Services
Westlake Systems works with founders and small teams wherever they need help: a single review, hands-on engineering, or ongoing technical leadership.
Ways to work together
Design review
A second set of eyes
Design reviews and architecture pressure-tests, before the expensive decisions get expensive.
What it covers
- Schematic and board layout reviews
- System and firmware architecture reviews
- Wireless, RF, and antenna design reviews
- Design for manufacturing and test (DFM/DFT)
- Compliance and regulatory readiness
- A second opinion on vendor and design-firm proposals
What you get
Written findings ranked by risk, and a call to walk through them.
What I look for in a hardware design reviewHands-on engineering
An engineer at the bench
Schematics, board layout, firmware, prototypes, and test, done hands-on alongside your team.
What it covers
- Schematic capture and board layout
- Microcontroller and FPGA-based designs
- Firmware, board bring-up, and debug
- Wireless and RF: sub-GHz, Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi, cellular, UWB
- Prototype build and test, through handoff to manufacturing
- Production test fixtures, automation, and internal tools
What you get
Working, documented hardware and firmware, ready for the next stage.
Before your first board spinFractional CTO
Someone to run the whole effort
Technical leadership without a full-time hire: setting direction, running the engineering team, and giving you a clear view of what is realistic.
What it covers
- Technical direction, architecture, and technology selection
- Running the engineering team and schedule
- Hiring, vendors, and contract manufacturers
- Tools, test equipment, and processes that fit the team
- Regulatory and compliance planning from the start
- Plain answers for leadership on cost, risk, and timing
What you get
A clear technical plan, and an engineering effort run against it.
Does your hardware company need a fractional CTO?
When to call
- A first board is about to be ordered
- A prototype works, but not every time
- A compliance test came back with failures
- A vendor or design-firm proposal needs a second opinion
- Leadership needs a clear view of what is realistic
- A design started with AI tools has hit a wall
Flexible by design
There is no standard package. Each engagement is set up around the project, and it can grow, shrink, or change shape as the project moves. A written proposal spells out the scope, rate, and terms before anything starts.
Hourly
For reviews, quick questions, and work that is hard to scope up front. You pay for the time used.
Monthly retainer
A set block of time each month, for fractional CTO work or steady part-time engineering. Easy to adjust as needs change.
Remote or on site
Most work happens remotely. Westlake travels to your team, lab, or contract manufacturer when being in the room matters.
Your tools, your process
Westlake works in your repositories, design tools, and tracker, and fit your meeting rhythm.
When a project needs more
Some projects need more hands, or a specialty outside its own. For those, Westlake brings in independent engineers and designers it knows and trusts. Depending on the project, they work as part of the engagement with you, or Westlake introduces you directly. Either way, you get the right expertise without having to find and vet it yourself.
Specialties in the network
- Software and apps
- Mechanical design
- Prototyping
- 3D printing
- Industrial design
- Machining and fabrication
- Electrical and power electronics
- FPGA design
- UI and UX design
- Compliance and regulatory
Westlake covers several of these directly. The network adds depth and capacity when a project calls for it.
Working with Westlake
The practical details that legal and purchasing teams usually ask about.
Agreements
Westlake can work under your consulting agreement or master services agreement, or provide its own.
Confidentiality
An NDA can come first, before you share any details. Anyone Westlake brings in from its network signs one before seeing your work.
Intellectual property
You own it, always. Designs, source code, documentation, and any intellectual property created during the engagement belong to you.
Invoicing
Westlake Systems LLC is a US company. Invoices go out monthly on net 30 terms, with time fully itemized and each task described. A W-9 is available on request.
Common questions
- Can you work alongside our team or other vendors?
- Yes. Westlake can join your engineering team, work next to an outside design firm, or coordinate with your contract manufacturer. The goal is for the pieces to fit together, wherever they come from.
- Can you help with compliance and certification?
- Yes. Compliance is cheapest to plan for at the start. Westlake can review a design for compliance risk, help plan the path to certification for the markets you sell into (FCC, ISED, CE, UKCA, UL, RoHS, REACH, and more), and support the testing, with a specialist from its network when the project calls for one. Read more: Plan for compliance from day one · Compliance by market
- Which wireless technologies do you work with?
- A wide range: sub-GHz radios and LoRa, Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi HaLow, Thread and Zigbee, cellular IoT, NFC, UWB, and mmWave. Westlake starts from what the product needs, then chooses the technology that fits it, and whether to use a pre-certified module or design the radio onto your board. Read more: Choosing a radio · Module or chip-down
- We built our prototype with AI tools. Can you help?
- Yes. Westlake can review what you have, whether it is schematics, board layout, firmware, or a parts list, find what is sound and what needs work, and help take it from there to a product that can be certified and manufactured. You don't need to know what kind of help you need. Send what you have, and after a short call Westlake will propose a scope for the work. Read more: Built your hardware with AI? What to check next
- Do you support products after they ship?
- Yes. A product often needs engineering long after launch: firmware updates, replacements for parts that reach end of life, and help tracing problems seen in the field. Westlake can stay involved or step in when needed, working from the design files and release records so the work picks up where it left off.
- Can we see past projects?
- Most client work is under NDA, and it stays that way, just as yours would. In general terms: high-speed imaging for sports and precision timing, electronics for mining and industrial sites, consumer products and test equipment, radio and wireless systems, plus feasibility studies and design reviews. On a call, Westlake is glad to talk through what is relevant to your project.
Have a project in mind?
Based in southern Indiana. Working with clients anywhere.