Partnering in the innovation

Bael is a small engineering and management consulting services firm formed in 2020. Recent thrust on green energy poses new challenges and hence opportunities to enhance the products and processes that consume less energy, produce less non-recyclable waste and meet the customer expectations of cost and functionality.

Bael looks to partner with engineering firms in this journey to jointly face the challenges by adding value to the end customer and saving cost for the OEMs. A recent study at Canada - United States Trade Center, University of Buffalo states that the "product design activities are increasingly being outsourced by large as well as small companies". Capturing specialized expertise of the third party consulting services and reduce cost remain some of the main motives of engineering design and R&D outsourcing.

For example, Boeing and Airbus now outsource their airframe component design work to the custom manufacturers, design houses and large industrial corporations . In the case of the Boeing 787 passenger jet, for example, close to 70 per cent of the final design work for the composite airframe was conducted by outside vendors [1]. In the case of small New York State firms that manufacture medical devices, external consultants typically handle at least 50 per cent of the design effort for new products [2]. In case of industrial designs, there is a direct relationship between successful product development and recourse to external specialists [3]. Although retention of knowledge and sensitive information remains a major concern for most OEMs to outsource their design work, most design consulting firms heavily rely on the repeat business from the customer. This acts as a powerful motive to retain the customer specific technical know-how exclusively available to the OEMs.

As the global engineering services outsourcing market reaches $2 trillion by 2026, with major growth in Asia as local outsourcing and manufacturing increasing in China and India, Bael looks forward to partner with firms to accelerate the product design, increase customer value and reduce costs.

[1] Pritchard, D. and MacPherson, A. (2007) Strategic destruction of the North American and European commercial aircraft sector, Airframer: The Journal of Aircraft Manufacturing, 17: 1–8.

[2] MacPherson, A. (2002) Academic–industry linkages and product innovation: evidence from New York State’s medical devices sector, Papers in Regional Science, 81(2): 121–129

[3] Freel, M. (2000) External linkages and product innovation in small manufacturing firms, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 12(3): 245–266.