules engineers should apply.

Skip the questions, eliminate redundant ordering, and get the finishing option that works best for your part. With Fictiv’s CNC finishing guide, learn everything you need to know about our surface finishing capabilities. We’ll give you in-depth information on the protective properties and aesthetic benefits of each finishing option. The guide will cover a variety […]

Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) is a language of symbols and standards designed and used by engineers and manufacturers to describe a product and facilitate communication between entities working together to produce something. By deepening your knowledge around how to create a well structured GD&T, you will improve communication with your machine shop and ensure everyone […]

Get Smart on Injection Molding A collection of industry best practices, including: recommended wall thicknesses, boss design, gate types, and more. Learn about which features to consider when designing parts for injection molding and how to forecast production schedules. Recommended wall thicknesses Boss design tips Gate types Learn which features to consider when designing parts […]

We love the invention and design development process. We love seeing the concepts come together, love working through iterations of prototypes and finally (finally!) getting a design just right, fulfilling all the technical and aesthetic requirements. But do you know what’s even better? Seeing your designs in full-scale manufacture. Unfortunately, once your design is beautiful […]

Heat and pressure most famously make diamonds. But they do more than that: Nearly every plastic product in your house was made with the same two forces. From the 1950s until now, injection molding has dominated consumer manufacturing, giving us everything from action figures to denture containers. Despite its incredible versatility, injection molding does have […]

Sharp edges are beautiful: light glinting off these clean lines as a product rotates through space, music swelling dramatically in the background of a commercial. Edges are precise. Edges are distinct. Edges are horrible for injection molding. A general rule of injection molding is: Radius all edges. What do you do if your design calls […]

Design for injection molding has clear rules: Add draft. No undercuts. Round edges. Clear parting lines. Uniform walls, not too thick. But learning about advanced plastic manufacturing is like visiting Morpheus’s dojo in The Matrix: Some rules can be bent. Others can be broken. But breaking these rules is costly. Sharp edges require additional machining […]

The advent of CAD systems, additive manufacturing, and CNC machining has made the design and manufacture of complex part designs almost routine. Engineers today are being asked to design parts that will probably be exposed to many different factors, including extreme weather, chemicals, bodily fluids, high stress/high load, impact, and other elements and situations that […]

To most people, plastics might seem all the same, but to an engineer, plastics come in families, have cousin materials, and have other materials that are as different as cats are from dogs. Of course, our clients expect us to worry about these details, and as nerds, the minute differences between materials are a source […]

So you’ve got a part to design, and the first step is to determine what material it should be made out of. You decide the part should be plastic, and it should be CNC machined, but does the selection stop there? Nope, there are a plethora of plastics to choose from, each with its own […]

Anodizing is one of the most common surface treatment options available for cnc aluminum. We’ve probably all seen anodized pieces used in a variety of applications, ranging from some of Apple’s iPhones and iPods to sprockets on motorcycles and karts. This article will walk you through the design considerations, as well as the applications, for […]

In the world of plastics, there are a lot of different options for a designer to choose from. There are so many plastic materials, in fact, that the process of selecting the proper 3D printing plastics for prototyping and subsequent manufacturing plastics for production may seem intimidating. This article seeks to clarify the main types of plastic materials […]

The advent of CAD systems, additive manufacturing, and CNC machining has made the design and manufacture of complex part designs almost routine. Engineers today are being asked to design parts that will probably be exposed to many different factors, including extreme weather, chemicals, bodily fluids, high stress/high load, impact, and other elements and situations that […]

The flexibility in adjusting plastic mechanical properties makes much of our technological advancement possible, from being able to produce fuel-efficient jumbo jets with high strength, to lightweight carbon fiber-reinforced plastic that can be made into impact-resistant silicone phone cases that save our precious phones from shattering into pieces. This article provides an overview of the […]

Engineering drawings are a great way to communicate design intent for CNC machined parts that require tight tolerances or other special requirements. Many of our customers in robotics, aerospace, automotive, and medical device industries attach drawings to their parts when uploading to the Fictiv platform. That said, not all engineers receive comprehensive training on how […]

