Enterprise

Chargers and Adapters

SGW Designworks works closely with Portsmith to develop enterprise-level products designed to charge and connect rugged handhelds produced by manufacturers Zebra, Samsung, Honeywell, Panasonic, and Datalogic.

Client:

Portsmith

Services provided:

Electronics and Embedded Systems

Product Design

Mechanical Engineering

Manufacturing Setup

Date:

Ongoing

project summary

SGW Designworks designs robust, reliable cradles and adapters for Portsmith — facilitating the successful deployment of hundreds of thousands of mobile computers globally.

Challenge

Product Vision

Portsmith prioritizes quality first — its designs need to be rugged enough for industrial and enterprise applications, and must have a look and feel compatible with these use cases.

Its clients include T-Mobile, Motorola, UPS, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the American Red Cross. However, for its military customers, Portsmith’s application-specific adapters must be compliant with MIL-STD-810G and MIL-STD-461F specifications, and often need to be customized with a variety of interfaces and connectors. In warehouse, retail, and factory environments, Portsmith’s products similarly must provide reliable, repeatable data capture and connectivity.

During a typical deployment, SGW Designworks and Portsmith work with the client to agree on the winning concept, then product prototypes are developed and sent to the client for on-site testing. Testing leads to design iterations and design finalization. The product design is then optimized specifically for the target deployment volumes indicated, and production methodologies are defined for Portsmith.

To minimize tooling costs and speed up development for its clients, Portsmith and SGW Designworks often leverage available components through the existing Portsmith supply chain and rely on proven manufacturers in the SGW Designworks network for new parts.

delivery

Final Outcome

SGW Designworks regularly develops, prototypes, and optimizes designs that meet the needs of Portsmith’s end-users, while achieving production cost targets.

Perfectly suited to one other, the relationship between SGW Designworks and Portsmith has strengthened over the years, ensuring each development engagement results in better-built products. As a result, Portsmith's docks, cradles, and adapters commonly out-live the rugged technology they charge and connect.

To date, Portsmith’s design services and accessories have been sought after and validated by virtually every leading rugged device manufacturer in the world. With over one million units installed, customers trust that this ISO 9001 and UL certified manufacturer consistently delivers best-in-class enterprise grade reliability.

In 2021 and 2022, Portsmith received the Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design for the world’s most innovative and cutting-edge industrial, product, and graphic designs.

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Project testimonial

What the client said.

"Major organizations come to us for help designing products, and our partnership with SGW Designworks empowers us to deliver. SGW can speak our language, plus there’s a wide breadth of experience across the team and underlying continuous process improvement. Together, both of our companies have made markets for products worldwide — and affected companies for the better."

Jeff Moeser

VP of Products, Portsmith

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