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Sigma Design Attends Design-2-Part Show in Oaks, PA
November 16, 2021 9:27 pm Leave a Comment
Trade shows are a great avenue for networking and getting in front of potential customers, and Sigma Design was pleased to attend the Mid-Atlantic Design-2-Part show in Oaks, PA on October 20-21. This is a great event connecting manufacturers and suppliers for the Mid-Atlantic region of the US. Design-2-Part does a great job facilitating these events and has trade shows throughout the year in various locations.

We were able to get in front of potential customers and present everything Sigma has to offer at our booth. It was a great success and led to some connections for future work. In addition to meeting prospective clients looking for help with their design and manufacturing, we were able to speak with potential vendors about the unique needs that we often run into.

These regional shows are an outstanding support mechanism for American manufacturing and small businesses. A special thanks goes out to the whole crew at Design-2-Part Shows and Part Gurus!
Visit Mid-Atlantic Design-2-Part Show, Booth 319.
October 11, 2021 6:54 pm Leave a Comment
Build to Print. Build on Time. Build on Budget.

Your job, your life has probably never been as stressful as it is today. For over 20 years, Sigma Design Company has relieved our customers’ stress by delivering products on-time and on-budget without sacrificing quality. A one-stop engineering and manufacturing specialist that knows the hidden hazards that stall projects and bust budgets.

Visit Sigma Design at Booth 319
Mid-Atlantic Design-2-Part Show
October 20 & 21, 2021
Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA

Manufacturing Services is one of the core components of our company. Our Professional Services Team includes design engineers and Licensed Professional Engineers, certified welding technicians, electro-mechanical technicians and customer quality care specialists. Our team works collaboratively with you to bring reliable, well-engineered products to market faster and at higher margins. Learn More.

Our Manufacturing Services Include:

• Electrical control: panel building services in accordance UL 508A
• Welding services: ASME Section IX and AWS D1.1 structural steel, stainless steel, and aluminum certified welders
• Assembly, start-up and operational testing services for complex machines
• Build to print

Learn More About Manufacturing³

Our 3-step process identifies potential roadblocks upfront so actual manufacturing is easier to manage, measure, more reliable and on time. Our multi-designer review puts more experienced eyes on a project to ensure better results. We handle every step, from bench tests to pilot testing or full-scale production, to ensure the highest quality product. Our customers tell us we typically reduce their time-cycles by 30% over our competitors.

Take 5 minutes to visit our booth (319). See how Manufacturing3 could apply to you. Can we help identify any hidden potential pitfalls? Shortcuts to speed time-to-market? Give us an opportunity to prove our value. Looking forward to meeting you next week.

Download our Manufacturing Flyer
Sigma Design helps out in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
5:50 pm Leave a Comment
Customer: SGS Testing Laboratories
Industry: Health and Life Science

Test Stand for Face Masks
In response to an uptick in requests fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, a testing laboratory asked Sigma Design Company to design and manufacture a Bacterial Filtration Efficiency (B.F.E) test stand to measure a face masks efficiency at removing virus particulates from the air. Based upon two standards, ASTM F2101-19 and EN 14683:2019+AC, Sigma designed and built an automatically controlled test stand consisting of a control panel, hmi, filter apparatus, and test stand base upon which a commercially sourced lab hood was placed. Working with the standards and customers expert knowledge, Sigma sourced and created custom unique components of a high laboratory cleanliness to create the testing apparatus.

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Vertical Farming Industry Projected to Explode Globally
September 13, 2021 6:35 pm Leave a Comment
Recent agricultural advancements have become as innovative as they are necessary. Steady population growth in addition to climate factors have forced the farming industry to start to evolve. These two factors have led to conventional farming often becoming more unpredictable and expensive. Moreover, economic changes in the developed world will make providing an ever-growing food demand more challenging for the less developed world.

Vertical farming as it is known today was introduced as a concept in 1999 at Columbia University when a professor and his class proposed a design of a skyscraper that could feed tens of thousands of people. That exact design has yet to be built. However, it was a proof-of-concept exercise that started the mainstream conversation on vertical farming.