Before the days of CNC, machinists made parts purely based on 2D drawings. We’ve come a long way since then, and now the drawing is much less important to the process of actually cutting material, thanks to precise 3D modeling and CAM programs. That said, drawings are still a great way to call out special […]

Here at Fictiv, we’re all about speed and quality. We want you, the engineer, to get your parts on time—and to get the parts you need and were expecting. Fictiv provides more options and fewer constraints and gives you a system-level view of your design that offers a broad enough sense of how it will […]

What could be more exciting than the development and launch of a new product?  The rush of the experience – grounded in the hope of unprecedented success. Legendary products like Apple AirPods, which captured 60% of the market in record time and the Apple Watch, which made Apple the world’s biggest watch manufacturer in 2018, […]

Go, Go, Go—we’ve all heard the inspirational and aspirational desire of upper management to get it done, get it done right, and as always, get it done faster. One way to be more efficient as an engineer is to learn to code. In this blog post, I hope to help convince you to start coding […]

There are very few parts that function on their own—almost every design requires multiple pieces to be joined in some way to create a final product. When was the last time you had something other than a bottle opener that was a single, functional part?  When designing for a multi-part engineering build, there are extra […]

You just finished the initial design of your product, and it looks great! Well, it looks great on your computer screen. So, you decide to make a prototype and see if your design looks and works as intended in real life. Odds are that the first prototype won’t meet all of your expectations. In fact, […]

In Fictiv’s 2016 State of Hardware Report, a whopping 70% of participants reported using Solidworks. Solidworks might be expensive and is certainly not perfect, but it sure is popular! Considering how many people out there are using Solidworks, I thought it would be great to impart a few tips & tricks for upping your Solidworks […]

The Product Requirements Document (PRD) is a familiar term to many engineers. We get this document from a product manager in one form or another, and it tells us what to build but not how to build it. But let’s face it, it’s probably better that way. We engineers hate being told how to implement an idea — that’s […]

CMF, which stands for Color, Material & Finish, is an area of specialty within the greater industrial design discipline. At large, design-centric hardware companies, CMF designers work alongside industrial designers and product design engineers to make sure that the chromatic and tactile identities of the product are on brand and in vogue. On smaller teams, […]

In the product design world, it’s common to use a tool called a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to improve a design or process. FMEAs are commonly separated into two different categories, depending on their application: A Design FMEA (D-FMEA) is used in product design to identify possible design weaknesses and failure modes. A […]

Any professional mechanical engineer knows that Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is an essential tool used to analyze stress (deflection, FOS, and more) in a design based on different loading conditions. A huge part of conducting FEA centers around research. When you start the process, you don’t yet know what you don’t know. You need to […]

Steve Jobs once said, “Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It’s about saying no to all but the most crucial features.” As part of the I.D. product development team at Apple, I had the remarkable experience of observing this philosophy firsthand. I sat in on many design team meetings where new and innovative […]

Understanding the mechanical properties of strength vs. stiffness vs. hardness is foundational in mechanical engineering, yet these properties can often be confused. These properties are related, but there are very important differences between them: Stiffness is an indicator of the tendency for an element to return to its original form after being subjected to a […]

Adapting to many situations, holding parts in perfect alignment, easily introduced but forming a lasting bond—I could either be describing press fits or your favorite pair of jeans. Press fits have so many great features, you might wonder why they don’t replace all other connections. The truth is, press fits aren’t for every application—just like […]

Designing components with snap fits can save you time and money in production by reducing material costs and part quantities as well as improving ease of assembly. While in the past injection molding has been the only viable method for producing snap fit joints in plastics, 3D printing opens up new opportunities and challenges in […]

We’ve explored interference fits and all their design limitations, but dowel pins have another application: slip fits. While interference fits create tight assembly tolerances, slip fits are just the opposite—they can easily give you a self-locating assembly, making manufacturing easier when needing close alignment. Want to know more? Read on! Slip Fit Basics Obvious from […]

Design guidelines for waterproof enclosure design, as well as IP68 waterproof rating design.

