Though I love being a student in the Smith School of Business, one of my favorite perks of being a QUESTee is exposure to diverse companies that I don’t typically see at Smith’s career fairs. I was granted such an opportunity in February when QUEST Corporate announced a company visit to a product development consulting firm called Root3Labs. Though I knew very little about engineering consulting, I was eager to learn more about the firm and the kind of client work they performed. I signed up for the visit immediately and started thinking of questions I had for the founder.
QUESTees in front of Root3Labs
We arrived at its Owings Mills, MD site and first got to learn a bit more about the company’s operations. Root3 Labs was founded in 2012 by Cohort 3 QUEST alumnus, Chad Schneider. The company specializes in the design, prototyping, and product development of electromechanical devices. In other words, they help their clients turn complex research projects into fully commercial prototypes. Examples of previous prototypes they’ve created include a “smart” pacifier for Brainchild Technologies, a COVID-19 protective drape for Drape Medical, and film-developing reels. Schneider explained the entire product development process from start to end, starting with how they filter and select potential clients, conduct product research, test and iterate their products, and create final working prototypes. We then took a tour of the factory where the prototypes are built, tested, and stored.
Presentation on the Product Development Cycle
Personally, I felt that the site visit really furthered my understanding of product development in practice. It reminded me a lot of the design thinking work we did in BMGT/ENES 190H, and it was inspiring to see that many of those lessons are applicable in the workplace. I was also able to talk to some student attendees about their favorite part of the site visit.
Chad providing a facility tour
I first talked to Ian Rosenthal, a Cohort 36 student and one of the QUEST Corporate co-leads who had helped plan the site visit. Rosenthal, a mechanical engineering major, found the company’s story most interesting. “I liked hearing about how they’ve evolved from a one-man team to the firm they are today. It was also interesting to hear about all the cost-benefit analysis Chad would have to perform to gauge whether or not they should bring on new projects, employees, or equipment.”
Cohort 36 mechanical engineering major Scott Fleishmann really enjoyed “walking around the factory tour and learning about all the interesting tools around us, like the collar-shaped kevlar and all of the heavy-duty machinery. The other cool part was all the prototypes he was showing and explaining, like the handicap-accessible roller chair and the therapy bed. I got to understand technical consulting firsthand.”
Cohort 35 student Nick Bailey added, “My favorite part of the site visit was learning about the scoping process for various projects. Being in the QUEST Scoping class now, it was interesting to see what standards companies hold when taking on new clients and how our scoping practices in QUEST compare to theirs.”
Lastly, I talked to Cohort 35’s Amisha Agrawal. As a computer science major, Agrawal said, “It’s rare that I get to work with physical prototypes and products, so I really enjoyed learning about what other types of STEM careers entailed. I was also really impressed with the in-home spa prototype we got to see!”
This is your sign to sign up for site visits even if you feel that the firm doesn’t directly correlate to your major! A special thank you to QUEST Corporate and our Assistant Director, Jessica Roffe, for putting this site visit together as well as Chad Scheider and Root3 Labs for hosting us. I can’t wait to see which site visits will be offered later this year!