We can create any device for your business.

Our engineering staff can make any device you need. Man & Machine’s team has a wide range of experience in the specialty peripherals market with an emphasis on custom interfaces and point of sales peripherals. We have created devices for Fortune 500 companies and leaders in the medical and industrial fields.

Government Experience
Our D.C. area team is experienced in the Government approval process.
Active participation in:
– DIBBS Defense Logistics Agency Internet Bid Board System
– WAWF Wide Area Work Flow System
– FEDBID online marketplace for goods and services

USA Design Team
Expert design and engineering team located in our Landover, Maryland headquarters Learn about our key team members.

Request Our Sample Book
Contact us to get an extended sample of our custom engineering work by requesting our sample book.
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Custom Engineering Case Studies

Case 1: Medical Device Peripheral Project
A worldwide leader in the manufacturing of anesthesiology machines had an opportunity to develop a new anesthesiology device for US military hospitals around the world. Man & Machine was selected as a potential provider of keyboards & mice. Among the selection criteria, the peripherals had to have the ability to be properly cleaned and disinfected using any EPA approved disinfectant wipe. The initial ranking had Man & Machine in second place, losing out to a cheaper Chinese made product. Our approach was to provide a comprehensive needs analysis with the final decision maker, an Anesthesiologist for the US Navy who understood exactly what these military doctors required to properly do their job. The conversation went from, what it costs, to what type of functionality is required so that the doctors can best perform their duties and maintains a clean, sterile environment in the operating room.

During the meeting, the Anesthesiologist was impressed with the variety of options presented, including a compact form factor, custom USB cable length, magnetic keyboard & mouse attachment system and multi-level backlighting. He selected all of these options and was pleased to learn the peripherals would be built and serviced in the USA.

This decision allowed for a smaller tray than originally specified, an advantage in an operating room where space is at a premium. Also the tray was modified from plastic to powder coated steel, allowing the custom magnets housed under the keyboard & mice skin to cleanly and securely attach to the tray without the need for dirty tape or Velcro™.

After a few years of supplying product under this contract, our client has not had a single failure and continues to order on a regular schedule. The manufacturer has now partnered with Man & Machine on other healthcare related products.

Case 2: Mobile-Point-of-Sales
A leading USA software company, in the process of launching their own tablet, was in search of a line-busting point-of-sale (POS) solution. This solution would allow their store associates to process credit card payments on a tablet, away from the traditional cash register, thus eliminating lines for the customer to wait in to pay.

A rugged tablet was selected by the company to be used in conjunction with payment software for a payment gateway that was also being launched. Man & Machine was selected to manufacture a magnetic stripe reader (MSR), using a unique encrypted cypher head designed specifically for use with the selected payment gateway. This solution needed to also include additional USB/Ethernet ports, and easily attach to the tablet using the existing dock connectors.

With our experienced engineers on-site we were able to design, prototype for initial testing, and manufacture a solution that would work within the requested parameters. An initial 580 units were provided to the customer within a 6 week window to allow the client time to complete testing and roll-out within their system, meeting the stated holiday deadline. Since then, additional orders have been place and fulfilled.

This Fortune 100 software company was so impressed with the timeliness and quality of work provided by Man & Machine, they are now working with us on a new larger project.

Case 3: Work Station on Wheels Solution
In 2011, Man & Machine was contacted by a leading mobile workstation (WOW/Cart) manufacturer to tackle a custom design project. The manufacturer needed assistance in designing and manufacturing a custom docking station reboot switch, or “Micro-Doc”, for their WOWs. WOWs are mobile carts used in hospitals to gather EMR (electronic medical records) data. They generally consist of a computer, keyboard and mouse, monitor and barcode scanner, all on a wheeled battery powered platform so it can be used from one patient room to the next.

It is critically important for hospitals to maximize the run-time (battery life) on WOWs so the manufactures typically integrate laptop computers, locked away inside the cart to prevent theft, because they consume very little power. This presents a potential problem if the computer were to crash. With the computer locked away, the reboot switch is no longer accessible to anyone who do not have a key, for example, the nurses and doctors who input the EMR data. Once the computer is down, the medical staff has to wait for an IT service call which can take hours.

The Man & Machine solution was developing an external reboot switch that would work with a variety of laptop models. This presented the challenge of locating pin connectors for the various laptops in use, many at or near end-of-life. Once the pin connectors were identified and sourced, the Micro-Doc was engineered and built in Man & Machine’s USA facility, delivered on time, on budget for the WOW manufactures to retrofit all their carts. Problem solved through the engineering expertise and ingenuity of Man & Machine.

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Non-recurring engineering (NRE) and minimum order quantities may apply.