Since then, vertical farming around the world has gained traction and has generated commercial support along with technological advances. Now, this industry shift from conventional to vertical has become viewed as a necessity in our evolving world. Because of this, vertical farming has become an area of fast-growing interest and investment. A recent study projects a market size in the industry growing sixfold from 2018 through 2026.

The process of establishing a successful vertical farm operation takes a groundswell of effort from many parties – from property developers to architects, botanists, and mechanical system designers for nutrient distribution, automated harvesting, and packaging.

Sigma Design has expertise with the automated support systems that keep vertical farms producing crops, having worked with several companies on system development. Sigma has helped solve numerous challenges such as nutrient dosing system footprint and design. We have the ability to design and develop systems for vertical farming, along with the in-house manufacturing capabilities to build, test and deliver the systems we design. This makes Sigma an ideal choice to partner with in the accelerated pace that the vertical farming industry demands.
Understanding Wave energy and Oil Spill Management
August 19, 2021 8:15 pm Leave a Comment
Customer: Ohmsett National Oil Spill Response & Research Renewable Energy Test Facility
Industry: Marine

OK to Make Waves: Understanding Wave energy and Oil Spill Management made easier with a new test platform
A national renewable energy test site was looking to upgrade its facility. The site is the largest outdoor saltwater wave/tow facility in North America. Sigma Design Company was awarded the engineering design contract to design and manage the construction of the new test platform. Advanced engineering analysis expertise was needed for this job. The design challenges were to develop a larger test structure that was safer and easier to use. Quicker operational setups that reduced the overall weight, and increased operational test load capacity were the goals of this project. Sigma analyzed, designed and managed every part of the new testing system using 3D design software, FEA structural analysis methods and years of solid mechanical engineering competencies to make this project a success.

Sigma developed the system and provided construction and installation management.

Services Performed:
Design concepts, structural analysis, FEA simulation, detailed welded fabrication design, filed engineering, welding services, engineering consulting, overseeing all testing & manufacture.

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Prevention Invention
5:48 pm Leave a Comment
Customer: Burner Alert, NJ
Industry: Household Products

A Gentle Reminder.
Anyone with a gas stove has probably had the scary experience of realizing that they have left the stove burner on. Unlike today’s refrigerators that call you back to the room when you have left the door ajar, most gas burners provide no indication that they are still on. A simple mistake could lead to a deadly fire in your home.

Matthew Porraro came to Sigma Design with a solution to prevent kitchen fires. Porraro invented a plastic disc that attaches to each knob on the stove, which illuminates when the burner is on. Sigma Design took his initial design and prototype and improved it, integrating a light circuit and an audible alarm.
BurnerAlert™ is the only reminder and timer product on the market that will retrofit on gas and electric stoves.

This is just one example of the projects that come to the Sigma Design team. Like BurnerAlert™, let us take your smart idea and turn it into a viable product!

Services Performed:
Concept layouts, LED light design, sound and light sequence simulation, detail design, firmware programming, digital electronics, product development, testing & prototypes.

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75 Ton Travelling Boat Hoist Improves Yard Capacity
4:53 pm Leave a Comment
Customer: ACME Hoist, NY
Industry: Marine and Shipbuilding

Travelling Boat Hoists Enable Better Boat Yard Management
Sigma Design was approached by Acme Hoist to help them extend their product line of large boat hoists. Acme Hoist is a family run business and had been manufacturing boat hoists on Long Island for over 50 years. Improving the steering profiles to allow tight radius cornering and other operator/user features provided better handling in the tight space of a busy boat yard. Creating a new 50 Ton and 75 Ton hoist enabled Acme to better compete with the larger global competitors.

Services Performed:
Concept layouts, structural load analysis and simulation, detail system design, welding fabrication and manufacturing shop drawings.
Turnkey Water Treatment System for Water Recovery and Reuse
July 28, 2021 7:39 pm Leave a Comment
Customer: Spiral Water Technologies, Inc.
Industry: Advanced Filtration and Non-Hazardous Wastewater Treatment

Sigma designs turnkey high solids filtration system for Spiral Water
The HSWR System is a turnkey high solids filtration system that can receive high solids loaded process water with TSS greater than 15,000 ppm. Depending on the process, the HSWR using a Spiral Water 20 micron automatic filter significantly reduces the TSS and BOD 50%-75%. The system is controlled and monitored by a single control panel with an enhanced user interface HMI. The HSWR System utilizes a combination of high solids separation equipment matched with standard T-1000 filters from Spiral Water Technologies (also developed by SIGMA for Spiral Water). The Spiral Water filters high solids application enables end-users to obtain TSS solids removal below 75um.

