Myatt is also seeing an increase of work at Exception’s Fastrack facility in Calne, especially from the defence and avionics sectors, which require electronic components for urgent operational requirements (UORs) turned round in a matter of hours, not days.

“We’re certainly seeing a lot more interest in our quickturn facility based in Calne, from specialist industries such as the telecoms, medical and avionics sectors not just for mission critical components, but also in the specialist prototyping function.”

“The first exchange of information is a crucial part of the prototyping process, particularly with regard to the front-end electronic data required. Which is why at Exception we ensure we fully understand every detail of the board in question - what it will be used for, what function it will have to fulfil and the conditions under which it might be expected to perform. Designers will generally come to us with circuit diagrams and board drawings. Provided that data is presented in the right format, with a full list of components required, we can achieve turnaround of the first prototype within as short a time as five days. In the case of a ‘free issue’ prototype, where clients provide a full set of the components required, we can often turn the project around within 24 hours."

“It is not unusual - particularly in the electronics industry - for an initial prototype to bear almost no resemblance to the finished product that comes off the production line some months later. Typically, what we are looking to do in the first instance is to ensure that the board meets with the customer’s requirements in terms of its performance. We then report back our findings to the customer, evaluating the performance and highlighting any areas we have identified where improvements could be made. In liaison with the customer, we can help them to refine its designs, taking them one step closer to the finished product, before producing a revised prototype. This process can be repeated four or five times, until the customer has a board that performs the functions required of it and can be engineered to the specified dimensions and at a suitable price.”