We get a lot of questions on the best methods for fastening different 3D printed components. When prototyping hardware products, for example, you often need to make assembled structures that are more complicated than a single 3D printed component, like an electronics enclosure or robotic assembly. Other times, you may need to print components too […]

When designing components that will be made of plastic, it’s often necessary to add ribs and gussets to improve the stiffness and strength of load bearing features. This reduces material volume and print time for 3D printed parts, compared to the time it would take to make these features out of solid structures. That’s because print […]

In a world of ever-increasing electronics, our lives are continuously impacted by devices that incorporate some sort of heat-generating circuitry. When it comes to electronics that dissipate power in the form of heat during normal operation, it is often necessary to manage this heat, to ensure the components don’t exceed their maximum allowable temperatures. One […]

Light plays an important role in the design of many hardware products. Often, they are both decorative and functional. Indicator lights are the most minimal user interface: They tell you whether the device is turned on, low on battery, or “thinking” really hard. On modern electronics, the light’s source is almost always an LED. However, […]

Fillets are one of those design features for which there seems to be no middle ground, or at least not one that is widely known. Either a part is devoid of them, and most or all edges are well-defined, or the part’s designer decided to take the opposite route, and every single edge and corner […]

‍In my last article, we discussed methods of improving part stiffness through geometric changes and why that is an important tool. Here in Part 2 of the “Designing for Stiffness” series, we’ll be looking at changing part stiffness through material properties. We’ll use many of the same formulas, but we’ll focus on the properties we […]

There’s a reason kids love Lego. When I was a kid, nothing was more valuable to me than my big blue bucket of the multi-colored bricks. Even when my parents encouraged my interest in engineering with more complex Fischer Technics, nothing replaced the joy of quickly snapping pieces together in increasingly complex shapes. Wouldn’t it […]

While the power of a hardware product comes from its internal components, a product is typically recognized by its enclosure, the outer shell that encloses electronic products, making them appealing and user-friendly. In this post, I’m going to walk you through the steps for designing a basic enclosure, using the design of a IoT plant […]

In 2006, Nintendo took the world of interactive gaming by storm. The launch of the Wii welcomed gamers and, more importantly, non-gamers alike to physically interact with a virtual world. Whether the user was playing a competitive round of Wii Tennis or customizing their Mii, the Wii remote (otherwise known as the Wiimote) invited users […]

During pandemic lockdown, I noticed several issues with my home, including the broken sprinkler head, dog stains on the carpet, and my mother’s spice cabinet. My mother has a metric ton of spices that used to have labels that have rubbed off after constant use. I bought a portable label maker to replenish the labels […]

One of the coolest things about Fictiv’s San Francisco HQ office is that it’s dog-friendly! Our furry friends can work alongside us everyday, getting their daily dose of head scratches and belly rubs, and we get a daily dose of adorableness. For National Dog Day, we thought it would be fitting to test out and […]

For our teardown of the Anki Vector Robot, we were joined in the studio by Leanne Cushing, captain of Team Valkyrie on Battlebots.  Anki’s Vector Robot, released in late 2018, was designed to listen and respond to its user, interact with its surroundings, recognize people and objects, and avoid obstacles. When released, the robot sold […]

In this clean-shaven teardown, we’re celebrating Father’s Day and looking at two different electric shavers—the Philips Norelco S9311 and the Braun series 7. We put the two shavers head to head, with our first Fictiv employee to become a dad volunteering his face to see which one left the best shave. Then we put them […]

Discover insights from a survey of over 200 senior manufacturing decision makers.

Conducted with Dimensional Research, the fifth annual manufacturing industry report polled hundreds of senior manufacturing and supply chain decision makers at companies producing medical device, robotics, automotive, aerospace, and consumer electronics products. Key themes from the 30-page report found: COVID-19 Has Negatively Harmed Most Businesses (89%) and Industries Digital and AI Advances are Important, But […]

2018 was full of challenges (old and new) for product developers bringing new products to market. Agility is key in the midst of trade tensions 62% say tariffs have increased their material/component costs More teams are turning to local options for prototyping and production manufacturing Bridging the production gap is still high risk 30% of respondents don’t […]

How Product Innovation is Demanding More from Traditional Manufacturing As hardware developers compete to bring advanced technologies like augmented reality and autonomous mobility to market, development speeds are increasing — yet too often, manufacturing is a source of limiting friction. In a special webinar, Jay Rogers and Mike Geyer discuss the themes uncovered in Fictiv’s […]