Services Performed:
Concept development, water purification system design, testing protocol, controls, sensors, electronics, complete fabrication including all controls, PLC/HMI, pipe and filter vessel welding, machining, validation and testing.

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An Environmentally Sustainable Solution
July 27, 2021 4:57 pm Leave a Comment
Customer: Maritime Solutions, Inc. and The Maritime Administration
Industry: Marine Environmental

Development and Testing of Early Shipboard Ballast Water Treatment Systems
Working with the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Sciences, Sigma developed a new, and now patented centrifugal separator and ultraviolet disinfection system. The separator removes invasive aquatic species from ships’ ballast water, therefore preventing the introduction of destructive organisms into US waters. The system was developed and manufactured in NJ and installed aboard the M/V CAPE MAY at South Locust Point Marine Terminal in Baltimore, MD.

Services Performed:
Product development services, concepts, FEA analysis, CFD flow simulation, fabrication design, electronics design, PLC programming, pilot & test.

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The Large Project Dilemma: Outsource vs. Onboard
July 15, 2021 7:19 pm Leave a Comment
Successful companies often find themselves at a crossroads when undertaking a large, new project. Whether increasing capacity, developing a new product or system, or modernizing existing equipment, an organization can find itself in a bind when trying to find bandwidth with internal engineering and manufacturing capabilities. A choice must be made that can alter the course of the project significantly before it even begins, find an outside manufacturing partner, or bring on additional resources. The right answer is rarely obvious.
Adding design engineering resources can be a double-edged sword. Generally, a younger engineer will be cheaper but could take weeks or months to get fully up to speed and may require supervision to start that could disrupt other employees. A more experienced engineer should get up to speed considerably quicker, however will be more expensive to employ and is not as readily available in the job market as a younger engineer would typically be. In either case, the cost of employment obviously goes far beyond salary once benefits, hardware and office costs, and payroll taxes are added. The total cost of employment to a company is often 2-3 times the actual salary paid to the employee.
Finding a design, development and manufacturing partner alleviates many of the issues of bringing on new staff for a project. For one, as soon as a project is kicked off, a proven firm such as Sigma Design can get immediately to work. The only costs paid are hours spent on the project, whether it be design and drafting, engineering analysis, or review by senior engineers. One of the biggest advantages however is the ability for an established design firm to work autonomously. All that is required from the customer is attendance and communication at periodic design reviews and update meetings to make sure the development is meeting expectations. When a program is designed with specific phases and deliverables you can simply “turn on” or turn off” the team expenses depending on your needs.
What happens when the design phase is done, or it is time to transition into the manufacturing phase? If the engineering was kept in house, is there enough incoming work to support the additional resources that were hired? Typically, where design programs require under 1000 workhours it is more cost effective to partner with an outsourced firm rather than hiring. Also, today when you cannot find the experienced candidates what choice do we have? Wait or postpone the program or move forward knowing the earlier you launch the more beneficial it is to your firm.
Additionally, are there adequate manufacturing resources in house to support the next phase of the design / build project. Or are there additional hires needed to be made to support this phase? With a design/build partner like Sigma Design, the same engineers that develop the design will be the same engineers overseeing its manufacture. The logistical efficiency of an engineer selecting vendors for commercial part of an assembly during design, ordering the parts for the build, and then overseeing the entire production process cannot be easily quantified for this comparison. However, the advantages of keeping a project in the same building, from design kickoff all the way through factory acceptance testing and shipping are massive. This typically makes the entire process much more economical than trying to tackle a large project on your own.
Is your company considering a large design build, and unsure if you have the resources in house to complete the project? Give Sigma Design a call today! Over 1000 completed projects to date. On time – On budget!