Serving Los Angeles
Product Development Company for Los Angeles Clients
Full-service engineering, prototyping and short-run manufacturing — not a design studio
LA NPDT develops products for Los Angeles founders, brands and production companies: concept and industrial design, mechanical and electronic engineering, firmware and software, prototyping, testing and short-run manufacturing — all in one team, and all done by engineers.
We have been doing it since 2015, on more than 1,000 projects, and we work with LA clients remotely from our Louisiana engineering base.
- Founded 2015
- 1,000+ projects
- Prototypes to LA in 2 – 3 days
- Engineers, not account managers
Who develops products for Los Angeles clients?
Short answer
LA NPDT is a full-service product development company working with Los Angeles clients since 2015. We handle industrial design, mechanical and electrical engineering, firmware, prototyping, testing and short-run manufacturing in one team, from our Louisiana engineering base, with Pacific-time overlap and prototypes shipped to LA in two to three days. Typical projects run from about $18,000 for a mechanical product through to $150,000 and up for a connected device.
Los Angeles has strong industrial design studios and strong prototype shops. What is rarer is one company that will take an idea and stay with it through electronics, firmware, testing and the first production run — which is the part of the plan where most schedules break.
How we compare to named Los Angeles product development firms
Southern California has strong firms. They are not all built the same way, and the differences decide who is right for your project.
Read the table as a scope question rather than a quality one. If you already have production-ready files, a prototype house such as ARRK is exactly the right call. If you have an idea, a deadline and no drawings, the useful question is how many companies have to touch the project before it exists — every handoff between a studio, an engineering firm and a shop costs a re-draw, a re-quote and usually a few weeks.
Los Angeles-area product development firms compared on advertised scope
| Firm | Base | What they advertise | Electronics / firmware | Manufacturing | Why a client might pick us instead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LA NPDTUs | Ruston, Louisiana — serving LA remotely | Concept and industrial design, mechanical engineering, electronics, firmware, prototyping, testing, short-run manufacturing | In house | Short-run production in house | One team from sketch to first production run, at Louisiana rates |
| RKS Design | Thousand Oaks, CA (founded 1980) | Human-centred industrial design, product engineering and product development for startups through Fortune 500 | Advertised as part of product engineering | Not advertised as an in-house service | We also build and ship the prototypes and the first units, not only the design and engineering package |
| Tandem Design | Los Angeles / Orange County (founded 2009) | Award-winning industrial design and 'full stack' product development for global brands and high-growth innovators | Advertised within full-stack development | Not advertised as an in-house service | Direct engineer contact instead of a studio account structure, and lower blended rates |
| FILE2FAB | Los Angeles, CA | Industrial design, engineering and prototyping for startups and individual innovators | Not advertised | Production guidance rather than production | Electronics, firmware and short-run manufacturing continue in the same team |
| ARRK (US) | Southern California, US operations | Rapid prototyping, urethane casting, 3D printing, CNC machining, tooling and injection moulding | Not a design service | Yes — prototyping through low-volume production | We design and engineer the product first; a prototype shop needs finished files to quote from |
LA NPDTUs
- Base
- Ruston, Louisiana — serving LA remotely
- What they advertise
- Concept and industrial design, mechanical engineering, electronics, firmware, prototyping, testing, short-run manufacturing
- Electronics / firmware
- In house
- Manufacturing
- Short-run production in house
- Why a client might pick us instead
- One team from sketch to first production run, at Louisiana rates
RKS Design
- Base
- Thousand Oaks, CA (founded 1980)
- What they advertise
- Human-centred industrial design, product engineering and product development for startups through Fortune 500
- Electronics / firmware
- Advertised as part of product engineering
- Manufacturing
- Not advertised as an in-house service
- Why a client might pick us instead
- We also build and ship the prototypes and the first units, not only the design and engineering package
Tandem Design
- Base
- Los Angeles / Orange County (founded 2009)
- What they advertise
- Award-winning industrial design and 'full stack' product development for global brands and high-growth innovators
- Electronics / firmware
- Advertised within full-stack development
- Manufacturing
- Not advertised as an in-house service
- Why a client might pick us instead
- Direct engineer contact instead of a studio account structure, and lower blended rates
FILE2FAB
- Base
- Los Angeles, CA
- What they advertise
- Industrial design, engineering and prototyping for startups and individual innovators
- Electronics / firmware
- Not advertised
- Manufacturing
- Production guidance rather than production
- Why a client might pick us instead
- Electronics, firmware and short-run manufacturing continue in the same team
ARRK (US)
- Base
- Southern California, US operations
- What they advertise
- Rapid prototyping, urethane casting, 3D printing, CNC machining, tooling and injection moulding
- Electronics / firmware
- Not a design service
- Manufacturing
- Yes — prototyping through low-volume production
- Why a client might pick us instead
- We design and engineer the product first; a prototype shop needs finished files to quote from
Facts taken from each firm's own public website in August 2026 and describe the services they advertise, not our opinion of their work. The last column is our own positioning, not a claim about them.
