Tackling a Startup’s Challenges With Solutions That Are “Just Right”

Startup companies have unique, exciting innovative ideas. They also have unique needs. Startup companies generally do not have the in-house resources to realize their idea’s potential. At Roush, we’ve developed a team and a process that can merge those ideas with the product commercialization disciplines required to bring those exciting ideas to life.

Companies trying to secure an early round of funding often need a working prototype to wow potential investors. Other times, they have already secured funding, have a prototype in the marketplace, and are looking to commercialize their product and scale for production.

In both cases, Roush is well positioned to support our customers on their journey to production. That’s why we’re the right fit for any size startup, with the right resources, personnel and process required to bring their product to life. People question why we call our manufacturing arm Flexible Assembly. Because being flexible and scalable is the key to our effectiveness and our customers’ success.

The credo of our founder, Jack Roush, is simple: Roush is in business to solve our customers’ problems. To do that, you need technical curiosity and the agility to pivot to the need. That describes our team – unparalleled problem – solving skills and the ability to work across disciplines. One day, we may be working on a startup’s autonomous-vehicle project then a few weeks later, it’s on to another startup’s battery electric vehicle, defense platform or agricultural product.

That’s what makes Roush so unique, and it’s why OEMs in the Detroit area and globally refer startups to us, whether it’s a project that will result in just a handful of prototypes or 10,000+ vehicles per year. And if a startup needs to eventually produce higher volumes of its product, we have relationships with large scale contract manufacturers that can meet that need too.

The challenging part is thoroughly assessing a startup’s position in the development cycle and deftly applying the appropriate resources at the right levels to accomplish the mission. If that sounds familiar, think of Goldilocks in the three bears’ cottage: she chose the chair that was “just right”; not too big and not too small.

Roush is the same way… we apply just the right amount of technology, skill, and resources to solve a customer’s development needs. That includes design and engineering as well as process development for both component manufacturing and assembly. Customers, particularly those in the startup space, have noted that their niche programs are too small for huge contract manufacturers and that smaller suppliers do not have the breadth of services required to execute their programs efficiently. By choosing Roush, these customers find a best-fit solution for their needs.

Why? We excel at resource planning at an enterprise level with the understanding that startups often have a high rate of design changes as they move quickly toward production. To support customers in this fast-moving environment, our team must remain very agile. Startups by their very nature receive tremendous amounts of feedback about their product attributes as they get closer to production. It’s up to Roush to help them make sense of the feedback and apply the changes in a manner that supports their product need and the company’s commercial needs.

Startups are highly sensitive about their IP, and that’s something Roush takes very seriously. Roush has a reputation for having extremely robust security protocols in place, giving startups a very high level of confidence that their idea won’t end up in the wrong hands.

Suffice to say, Roush’s commitment to right-sizing and scalability make it the premier partner for any startup in virtually any industry, from mobility to aerospace, from defense to theme parks and beyond.

Reminiscent of Goldilocks, the Roush solution will be “just right.”