What Orion Design does

Orion Design is a Belfast-based product design engineering practice operated by Andrew Hunter, providing concept-to-manufacture decision support to hardware startups, founders, and product teams. The firm operates as a sole proprietorship with 1-10 employees, combining professional consulting services with a freely accessible library of 18 interactive engineering and commercial tools covering manufacturing trade-off analysis (3D printing vs CNC vs injection moulding), assembly time estimation, carbon footprint assessment, COGS modelling, hardware business case building, and investor metrics. The tools are deployed as a static web application on Netlify and are designed to be used together, with outputs from one calculator feeding inputs into another.

The platform is complemented by 20 long-form engineering guides organised around concept, manufacture, sustainability, finance, and supplier readiness, plus a 6-phase Ready-to-Launch Roadmap that sequences the work from idea validation to launch. The business model is hybrid: interactive tools and guides are offered free of charge as a product-led growth mechanism, while design-for-manufacture consulting, concept development, sustainability judgement, and hardware business case support are sold via direct email enquiry with quote-based pricing. Disclosed named clients include Causeway Sensors, Rolltack, Katchy Hooks, Eco Depo, and Blinky — all startups or small businesses in categories such as scientific hardware, travel products, consumer accessories, plastic packaging, and soft goods mobility.

The firm is privately held with no external investors, no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no disclosed partnerships. Geographic service scope is described as Northern Ireland with global support available. The contact surface is a single shared email inbox ([email protected]), and Andrew Hunter is the sole disclosed management team member. There is no evidence of funding rounds, acquisitions, AI/ML capabilities, patents, or regulatory filings.

Name

Orion Design

Legal name

Orion Design

Website

https://oriondesign.xyz

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Product Design Engineering Services

NAICS

Industrial Design Services (54142)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

Industrial/Product & Furniture Design (BPAHAKAM)

Keywords

• Product design engineering
• Design for manufacture
• Hardware product development
• Manufacturing cost estimation
• Product lifecycle assessment

Headquarters

HQ city

Belfast

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Engineering Consulting Services: Orion Design provides product design engineering consulting services including concept development, design-for-manufacture, sustainability judgement, and hardware business case support. Services are accessed via direct email contact ([email protected]) for project enquiries, early conversations, and live project support. The company operates as a Belfast-based practice supporting product teams and founders working on physical products, manufacture, and hardware business decisions.
2. Interactive Tools (Self-Serve): 18 interactive engineering and commercial tools are available on the website for self-service use, covering manufacturing payoff, product purpose, assembly time, carbon footprint, target COGS, business case building, launch margin planning, investor metrics, lifecycle exploration, production strategy, prototype selection, product cost estimation, cashflow projection, break-even calculation, startup cost planning, NDA generation, and process mapping. Tools appear to be free to access on the website.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Orion Design combines product design engineering consulting services with a suite of 18 interactive web-based decision tools and long-form engineering guides, helping hardware teams make better concept-to-manufacture decisions around manufacturing routes, product cost, assembly effort, sustainability, and commercial viability. The practice also offers a phased Ready-to-Launch Roadmap that sequences the tools across six practical product development phases, with direct project support available via email enquiry.