What Los Angeles projects typically cost and how long they take
Ranges from our own recent work, for planning purposes. These are scoped single-product line items — full packaged engagements are priced on our solutions page. A real quote comes back within one business day of your brief.
Typical budget bands and durations by scope
| Scope | Typical budget band | Typical duration | What you end up holding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concept sketch package, one simple part, no engineering | $3,500 – $12,000 | 2 – 5 weeks | Sketch directions, chosen concept, renders |
| Production CAD from a concept you have already settled | $9,000 – $30,000 | 5 – 10 weeks | Manufacturable CAD, drawings, DFM notes |
| Simple mechanical product: design plus one working prototype | $18,000 – $60,000 | 8 – 16 weeks | Working prototype and the files behind it |
| Connected product with electronics and firmware | $45,000 – $150,000+ | 16 – 30 weeks | Functional units, board files, firmware |
| Short-run manufacturing (first units) | Quoted per unit and volume | 4 – 10 weeks after design freeze | Sellable inventory |
Concept sketch package, one simple part, no engineering
- Typical budget band
- $3,500 – $12,000
- Typical duration
- 2 – 5 weeks
- What you end up holding
- Sketch directions, chosen concept, renders
Production CAD from a concept you have already settled
- Typical budget band
- $9,000 – $30,000
- Typical duration
- 5 – 10 weeks
- What you end up holding
- Manufacturable CAD, drawings, DFM notes
Simple mechanical product: design plus one working prototype
- Typical budget band
- $18,000 – $60,000
- Typical duration
- 8 – 16 weeks
- What you end up holding
- Working prototype and the files behind it
Connected product with electronics and firmware
- Typical budget band
- $45,000 – $150,000+
- Typical duration
- 16 – 30 weeks
- What you end up holding
- Functional units, board files, firmware
Short-run manufacturing (first units)
- Typical budget band
- Quoted per unit and volume
- Typical duration
- 4 – 10 weeks after design freeze
- What you end up holding
- Sellable inventory
Bands assume a single product, not a family, and exclude tooling and certification-lab fees. Full packaged engagements — Product Discovery, Technical Concept Design, Prototype Development, Engineering and DFM, or a turnkey program from $35,000 — are priced on our product development solutions page.
Everything a product needs, in one team
Design and engineering
Concept design, industrial design, mechanical engineering, tolerance and materials work, and design for manufacture.
Electronics and code
Schematic capture, PCB layout, firmware and application software for connected and battery-powered products.
Prototyping and testing
Printed, machined and cast prototypes, functional builds, and in-house testing before anything is committed to tooling.
Short-run manufacturing
First production runs, assembly and packing so you can sell before committing to hard tooling.
Regulatory groundwork
Designing to the standards your category needs, and preparing what a certification lab will ask for.
One point of contact
The engineer running your project is the one you talk to. No account layer between you and the work.
Products we developed in the categories LA brings us
Beauty and wellness, connected devices, regulated equipment, machines and consumer goods — with the engineering shown, not just the render.
Products for film, television and the people in front of the camera
Los Angeles work has its own texture. We have developed products used in film and television production, and several of our clients are television personalities launching products under their own name.
Those projects share a pattern: an immovable air date or launch window, a look that has to survive being photographed, and a need for discretion until the reveal. We plan around all three — NDAs before the first call, staged deliverables tied to your date, and appearance-grade prototypes when the object has to be seen before it is finished.
