When you’re developing new equipment, there are a lot of steps between having an idea and putting that equipment in the hands of a customer. There’s the design work, testing, manufacturing and all the changes that happen along the way. The process can take even longer when those pieces are spread across different companies or locations.

At Aries, our engineering and manufacturing and sales teams work under the same roof in Waukesha, Wisconsin. That doesn’t mean every new idea moves from a sketch to a finished product overnight, but it does give our teams the ability to work together throughout the process and make changes without waiting on an outside manufacturer to catch up.

Engineering and Manufacturing, Working Together

Having those teams close together makes a difference when we’re developing new equipment. An engineer can work directly with manufacturing on a design, a production team can identify an issue and get it back to engineering, and feedback from the sales team can make its way into that back and forth as well.

EV and Steadyline Power Systems That kind of collaboration has been important as we’ve developed and introduced several new products and systems over the past few years:

Voyager™ HD Mainline Inspection System — sharper, more reliable video to capture every pipe detail
Wolverine 2.0® Electric Cutting System—our all-electric cutter, refined to include an 850’ reel based on customer feedback from the field
LETS Sidewinder Lateral Inspection System — maximizes time in the pipe with simultaneous mainline and lateral inspection capability; CANbus-enabled controls increases operator control
EV and Steadyline power systems — deliver sustainable solutions in response to customer demand

Each of these products went through development, testing and changes before it was ready for customers. Having engineering and manufacturing working together makes it easier to have those conversations, make adjustments and keep the process moving.

Why Getting There Faster Matters

The equipment used to inspect a sewer line is becoming more important as the industry puts greater emphasis on the data collected during an inspection. AI-assisted video coding is one example. As that technology continues to develop, the quality of the video being captured becomes even more important because the software can only work with the information it receives.

That’s something we’re thinking about as we develop new inspection technology. The goal isn’t simply to introduce something new. It’s to build equipment that works well for the operator today while also giving them a strong foundation for the technology they’ll be using tomorrow.

From Our Facility to the Field

There’s no shortcut around the work that goes into developing new equipment. Ideas still have to be designed, built, tested and proven in the field. What our in-house model does is keep more of that process connected.

When the people designing the equipment and the people building it can work together, changes can happen more quickly and feedback doesn’t have as many places to get lost. That has helped us bring products like Voyager HD Mainline Inspection System, Wolverine 2.0 Electric Cutting System and LETS Sidewinder Lateral Inspection System to the market while continuing to develop what comes next.