Product overview

Orion Design offers a suite of 18 interactive engineering and commercial tools designed for hardware teams moving from concept to manufacture. The core product portfolio includes manufacturing trade-off tools (Manufacturing Payoff Visualiser, Production Strategy Planner), sustainability tools (Carbon Footprint Estimator, Product Lifecycle Explorer, Product Purpose Framework), assembly and costing tools (Assembly Time Estimator, Product Cost Estimator), commercial planning tools (Target COGS by Route to Market, Launch Margin Planner, Hardware Business Case Builder, Investor Metrics and KPIs, Break-even Calculator, Cashflow Projection Tool, Startup Cost Planner), and development planning tools (Pugh Concept Selector, Product Design Process Map, Prototype Strategy Tool, NDA Generator). These tools are designed to be used together, with outputs from one feeding inputs into another. The suite is complemented by a phased Ready-to-Launch Roadmap that sequences the tools across six product development phases, and professional services for direct project support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Manufacturing Payoff Visualiser Interactive web tool that plots cost crossover points between additive, subtractive, and moulded production routes so hardware teams can decide when tooling investment is justified based on volume and demand certainty rather than intuition.
• Product Purpose Framework Interactive concept review tool that scores a product idea across human value, planetary impact, economic viability, and technical feasibility to separate ideas worth momentum from ideas that are merely interesting.
• Assembly Time Estimator Interactive concept-stage calculator that estimates manual assembly labour using part count, fastening logic, handling effort, and QA checks so labour cost is visible before detailed industrial engineering is undertaken.
• Carbon Footprint Estimator Interactive concept-stage tool that compares footprint drivers across material choice, manufacturing process, transport, and use-phase assumptions to make sustainability a product-legitimacy question rather than just a materials question.
• Production Strategy Planner Interactive planning tool that stages prototype, bridge, and scale-up manufacturing choices using expected volume, product stability, capex, quality criticality, and lead-time tolerance.
• Target COGS by Route to Market Interactive calculator that works backwards from retail price to show the maximum affordable COGS across DTC, marketplace, and retailer routes once VAT, fees, logistics, and margin are deducted.
• Launch Margin Planner Interactive planning tool that turns route mix, retail price, COGS, and hidden selling costs into a view of annual contribution, break-even volume, and launch viability.
• Hardware Business Case Builder Interactive commercial model that links addressable market, reachable share, conversion, price, unit cost, development spend, and annual operating cost for early-stage opportunity screening.
• Investor Metrics and KPIs Tool Interactive tool that converts monthly sales, cost, lead, and cash assumptions into core investor and board-level metrics including runway, CAC, payback, and gross margin.
• Product Lifecycle Explorer Interactive exploration tool for how durability, repairability, energy use, and end-of-life strategy shape the overall lifecycle performance of a hardware product.
• Startup Cost Planner Interactive calculator that estimates capital required before launch by combining design engineering, prototypes, tooling, compliance, first inventory, launch work, and contingency.
• Break-even Calculator Interactive tool that calculates how many units a hardware product needs to sell before fixed costs are recovered based on selling price and variable cost structure.
• Cashflow Projection Tool Interactive model that projects twelve months of startup cashflow to identify runway problems arising from growth, payment timing, and upfront spend.
• NDA Generator Interactive tool that generates simple one-way or mutual NDA drafts for early product, design, and manufacturing conversations.
• Product Cost Estimator Interactive bottom-up manufacturing cost estimator that builds early COGS targets from materials, bought-in parts, process cost, labour, packaging, scrap, and overhead.
• Prototype Strategy Tool Interactive decision tool that matches prototype route to the real job of the build by comparing processes against quantity, fidelity, urgency, and tooling commitment tolerance.
• Pugh Concept Selector Interactive weighted comparison matrix that scores concept directions against the same engineering criteria to make trade-offs explicit and contestable.
• Product Design Process Map Interactive development prioritisation tool that maps work across discovery, prototyping, verification, industrialisation, and launch preparation based on project context.
• Ready-to-Launch Roadmap Phased roadmap through hardware product development from idea validation to launch readiness, with linked tools and guides organised in six practical phases.
• Product Design Engineering Services Consultancy services covering concept development, prototyping, design for manufacture, production strategy, sustainability judgement, and technical-commercial decision support for hardware teams and founders. Engagements are accessed via direct email enquiry ([email protected]) and are quote-based per project.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced sensor assembly time by 35% through form factor redesign (Causeway Sensors)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature11 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• IDEO: Global design and innovation firm offering industrial design, mechanical engineering, and manufacturing support at scale. Comparable in concept-to-manufacture capability but with a much broader portfolio and significantly larger team than Orion Design.
• Frog Design: Global design and engineering consultancy covering hardware product design, mechanical engineering, and manufacturing strategy. Overlaps with Orion Design on concept-to-production work but serves a much wider mix of digital and physical product engagements.

Direct peers

• Bresslergroup: US-based product design and engineering consultancy serving clients from concept through manufacture. Closely comparable service mix to Orion Design (concept development, design-for-manufacture, engineering decision support) for hardware teams and founders.
• Morrama: UK-based product design studio working with founders and brands on physical product development and manufacturing strategy. Direct geographic and service overlap with Orion Design, particularly on early-stage hardware and sustainable product work.
• Seymourpowell: Established UK design and innovation consultancy with industrial design, engineering, and manufacturing strategy capabilities. Comparable in servicing hardware-focused clients from concept through production, with deeper brand and industrial design remit than Orion Design.
• NewDealDesign: Product design and engineering firm working with startups and enterprises on physical product development from strategy through manufacturing. Comparable to Orion Design in targeting hardware teams with integrated engineering and design services.
• Kinneir Dufort: UK product design and development consultancy covering design, engineering, and manufacture for physical products. Comparable in offering integrated concept-to-production services to hardware teams, though operating at significantly larger scale than Orion Design.
• Pensar Development: Product design and engineering firm focused on taking hardware concepts through to manufacture. Closely overlaps with Orion Design on design-for-manufacture, manufacturing route selection, and engineering decision support for hardware teams.

Emerging players

• Fictiv: Digital manufacturing platform with cost estimation and DFM tooling that overlaps with Orion Design's Manufacturing Payoff Visualiser and Production Strategy Planner. Serves similar hardware teams but is primarily a manufacturing services marketplace rather than a pure design consultancy.
• Dragon Innovation: Hardware consulting firm specialising in manufacturing strategy, cost modelling, and production planning for hardware startups. Direct overlap with Orion Design's manufacturing payoff, production strategy, and hardware business case offerings.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/orion-design-ltd
• Xx.com/oriondesignltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Orion Design