Hummingbird is your expert partner for gas sensing solutions

Step 1: Initial enquiry

From the moment you make an enquiry with Hummingbird, you’ll be dealing with experts who know your market, and your region. 

We assign an account manager to the project who will work as your regionally based main contact with Hummingbird throughout the entire project. This account manager directs all technical/commercial data and correspondence to the correct Hummingbird staff, ensuring that your enquiries are dealt with in a timely fashion. 

Understanding your project objectives

We will gather as much background information as we can on your application and its unique circumstances – primarily technical data, to understand your measurement expectations. This allows us to ensure that the appropriate sensor is being considered, and to identify the risk areas. It also enables us to ensure that we are comfortable with the intended end application. 

Building the partnership

Establishing a partnership means building trust between both sides. We’ll generally start out with bilateral Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to protect your confidential information. By dealing with our experts – who have worked with many other customers in many applications – you’ll quickly discover you can rely on us to deliver your project requirements, both in design and production. 

Engagement across the organization

We also aim to engage across your organisation, collaborating with marketing, quality and purchasing/operations departments. In this way we can assure your whole business that you are achieving the best solution to the gas sensing challenges you face. 

Step 2: Trial and evaluation

We’ll send out sample units for you to begin tests, allowing you to set goals and schedules for your project. 

Evaluation and prototyping

At this stage, you’ll have begun to invest time and finance into your project. We’ll set up the relevant commercial records and send you sample units for evaluation and prototyping work. If it isn’t in place already, we will set up an interface between the two technical teams to exchange technical data. Any specific testing schedules we need to undertake are agreed and managed by the account manager. 

Project kick-off 

Together, we will establish the goals of the evaluation and what the pass-fail criteria are. Additionally, your timeline for project approval and goals for release to market. 

Step 3: Design process

By this stage you’re likely to have a hard deadline and budget in place, with all your technical queries dealt with in the previous phase. Our objective here is to provide any help you need, with design reviews as and when required. We’ll support your operations and manufacturing engineers to ensure that any operational requirements are considered early in the design process. 

There when you need us

We’ll continue to provide support as and when you need it, attending relevant project meetings, and exchanging test data, application notes, CAD models, etc. 

Testing under application conditions

At this stage you will be working through the verification of your design, where the system is operated under application conditions for the first time. Rest assured, we are ready to conduct a bespoke testing schedule as required. 

Step 4: Design approval

By this point your design has been approved and the project will move across into your operations and supply chain departments. You should no longer need technical support from us, but our expertise still has a role to play, and this is where the early engagement across your organization pays off. 

Agreeing the commercial relationship

We will move on to tying up any loose ends on contracts, quality documents. and agreeing call-off schedules. 

Assisting with marketing

We can support your marketing department as it generates collateral and launch plans for your final product. 

Step 5: First production batches

This should be the simplest and most uneventful stage of the process. It’s the first test run of production through your new process, allowing you to ensure that everything runs smoothly and produces the results you’re expecting. 

Step 6: Full production

The final stage: it’s time to start manufacturing your product, which means it’s time for us to step up full production of the sensor units you need. Our partnership doesn’t end there, though: we’ll continue to provide the support you need for any point of the process. 

Performance in partnership 

The account manager assigned to you right at the start of this project will continue to act as your point of contact, assisting with purchase orders and forecasting. They will also provide support with any technical, production or quality issues that might arise. And, having been involved from the start, their support is informed by a clear understanding of your project and its goals – delivering the performance in partnership that’s the cornerstone of Hummingbird.