Ambi Labs and Radius Drive Smart Home Innovation

“Our philosophy is to look at every consumer touch point and then determine how we can create the best possible user experience overall,” says Ko. “We looked at Ambi Climate holistically, not just at the product but also how it worked within the entire ecosystem.” This led to a thorough examination of product aesthetics and thermal sensor placement, resulting in ideas for enhancing both product quality and temperature accuracy.

“We quickly turned to Radius to help us design the second-generation of our product,” adds Lee. “Their long history of product design, backed by an excellent customer portfolio and seamless alliance with Jabil on the manufacturing side, gave us confidence they could help us take both product functionality and aesthetics to the next level.”

Integrated Product Design & Manufacturing Experience

After a careful alignment of requirements and parameters for Ambi Climate 2, the team worked on several design refinements to validate optimal sensor placement. “Thermal sensors are critical because they really affect the product’s performance,” says Tony Wong, program manager for Radius Innovation & Development. “We used the latest computer-aided design and modeling tools to simulate heat transfers and better understand the device’s thermal behavior, so we could finetune sensor placement.”

Radius completed a series of design iterations to validate the repositioning of the temperature sensors. Each design was tested using the latest Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulators to determine a theoretical best fit before moving forward with a physical prototype. “We performed extensive testing on product prototypes to assess the manufacturability of each mechanical component,” says Wong. “Equally important was qualifying each part from a cosmetic and geometric perspective.”

An engineering workshop was conducted to address all aspects of Ambi Climate 2’s mechanical design. “Radius focused on the quality of the output and the flow lines, in terms of where the injection ports should be placed, which required in-depth expertise that we simply didn’t have access to otherwise,” says Lee. “They really helped us immeasurably in improving overall product quality and aesthetics.”

With Ambi Labs’ first-generation product, there were visible screws and flow lines in the plastic that needed to be eliminated to achieve the desired level of product quality. To that end, Radius designers refined the vents, so they would work well for heat dissipation without exposing the interior of the product. Radius also minimized seam lines and streamlined the flow of injection ports in the plastic, which led to a sleeker look and feel.

As part of Radius’ end-to-end services, the team verified design integrity and quality “We performed extensive testing on product prototypes to assess the manufacturability of each mechanical component. Equally important was qualifying each part from a cosmetic and geometric perspective.” Tony Wong, Program Manager, Radius Innovation & Development 3 through the entire engineering build and testing process. As the product design and development arm of Jabil, one of the world’s most technologically advanced manufacturing solutions providers, Radius goes well beyond the realm of most product ideation firms to ensure optimal manufacturability while lowering cost and risk.

For Ambi Labs, Radius identified ideal suppliers and then helped coordinate critical aspects of the manufacturing process. “The Radius team was almost in daily contact with our team,” Lee recalls. “They constantly went back to check on how things were going and offered recommendations on how to make further refinements to streamline manufacturing.

It really helped to have a seasoned partner like Radius to help drive our product forward, so we could meet all our deadlines.”

Partners in Product Innovation

Best-of-class processes and open lines of communications ultimately drove the successful development of Ambi Climate 2. “Radius was very responsive in making recommendations, which helped us proactively identify potential problems,” says Lee. “They constantly worked with us to collaboratively explore different ways to improve product manufacturing and assembly.”

Adds Ko, “Radius is all about agility, commitment and passion. We worked hard to offer Ambi Labs the best experience, which empowered them to deliver a highly innovative product to market on time and on budget.” The result: A higher-quality product that costs less to make. Ambi Labs plans to pass those savings along to consumers. “Users really love the design and are so pleased with how it looks,” notes Lee. “We’re getting high marks on industrial design, quality feel and finishing as well as how well everything in the product fits together.”

As creative contemplation begins on new Ambi Climate products and accessories, it’s clear that Radius will play a role in the future. “We’re very excited to see how Radius will help us deliver our next-generation product,” concludes Lee.