Anyone who works in product design should be aware of approaching trends, both in the United States and worldwide. By being aware of the newest trends, one can approach product design with foresight. It’s all about better predicting what customers around the world will need and want.

The following are three approaching trends in international product design.

1. Augmented reality will be integrated into the product design cycle

With the advent of 3D CAD modeling—a considerable upgrade from its 2D counterpart—product designers were given the means to conceptualize a product before building a mock-up.

Augmented reality will take this conceptualization a step further. With AR, designers can envision their ideas with unprecedented precision. By engaging with products in this manner early on in the design process, professionals can significantly reduce the margin for error, saving their company a great deal of time and money.

As Kevin Wrenn states in SmartIndustry, AR can “superimpose the digital representation onto a physical asset once it has been produced to compare the configurations of the product through its evolution—whether that’s ‘as-designed,’ ‘as-built,’ ‘as-manufactured,’ or ‘as-serviced.’

In addition to providing accurate renditions of a product, AR will also help designers view their products in different situations and environments. The possibilities are truly endless.

Augmented reality will be a real game-changer for international product design, as it will enable global collaboration. Regardless of one’s location, AR is making it possible to participate in a product’s plan at any stage.

2. 3D printing and additive manufacturing will become more prevalent

3D will continue to disrupt long-established industrial procedure and support mass-production at scale. Additive manufacturing has already made significant contributions to medicine, sustainability, education, and more. 3D printing, moreover, challenges the “constraints of conventional manufacturing methods—the expensive and time-consuming tooling before even one part can be produced.”

3D printing and additive manufacturing will grow more common in international product design and construction. Wrenn anticipates “low-volume production during the introduction of a new product, replication of hard-to-source spare parts, [and] distributed or local manufacturing in emerging markets” are only a few instances where additive manufacturing “can yield benefits even for lower-complexity parts.”

3. Single-source firms will be deemed the most reliable and coveted product design partners

Using numerous suppliers is often accompanied by difficulty tracking progress, confusion, and squandered time.

On the other hand, single-source firms help maintain continuity throughout the entire product design process, which is especially important when it comes to international product design.

We anticipate single-source firms becoming the most preferred partners in international product design. Single-source firms help reduce costs, and can anticipate when a company needs more supplies. This kind of care is customer service at its best and proves invaluable with international product design.

Pivot’s newly installed mirrored surface mount technology (SMT) production line located in US and Asia can simultaneously manufacture same product, with same specifications ensuring that there never a production interruption, that product is made wherever in the world it is most efficiently possible and that quality is never compromised.

Pivot International is a leader and one of the most trusted names in international product design. When If you’re ready to get ahead by revolutionizing your operations, we’re here to help. With over forty years of expert experience, we’ve had the pleasure of assisting businesses bring new products to market, again and again. We hope you’ll choose to contact us today.