Product Development for Chicago Founders, From North Jersey
Design, prototyping, and manufacturing hand-off for Chicago inventors and hardware founders, done by mechanical engineers in North Jersey. You keep 100% of the IP. Prototypes ship to you; reviews happen on video.
Who develops products for Chicago founders?
RMA Engineering develops products for Chicago founders remotely from North Jersey: mechanical engineers on staff design the product, build the prototypes in our own workshop, and hand off to manufacturing, while you review every stage on video calls and hold every prototype in your hands a few days after it is built. We have done this for more than ten years, hold a BBB A+ rating, and answer every inquiry within 12 hours.
The workshop is closed to visitors on purpose. Nobody walks past your prototype on a shop tour, because there are no shop tours, and that policy is part of how client IP stays protected. It also means working with a Chicago founder is the same engagement as working with one across the river: drawings, CAD, and prototypes move to you; you do not have to move to them.
Why do Chicago founders work with an engineering firm in North Jersey?
Because Chicago has deep manufacturing capacity and a shortage of small engineering firms that will take a first product from sketch to manufacturable design without a large minimum. RMA fills the front of that pipeline: we engineer and prototype the product in North Jersey, then hand off a production-ready package that a Chicago-area molder or machine shop can quote directly. Many Chicago founders keep production local for exactly that reason, and the package is built so they can.
What kinds of Chicago products fit RMA?
Consumer and industrial products with mechanical content: tools, fixtures, housings, hardware accessories, and products headed for Midwest manufacturing. Founders who have a factory relationship already and need the design that factory keeps asking for are a common fit. So are small manufacturers adding a product line who want the engineering done outside their own shop.
What does RMA deliver?
Every project ends with files you own: 3D CAD in STEP and native formats, 2D drawings with dimensions, tolerances, materials, and finishes, a bill of materials, manufacturing specifications, and assembly instructions, plus the physical prototypes built along the way. Fees are hourly and per deliverable; they start around $2,000, and basic products typically run $6,000–15,000 through design and prototyping to a manufacturing-ready package. No royalties, no equity, no licensing back to us.
How does remote product development from North Jersey actually work?
Four steps, none of which require a visit.
- Free 30-Minute Design Review. A video call with an engineer. Bring the sketch, the render, or the prototype you have. You leave with a scoped design stage and a fee estimate.
- Design. CAD reviews on screen-share, drawings delivered as PDFs, decisions recorded in writing. Typical design stage: 4–12 weeks.
- Prototyping. Built in our workshop, shipped to you. Ground shipping from North Jersey reaches Chicago in two business days, and the one-hour time difference means reviews fit any afternoon. Proof-of-concept builds run $100–2,000; production-intent builds $5,000–30,000+.
- Manufacturing hand-off. A production-ready package that any molder or machine shop can quote, with tooling ($5,000–50,000) and first runs (8–16 weeks) planned with you, domestic or overseas.
Not ready for a call? Run your idea through the free Reality Check first.
What do Chicago founders ask us first?
Chicago founders start the same way everyone does: a Free 30-Minute Design Review with an engineer, on video, this week. Bring what you have.