WHAT GETS SHIPPED
Three pillars of the consumer product practice.
STYLING TO TOOLING
Molded plastic parts a tooler can quote
We take styled surfaces into production-intent plastic geometry: draft analysis, uniform wall sections, rib and boss geometry, undercut resolution, parting line planning, and gate location input passed directly to your tooler. Certified Moldflow gives you fill and pack behavior, cooling, warpage, and shrinkage estimation before steel is cut. The output is a fully toleranced drawing package, not a surface model that leaves the engineering to the tooler.
AFTERMARKET ACCESSORIES
Fitment, finish, and attachment on branded accessories
An aftermarket accessory is a consumer product even when it bolts to a vehicle. It is judged on whether it lines up on a vehicle the customer already owns, holds finish through a Michigan winter, and installs without a service bay. We cover formed and stamped sheet metal design, bracket and weldment detailing, attachment strategy, and cut and sew for soft goods including cases, bags, and covers. Customers on these programs include Bestop aftermarket soft tops, Putco, DEE ZEE, Rugged Liner, and Shelby Performance.
BENCHMARKING AND REDESIGN
Teardown, measurement, and a cost-down redesign
We have reverse engineered more than 200 consumer products for benchmarking, redesign, and patent work. A program starts with teardown and scanning, moves through dimensional comparison against the reference geometry, and ends with a documented redesign path on cost, mass, part count, or performance. On machined features we recover tolerance inside 0.002 inch, and we document where castings and worn organic surfaces required interpretation.
HOW A PROGRAM RUNS
Four steps from brief to release.
Read and scope
NDA first, then an engineer reads what you have, whether that is sketches, a scan, an appearance model, or a competitor part in a box. You get back a written scope with the honest timeline, the process and material assumptions, and the open questions that will drive cost.
Design and analyze
Surfacing and production CAD run alongside the analysis that de-risks them: DFM review with tooler input, Moldflow on molded parts, forming and spring-back on stamped parts, durability and material optimization. Single-component structural FEA typically turns in one to two weeks from CAD and load cases.
Prototype and measure
Parts get built on our Auburn Hills floor, so the engineer who modeled the part walks to the machine that cuts it. FDM, SLA, and SLS for form and fit, cast urethane and silicone from RTV tooling for material feel, 3 and 5-axis CNC for functional hardware. Dimensional findings return to the CAD as controlled revisions.
Release and qualify
You receive fully toleranced detail drawings, assembly drawings with BOM, and revision-controlled documentation in your title block format, ready for a PLM vault or a supplier RFQ. First-article dimensional inspection and PPAP-format reporting support the supplier qualification that follows, including compliance coordination to CPSIA, CARB, UL, CSA, ASTM and ISO where the product requires it.
WHERE PROGRAMS ARRIVE
A render is not a release package.
Most consumer programs reach us in one of two states. Either there is a rendering and an appearance model that nobody has yet turned into geometry a tooler can quote, or there is a product already selling that needs a redesign for cost, fitment, or a second generation. Both cases need the same thing, which is the mechanical decisions written down: wall sections, ribs and bosses, draft, parting line, fastening strategy, material behavior, assembly sequence, tolerances on the interfaces that actually matter, and drawings in your title block. When styling and manufacturing work from separate data streams, those problems stay hidden until tooling, which is the most expensive place to find them.
We own the translation. Industrial design and CAID when styling is still open, Class A surface modeling in CATIA ICEM and Alias when it is not, production CAD in SolidWorks or in whatever platform your supply chain requires, and practical GD&T to ASME Y14.5 that controls the critical fits without putting automotive ceremony on every feature. On molded parts, certified Moldflow gives you fill and pack behavior, cooling, warpage, and shrinkage estimation so the tooler gets cut compensation instead of a guess. On formed and fabricated parts, we work bend feasibility, joining, finish, and tolerance choices. Prototypes are built on our Auburn Hills floor, measured against nominal CAD, and the findings go back into the model before release.
Our scope is mechanical only. No electrical, no PCB, no firmware, no app. We do not write brand strategy, run market research, produce packaging graphics, or handle retail distribution. We design the part to be moldable and we support the mold program, but we do not design or build the injection mold. ADAPT is a mechanical engineering practice, not a contract manufacturer, so higher-volume production is coordinated through a supply chain we have vetted since 1998. You own every deliverable as native files, and we sign a mutual NDA before substantive disclosure.
Consumer-facing automotive aftermarket belongs on this page for a reason. An aftermarket soft top, a bed liner, a lighting or step accessory, or a running board is a retail product with fitment and finish expectations, and it runs on a program model closer to consumer hardgoods than to an OEM production release. Our OEM and Tier 1 work lives on the Automotive page.
A cosmetic render looks good in a pitch, but it does not tell a tooler where to put a gate or how much draft to pull. I would rather tell you at the quote stage that your radius is going to sink and your rib is going to read on the show surface than have you find it in a first-shot review. That is the value of putting a mechanical engineer on a consumer program early, and it is why the timeline in our quote is the honest one rather than the optimistic one.
Brian Smith, Director of Engineering
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Questions and answers
What is the difference between industrial design and consumer product engineering?
Industrial design decides what the product looks like, how it is held, and how it reads on a shelf. Product engineering decides whether it can be built, at what cost, and to what tolerance, and resolves the structure, materials, joints, fasteners, assembly sequence and critical fits that get it there. ADAPT does both, and the center of gravity is the second one. We can start from your studio’s surfaces or develop industrial design and CAID ourselves, and in either case the deliverable is production CAD with GD&T to ASME Y14.5 and a drawing package a supplier can quote without a phone call.
When is a consumer product ready for tooling?
When the geometry has survived a DFM review, the material is chosen and confirmed against the loads and the finish, the tolerance scheme controls only the interfaces that matter, and a functional prototype has answered the questions a cosmetic model cannot. On molded parts we also want Moldflow results covering fill and pack behavior, cooling, and predicted warpage, with shrink compensation agreed with the tooler. Tooling is usually the largest fixed startup cost in an injection molding program, so the review before it is the cheapest engineering you will buy. An attractive prototype on its own is not tooling approval.
How do you choose between 3D printing, urethane casting, and rapid injection molding?
By the decision the parts have to support. FDM, SLA, and SLS answer form, fit, and packaging questions in days. Cast urethane and silicone from RTV tooling get you closer to production material feel, durometer, and finish in low quantities. CNC gives you functional hardware in the real material. Rapid injection molds in PP, PC, ABS, or Nylon are the right call when you need production-intent plastic behavior or a market test run before committing to production steel. We define the evidence first, then select the process on the mechanical requirement of the part, not on what equipment happens to be available.
Do automotive aftermarket accessories have to meet FMVSS?
It depends on the product. Most Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards apply to new vehicles, some standards cover items of aftermarket equipment directly, and an accessory must not make compliant safety equipment inoperative. Where a standard applies, self-certification is the manufacturer’s responsibility rather than a government approval. ADAPT provides the engineering support behind that position, including simulation, durability analysis, and dimensional evidence. We say plainly that we do not issue certifications, we do not act as the certifying manufacturer, and we do not operate a test lab.
TALK TO AN ENGINEER
Tell us what you are building.
Send the program brief. An engineer on our team will read it and respond within one business day. Not a sales coordinator. Not a routing form.