How did you think of Nectar Product Development?
My background is in industrial design and mechanical engineering. Early on I had an interest in visual arts, music, and math. I gravitated to product development because it combined all those interests. One of my first commercial successes was a guitar effects peddle board that I invented in my early twenties. I used the income from that project to fund Nectar Product Development.
Why did you name the business Nectar?
The metaphor, for me, is that nectar is the fuel of life. It is the perfect metaphor because we are providing the seed for creativity and innovation.
How do you manage design and engineering teams that are so different?
Our core believe is that we need to represent the various disciplines that go into creating successful products. To do so, we must align the business needs with use cases and available technology. Our approach is to bring that together in one space. We have a facility where we can design, build, and test. Our User Experience Designers can engage the Industrial Designers and Engineers for contextual research and to figure out if the technology and approach fits the use case. This is something that is unique about us. We combine that unique structure with our experience of bringing our own products to market. Take that multi-discipline approach with our real-world experience, and we have a unique offering. We live the products that we’ve developed.
After 25 years of business, how do you maintain an inspired company culture?
In 2017, we are not seeing any boundaries between work and personal life. We are all friends working together, which makes an enormous difference. We are all here because we’re passionate about making a difference in the world through design and engineering.
How do you ensure your organization and its activities are aligned with core values?
Our core values are coming from the entire team. My job here, with the management team, is here to make sure the team’s values are actualized. That process builds a strong trust and sense of purpose.
Nectar has a growing presence in the medical industry. Do you still work on projects from other industries?
We do. Most of our business in the last few years has been in the medical and scientific sectors. We are working on some consumer and consumer healthcare products now. While our focus in on healthcare, we do still work in different industries.
Describe your typical customer?
Our typical customer is either an established company or a start-up company. The established company is usually looking for incremental changes to improve the functions, usability, or look and feel to move an existing product into lateral markets. Start- ups typically approach Nectar to work on brand new products that have not been thought of before. Start-ups may utilize our strategy and research services in addition to design and engineering. We believe in all of our clients find find their projects to be exciting.
What kinds of projects are the best fit for Nectar?
If you need to develop products that your users love, Nectar is a fit. We excel at executing projects with challenging requirements that incorporate a mechanism combined with electronics, software, and user experience.
What does the future of Nectar look like to you?
This is an exciting time. There are some truly innovative technologies that are about to actualize. Things like virtual reality and rapid manufacturing are going to be a game changer. I see Nectar embracing those technologies and innovative ways to work together. We’re seeing more crowd sourced approaches that are rapidly iterative. We are interested in staying in touch with innovative approaches and cutting-edge technologies. Nectar Product Development is ready to take on whatever the future has in store for us.