To transform an idea into a commercially-viable hardware product requires vast reserves of curiosity, creativity, and grit. But there are so many valuable learnings along the way that can make the process of hardware development more seamless and efficient. Things like: part symmetry is your friend. And you should never underestimate the value of strategic […]

The hardware industry is growing at an exhilarating pace. More companies are developing innovative products, we have better tools for prototyping and manufacturing, and access to these tools—and the knowledge around how to use them—is becoming more universally available. But we still have a ways to go before hardware development can be truly accessible to […]

It’s important for every new product introduction team to consider how to manage against risk in their supply chain, in order to avoid disruption. After you identify your high-level business objectives, I recommend four actionable strategies for supply chain risk mitigation:  Dual/triple source for components where applicable Plan proactively against future scenarios Maintain visibility through […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major disruptive force for robotics companies of all sizes and sectors. With shelter-in-place regulations established first in China, then Europe, and now sweeping across North America, robotics manufacturers and OEMs alike are forced to navigate mandatory closures, material shortages, importation road blocks, and remote work scenarios. These roadblocks can […]

Healthcare’s digital evolution is real. It’s happening at every stage of the value chain in every segment of this critical space. Tightened development cycles, resilient supply chains that support rapid change while diminishing risk, and vigorous controls, certifications, and traceability models to ensure patient safety are important steps on a path to a viable healthcare […]

Recently I sat down with MacroFab CEO Misha Govshteyn to talk about building supply chain resilience, during a webinar hosted by industry journalist Philip Stoten. We looked at supply chains in the COVID-19 era and explored how we got here, then discussed the digitally connected supply chain of the future. How we got here: a perfect […]

This week we brought together two guests who have not just spent years in the manufacturing and supply chain industries, but who are regularly published as experts in their field. First up was Sarah Barnes-Humphrey, founder and host of podcast and blog “Let’s Talk Supply Chain” (LTSC). With 20 years in logistics and supply chain, Sarah […]

Unpredictability and disruption in the supply chain world are often thought about, yet rarely prepared for. With the global spread of COVID-19, manufacturing has changed dramatically over the last few months, and it seems as if there’s no end in sight.  Last week, we hosted a webinar on the Hidden Costs of Supply Chain Unpredictability, […]

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 18, 2022 — Throughout 2021, the world continued its accelerated shift to digital, on-demand manufacturing as part of an industry-wide transformation and in response to near term pressures like the pandemic and supply chain disruption. In its Year in Review, Digital Manufacturing Ecosystem (DME) Fictiv highlighted its primary role in this growth and […]

Two words. Two words that excite, thrill, and perhaps even titillate.  ROBOTS. ACTIVATE! The best bot combat competition on the planet, BattleBots, is back, y’all, and this year, we helped! That’s right party people, Fictiv helped Team RoboGym Robotics take their BattleBot Deadlift to the next level for BattleBots, Season 6, which starts on January […]

Fictiv’s Monthly Supply Chain Update series gives you insight into the logistics challenges, transit times, and related manufacturing issues we’re currently facing. Chinese, or Lunar, New Year is approaching, and the holiday is a big deal across Asia. Every year Chinese New Year seriously disrupts production, so we wanted to share what we know about […]

Fictiv’s Monthly Supply Chain Update series gives you insight into the logistics challenges, transit times, and related manufacturing issues we’re currently facing. Happy holidays everyone! Christmas is right around the corner, and we want to update everyone on how we’re managing our supply chain to keep production moving and fulfilling orders as quickly as possible. […]

As an engineer, moving fast is critical to success, but you need to balance costs, quality, and lead time when planning any project. Join us as we discuss 5 common challenges engineers face when designing and building new products — and how the Fictiv Platform helps you solve them. Check out this on-demand webinar and […]

Fictiv’s Monthly Supply Chain Update series gives you insight into the logistics challenges, transit times, and related manufacturing issues we’re currently facing. In the early stages of the pandemic, demand for goods was depressed, and delays and shortages plagued production across industries around the world. While consumer demand and industrial activity have picked back up […]