WHAT GETS SHIPPED
Three pillars of an embedded engineering engagement.
TEAM, NOT A RESUME
A group that enters the program together
A single placement fills a seat and you manage the person. An embedded team arrives as a coordinated group with one accountable ADAPT lead, shared continuity, and a bench behind it when the program surges. The unit of value changes from a resume to a team that already understands your drawing standard and your approval chain.
YOUR CAD, YOUR PLM
Native work inside the environment you operate
Platform fluency is a screening criterion here, not a resume line. Every CAD, CAE, and metrology candidate takes a skills assessment calibrated to your platform and your role before we offer them, and PLM behavior is part of that evaluation. Deliverables come back as native files in the platform your supply chain requires, revision-controlled and ready for your vault rather than flattened exports that create rework.
U.S.-BASED AND IN REGION
Controlled work that stays in Michigan
Offshore engineering services firms compete on breadth and headcount. We compete on proximity, same-time-zone access, and governance. Placements run on-site throughout Michigan and regionally, remote nationally, or off-site from Auburn Hills against your program, and CUI-touching work stays in our compliant environment in Auburn Hills with U.S.-persons-only access.
HOW AN ENGAGEMENT RUNS
Four steps from seat definition to steady state.
Define the seat
We start with the specifics that decide whether a person will be productive: CAD platform and release level, PLM environment and vault role, drawing standard, release responsibility, work location, program duration, and whether the data is export-controlled. That conversation is with an engineer, not a recruiter reading a requisition.
Assess and verify
Candidates take a skills assessment calibrated to your platform and role, and PLM fluency is reviewed as part of it. We verify work history, education, and references, run background and criminal checks, and validate credentials. Every hire is met in person before we put a name in front of you.
Access and ramp
Access administration is usually the critical path, so we work your VPN, endpoint, license, vault role, and export-control eligibility items in parallel with the offer. Ramp onto a customer platform and vault typically takes two to four weeks from a defined scope, and the engineer joins your meetings and change control from the first week.
Run and adjust
One ADAPT lead owns the group. We track performance, hold annual reviews, and expand or contract the team as program demand moves. If the scope hardens into a defined deliverable set, the work can transition to a Turnkey SOW without a new technical handoff.
HOW THE ENGAGEMENT WORKS
Your CAD, your PLM, your paper.
Added capacity only helps if it arrives inside the system you already run. An engineering manager with a release date and a backlog does not want a second operating environment to supervise, files in the wrong native format, or geometry that is correct but never routed for approval. So we staff to your platform, not ours. If your exterior work lives in CATIA V5 and your supplier packages come out of NX, that is what our people are assessed on before they are offered to you.
The work happens where your program already happens. Our engineers hold your CAD seats, check data in and out of your Teamcenter, Windchill, or Enovia vault, work in your title block and drawing standards, follow your change management process, and attend your release reviews. GD&T is written to ASME Y14.5 or to whatever internal standard governs your prints, and a package that leaves the vault is revision-controlled and ready for a supplier RFQ. Nothing about the engagement asks you to adopt an ADAPT tool, template, or workflow.
Placements go on-site at your facility throughout Michigan and regionally, off-site from Auburn Hills against your program, or remote nationally. Standard contract placement runs two to four weeks, urgent fills from our existing bench have started in under a week, and permanent placement runs four to twelve weeks depending on the role and any clearance requirement. Engagements have been as small as one designer for three months and as large as a team running alongside a customer engineering group for a multi-year program, with a Class A side panel scope typically taking one to four embedded designers. If the work hardens into a defined deliverable set, we can move it onto a Turnkey SOW without replacing the people who already know your program.
Our engineering scope is mechanical only. No electrical, no PCB, no firmware, no software as a product. We do place technical, administrative, and IT roles as staffing categories, and we keep that distinction visible, because ADAPT’s own engineering practice remains mechanical.
Supported CAD: CATIA V5, CATIA V6, Siemens NX, SolidWorks, Creo, Autodesk Inventor, with CATIA ICEM and Alias for Class A surfacing.
Supported PLM: Siemens Teamcenter, PTC Windchill, Dassault Systemes Enovia.
Workflow: vault check-in and check-out, revision and lifecycle states, your change request and change order process, your title block and drawing standard, GD&T per ASME Y14.5, release reviews, native file delivery in the platform your supply chain requires.
Deliverables: native parametric models, fully toleranced detail drawings, assembly drawings with BOMs, revision-controlled documentation for your PLM vault, supplier RFQ packages.
We do not deploy, administer, resell, or train teams on PLM software. Our engineers work inside the system you already operate, and naming these platforms does not imply any vendor partnership, reseller status, or certification.
If the underlying problem is old data rather than missing capacity, that is a project rather than a staffing engagement. Legacy CAD conversion, re-mastering outdated files, and cross-platform migration of models and drawings are handled on Design.
I meet every engineer we place before they walk into your building. Our HR is not outsourced, so when a fit issue comes up you call me and not a coordinator two companies away. Tell me the platform, the vault, the drawing standard, and the release date, and I will tell you honestly what we can staff.
Brian Smith, Director of Engineering
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Questions and answers
What is an embedded engineering team?
It is a group of ADAPT mechanical engineers and designers who work inside your engineering environment rather than on ours. They hold your CAD seats, work in your Teamcenter, Windchill, or Enovia vault, follow your change management process, and attend your release reviews, with one ADAPT lead accountable for the group. Placements can be on-site throughout Michigan and regionally, remote nationally, or off-site from Auburn Hills against your program. Engagements range from one designer for three months to a team running alongside your engineering group on a multi-year program.
How is an embedded engineering team different from staff augmentation?
The commercial structure often looks similar, and both can run on your paper. What changes is the unit of value. Staff augmentation fills a seat and you manage the person. An embedded team arrives as a coordinated group with a named ADAPT lead, shared program knowledge, and continuity when someone rolls off. If you need one contract, temp-to-perm, or direct-hire specialist rather than a group, Technical Resources is the right page.
Can your engineers work inside our Teamcenter, Windchill, or Enovia environment?
Yes. PLM fluency is part of screening, not something learned after arrival. Our engineers check data in and out of your vault, respect lifecycle and revision states, submit changes through your change request and change order process, produce drawings in your title block and drawing standard, and attend your release reviews. Deliverables come back as native files in the platform your supply chain requires, revision-controlled and ready for the vault or a supplier RFQ.
Can ADAPT implement or administer our PLM?
No. ADAPT does not deploy, administer, configure, resell, or train teams on PLM software, and we are not a Siemens, PTC, or Dassault partner, reseller, or systems integrator. We do not manage licenses, host servers, write connectors or APIs, script workflows, or migrate PLM databases. Our mechanical engineers work inside the Teamcenter, Windchill, or Enovia environment you already operate and follow your release process. We integrate at the tooling and workflow level, not at the software architecture level. If the need is old CAD data rather than administration, legacy conversion and re-mastering are handled on Design.
Can embedded engineers support ITAR-controlled or CUI programs?
Yes, subject to the program’s access requirements and agreed scope. Access to CUI is restricted to U.S. persons as defined in ITAR 22 CFR 120.15, each export-controlled program has a personnel roster on file and a data-handling addendum on top of the NDA, and CUI-touching work stays in our CMMC Level 2 compliant environment in Auburn Hills with no offshore engineering and no offshore storage. That environment is compliant, not certified, because the C3PAO assessment has not been completed, so a program requiring a certified supplier will need one. The full posture is on the CMMC defense engineering page.
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.