CASE STUDIES

Syrma SGS Designs Sensors for Dental Digital Imaging Systems

Apr 24, 2023

Dentists’ latest dental digital imaging systems utilize a digital sensor to take dental x-rays from inside a patient’s mouth, producing highly detailed digital images that enable dentists to make accurate diagnoses. Unfortunately, these scanners, built in the US and Europe, were priced too high to be sold in the Indian market. We were hired to design a product that delivered a similar capability but at a price point 50% lower, enabling dentists across India to afford one. The client would benefit by having a product they could sell profitably, while dentists in India would benefit from having access to the latest imaging technology.

Solutions

Our engineers designed a similar product for a significantly reduced cost by first finding out exactly what the client required the dental imaging system to achieve. Only by understanding the client’s requirements regarding capability, size, imaging, and more could a product be designed for the client to take to market. Once the requirements for the scanner were determined, design work could begin. While individual components, such as the sensor device, were fixed in cost, many other components had more flexible price points depending on the chosen capabilities and feature set. By collaborating directly with the client, our engineers discovered where different design components could be used without impacting the overall function of the dental imaging system.

Achieving this took full advantage of our broad team of experts, drawing on the team’s expertise in mechanical and industrial design, schematic design, micro­controller and imaging module design, PCB layout design, and user interface design. This wide range of skills contributed to a successful project, from the initial prototype and debugging stages through to the final product release and bill-of-material review. We’re able to offer incredible value on the design, fabrication, assembly, and testing of electronics products through a combination of high production standards and experience. Projects can often be modified to help meet a client’s budget without compromising on the must-have features that make the product desirable in a crowded market.

We achieve this through a collaborative design process, working with the client to establish which features are necessary and replaced them with a more cost-efficient feature set. The end design fulfilled the client’s criteria for providing similar functionality but at half the cost. Our team discovered that using imaging hardware, which processed the images slower, could make significant cost savings by collaborating with the client during the design process. The scanner produced images of comparable quality to the US versions, which cost twice as much but just took a little bit longer to process. Once the project was complete, the client had access to a less expensive design that could create units with another manufacturer or us at a price point that would allow access to the Indian market.

Successes

We contribute our 40 years of design and manufacturing expertise spanning multiple diverse markets. We look forward to discussing how we can deliver world-class products for OEMs across the globe. We understand our home Indian market, familiar with its vast regulatory and selling environments. We foster growth opportunities within India through our strong technology incubation ecosystem. We also assist global OEMs in entering the Indian market by leveraging the local supply chain and favorable operating environments for cost reductions.

Our flagship Chennai location opened in 2006 and lies within a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for electronics manufacturing, offering economic incentives for imports and exports. This primary facility is within 90 minutes of the Chennai seaport and 20 minutes to the international airport. Additional road and rail connectivity links to the rest of India and beyond and infrastructure advantages with faster import and export clearances. We also have labor force flexibility, both technical and manual, to scale to demand rapidly.

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