Building hardware in an LA-shaped market
Los Angeles is one of the country's real innovation hubs — consumer brands, wellness and beauty, entertainment technology, aerospace and a deep manufacturing history in the surrounding basin. It is a market that rewards products with a point of view and punishes ones that miss a season.
That shapes how we scope LA projects: fast concept work so the direction is settled early, prototypes that photograph well because they will be shown before they are shipped, and short-run production so a brand can launch, learn and re-order rather than gamble on a container.
Where we are — and why that is good for a Los Angeles client
Short answer
LA NPDT is not headquartered in Los Angeles. We had an LA location and closed it during COVID; the team now works from our Louisiana engineering base and serves Los Angeles clients remotely, with Pacific-time overlap, prototypes shipped in two to three days, and travel to LA when a project needs someone in the room.
Two practical things came out of that move. We routinely work late, which lines up with Pacific time far better than a nine-to-five Eastern shop, so an afternoon question in LA still gets answered the same day. And our overhead in Louisiana is a fraction of what a studio pays for space and staff in Los Angeles, so the same senior engineering hours cost you less.
What did not change is who does the work. Every project is run by practising engineers — mechanical, electrical, firmware and software — not by account managers passing files to subcontractors.
How remote development actually runs for an LA client
- Kickoff call to write the brief, then a standing weekly review with the engineer doing the work.
- Working hours that overlap Pacific time into the afternoon, so a same-day answer is normal.
- Shared CAD and renders you can open in a browser, updated as the design moves.
- Prototypes shipped to the LA area, typically two to three days in transit.
- On-site attendance when it earns its cost: user testing, a factory visit, a shoot, a pitch.
- NDA before the first technical conversation; files transfer to you as the project closes out.
Where to go next
- Product design for Los AngelesConcept, industrial design and CAD for LA-based products.
- Prototyping for Los AngelesWorking prototypes shipped to LA, built by our own engineers.
- Service areasHow we work with clients in every US metro from our Louisiana base.
- Product development portfolioProducts we designed, engineered and manufactured.
- All development servicesResearch, design, engineering, prototyping and short-run production.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Are you located in Los Angeles?
No. We had a Los Angeles location and closed it during COVID. The team now works from our Louisiana engineering base and serves Los Angeles clients remotely, which is how most of our LA work has been done since 2020.
Which Los Angeles product development companies should I compare you with?
On design and engineering, firms such as RKS Design in Thousand Oaks, Tandem Design in Los Angeles and Orange County, and FILE2FAB in Los Angeles. On building parts, ARRK and Stratasys Direct in Valencia. The comparison table on this page sets out what each advertises.
How much does product development cost for an LA client?
A mechanical product from design to a working prototype typically runs $18,000 to $60,000, and a connected product with electronics and firmware $45,000 to $150,000 or more. A concept sketch package for a single simple part starts around $3,500; a full technical concept design engagement runs $15,000 to $40,000.
Does working remotely slow a project down?
It has not. We work late, which overlaps Pacific time, prototypes reach the LA area in two to three days, and reviews happen weekly with the engineer doing the work rather than an account manager.
Are you a design studio?
No. Design is one of our services. Mechanical and electronic engineering, firmware, prototyping, testing and short-run manufacturing are done by the same team, which is what separates us from a studio that hands off after the renders.
Why are your rates lower than Los Angeles firms?
Our overhead in Louisiana is far lower than the cost of space and staff in Los Angeles, and we do not staff an account layer between you and the engineers.
Will you sign an NDA and keep a launch confidential?
Yes. We sign before the first technical conversation, and we plan around reveal dates for clients whose launch is tied to an air date, a shoot or a retail window.
Can you come to Los Angeles if the project needs it?
Yes. We travel for user testing, factory visits, shoots and investor meetings when the trip earns its cost, and we say so plainly when it does not.
Where to go next
- Product design for Los AngelesConcept, industrial design and CAD for LA-based products.
- Prototyping for Los AngelesWorking prototypes shipped to LA, built by our own engineers.
- Service areasHow we work with clients in every US metro from our Louisiana base.
- Product development portfolioProducts we designed, engineered and manufactured.
- All development servicesResearch, design, engineering, prototyping and short-run production.
