1993 - 1999 Morton Vaughan Product Design, Hong Kong
Morton Vaughan provided a much needed service for US companies requiring reliable business assistance in the Far East, and for Asian companies in need of American market and design expertise. At a time when ID was just beginning to be understood and appreciated in Asia, were the first fully expatriate-staffed design firm in Hong Kong.
In addition to Industrial Design work, mainly in consumer electronics, projects included acquisition and management of US engineering resources, as well as acquisition and management of Asian sourcing, molding, and production for US based clients. Worked extensively with clients manufacturing telephones, fax machines, home audio, appliances, and personal wireless electronics. Regularly traveled between the US and Asia on business.
I was responsible for strategy, day-to-day management, business development, and customer liaison, as well as design input and project management. Depending on the project, I guided the development of products from concept design through engineering and tooling, to manufacturing. I successfully built relationships with local and international companies such as AT&T Consumer Products Group, General Electric, and Craig Consumer Electronics.
An important component of my work was my cross-cultural experience in effectively resolving design, engineering, and manufacturing problems unique to the international environment. I regularly worked with my clients and their customers at levels ranging from the factory floor to top executive management. As most products we developed were bound for US markets, we closely monitored design integrity throughout the process, as well as helped to keep costs down for our clients. Accomplishing this involved setting up and managing project teams across all appropriate divisions of the client - in some cases for the first time for them - as well as bridging the gap between US based marketing groups and Asian engineering and manufacturing resources.