About the Customer
Staffing shortages and rising labor costs continue to challenge hospitals and clinics. To help fill those gaps, our customer developed autonomous robotic delivery systems and became a leader in healthcare automation. When similar problems emerged in other fields, such as hospitality, the customer adapted its technology to improve guest service and make hotel operations more efficient. By offering their robotic systems as a flexible platform, the customer showed how these solutions could succeed in new markets.
To expand into new markets and keep up with growing demand, the customer teamed up with Benchmark to rethink important parts of their robotic platform. The goal was to break down technical barriers that made scaling up production difficult and to solve issues found during real-world use. Working together, they redesigned the system to lower costs, keep robots running longer, and set the customer up for future growth.
The Challenges
As automated logistics became more common, the customer saw demand for their robots expand. But their own manufacturing facilities couldn’t keep up. To grow the business, they needed a partner who deeply understood how to build robots at scale. Benchmark joined the project to address problems such as scaling up manufacturing, making robots easier to service, improving quality, cutting costs, and reducing environmental impact.
Manufacturability and Production Scaling
Scaling up production became a major hurdle. The customer had built robots in-house for years, but rising demand made it clear their existing manufacturing model would not support rapid growth or expansion into new markets. The customer’s goal was to transition from a low-volume, engineering-led build model to a more scalable manufacturing approach that improved agility, reduced bottlenecks, and supported growing demand. To succeed, the customer would need to deal with:
• Irregular manufacturing processes and nonstandardized work instructions
• Production with unstable yields
• Limited manufacturing footprint with little flexibility to respond to demand
• Slow production ramps of new variants
The customer chose Benchmark to help with these issues because of our global experience in New Product Introduction (NPI) and production scaling, particularly with high-complexity products.
Serviceability
As a pioneer in autonomous robotics, the customer moved fast to deliver robots that could safely navigate busy hospitals. But moving quickly meant the designs changed often, which made support more expensive and maintenance more difficult. Parts that tended to fail were sometimes hard to reach, making repairs tricky. To fix these issues and lessen environmental impact, the customer would need to design a simpler, modular system that would be easier to maintain and last longer. They partnered with Benchmark because of our large, in-house engineering organization with extensive DFX and supply-chain experience.
The Tradeoffs of Rapid Early Design
Building a minimum viable product quickly helped the customer get ahead of competitors and lead the market early. But that speed also introduced added complexity, including fragmented subsystems, design changes, and hard-to-reach parts that affected quality, reliability, and costs in unexpected ways. This overcomplexity meant they would need to improve:
• Large component count, increasing the number of potential failure points and reducing quality and reliability
• Fragmented subsystems, high cable counts, and complex mechanical design that complicated manufacturing
• More difficult troubleshooting, which increased service time and maintenance effort
• Production inputs, which increased material use and environmental impact
To overcome these hurdles and ensure long-term product viability, the customer selected Benchmark as their strategic partner. A successful transformation would allow the customer to scale production quickly, reduce bottlenecks, and support the acceleration of market demand, while maintaining quality and cost targets.
The Solution
From day one, Benchmark collaborated closely with the customer to identify opportunities to enhance both the product and the manufacturing process—making the robots easier to build, service, and scale. Together, we launched a series of Benchmark Creative Workshops grounded in design-for-excellence (DFX) principles. These sessions empowered both teams to implement proven industry best practices, refine the design, and maximize manufacturing efficiency.
The first workshop focused on Agile Design for Manufacturability (ADFM). Both teams closely assessed the existing design and identified priorities to streamline manufacturing. Later workshops explored commercialization strategies, test protocols, and the redesign of key subsystems, including schematics and printed circuit boards (PCBs). During the workshops, the focus remained on engineering solutions to help the customer reach their goals and build a stronger manufacturing process.
In addition to DFX workshops, Benchmark introduced a structured NPI and manufacturing-readiness framework that aligned engineering, supply chain, and operations early in the design cycle. This ensured the product was optimized not only for performance but also for efficient, repeatable, high-volume manufacturing.
Workshops expanded beyond design into:
• Production line design and process flow optimization
• Test strategy development for volume manufacturing
• Supply chain alignment and component standardization
• Risk mitigation for scaling and product commercialization
Improved Serviceability and Design for Manufacturing (DFM) Implementation
Benchmark and the customer built a strong design process together, making sure only well-vetted solutions made it to production. This proactive approach reduced design flaws and boosted reliability from the outset. Benchmark’s cross-functional engineering teams drove a comprehensive overhaul of the flagship product, with special attention to wiring, the lid, the chassis, and internal layout for optimal performance.
Key improvements to the electrical system included:
• Reorganizing the original wiring system into an efficient network, significantly reducing the number of cables needed
• Rewiring the electrical system between PCBs, power, and control systems using advanced simulation tools
• Identifying and correcting unseen ground loops in the original system, preventing reliability problems
• Identifying and correcting unseen ground loops in the original system, preventing reliability problems
• Rerouting communication lines in the system harnesses to remove potential noise generators
• Designing new cable harnesses and predicting cable lengths with over 95% accuracy before prototyping, enabling a high first-design success rate
Further, Benchmark’s mechanical engineering team implemented several key redesigns, including:
• Moving the battery to a location accessible without disassembly, while also ensuring support for a larger battery
• Redesigning the lid and chassis to enhance serviceability, simplify the physical design, and support the weight of a larger battery
• Placing most of the PCBAs together in one spot for easier access
• Creating a single pull-out tray to help access all the PCBAs
• Adding an automatic lift to the access lid for easy opening
• Maintaining enhanced aesthetic appeal and optimized production processes, ensuring a consistent brand image and streamlined manufacturing pipeline
By prioritizing accessibility and manufacturing simplicity, these improvements elevated both serviceability and production efficiency. Benchmark’s holistic approach ensured that each enhancement contributed to a cohesive, future-ready design that maximized functionality, reliability, and lifecycle value.
The Results
Benchmark’s expertise in design for excellence, supply chain optimization, and advanced manufacturing enabled the customer to successfully transition from prototype-driven builds to scalable, high-volume production. The key outcomes from the collaboration included:
• Accelerated production ramp, enabling the customer to meet growing demand across healthcare and hospitality markets
• Reduced manufacturing costs through design simplification and supply chain optimization
• Improved production efficiency and yield, supporting consistent, high-quality output at scale
• Enhanced serviceability, lowering lifecycle costs and improving uptime in the field
• More resilient and flexible supply chain, enabling faster response to market shifts
• Expanded revenue opportunities, including service, maintenance, and platform-based offerings
By combining design innovation with manufacturing scale, Benchmark helped the customer build a futureready operating model—one that supports rapid growth, new market entry, and long-term product lifecycle success.
About Benchmark
Benchmark provides comprehensive solutions across the entire product lifecycle, leading through its innovative technology and engineering design services, leveraging its optimized global supply chain, and delivering world-class manufacturing services. The industries we serve include commercial aerospace, defense, advanced computing, next-generation communications, industrial, medical technologies, and semiconductor capital equipment.
