Wayne Miller is a seasoned executive with decades of experience designing and manufacturing products in the robotics, clean-tech, semiconductor, and consumer industries. He held leadership roles at companies including Bossanova Robotics, Ubiquiti, and Apple Computer. He was responsible for setting up internal and external manufacturing sites and supply chains at Skydio, Solyndra, and Greenvolts. Wayne specializes in designing products for scale, cost reduction, and new product introduction. In addition to holding 35 patents, Miller also lectures on entrepreneurship at Northeastern University and UC Berkeley.
Tell us about your role at PRG?
I will be working to help customers bring their early stage concepts or products into scaled production. I also hope to work with founders and advise them on scaling their organization, developing appropriate processes for their company, and identifying ways for PRG to support their new product introduction needs.
How did you get started in hardware?
My career was transformed after I joined Apple. The Apple product development process changed my approach to hardware development. The engineering refinement, attention to detail, and production scale was amazing. I learned so much about what it takes to build a product at scale there. I had the opportunity to bring so many products into production such as the Quadra and Power Macintosh desktops, G4 Cube, iMacs, iSub and Soundsticks, and Apple Pro mouse and keyboard.
What is a product that you are proud of?
At Bossanova robotics we developed a scanning robot for use in Walmart. This product scanned the grocery aisle shelves three times a day during operating hours to inform the store when restocking was required. When I joined there was a working prototype that took over a month to build with an approximate BOM cost of $150K. We re-engineered that product in less than a year and were building 30/month at approximately $60K per unit at a tier 1 contract manufacturer (FLEX).
What trends and opportunities do you see in hardware that are relevant to your role at PRG?
I have had the opportunity to develop and scale several products in robotics and cleantech. I believe my experience in these areas will be relevant to the many companies innovating in these areas that want to produce at scale.
What do you like best about working in new product development and introduction?
I get so much satisfaction when the products I am working on are produced on a production line. I also love seeing my products at customers and operating in the field. Iterating on products over time to improve their function or ability to build them is very rewarding.
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If you would like a free consultation with Mr. Miller, or any of our experts at Product Realiaton Group, contact us toady.
