'We take complex products to market in five months': Engineering at SharkNinja

Engineering is everywhere – even in places you might not expect. In each issue, we’re speaking to workers from well-known organisations about how they engineer success.

SharkNinja is two companies in one – Shark makes upright and robotic vacuum cleaners with a high-tech twist, while Ninja aims to bring ‘precision engineering’ to the kitchen.  Lots of innovation goes on behind the scenes, says Jen Marsden, director of design engineering.  

“I primarily look after design and engineering for the Ninja heated team, where we develop pressure cookers, grills and things like that. It’s a massive part of the business and it’s getting a lot of investment.

“There is a huge amount of innovation behind the scenes. We really strive to have products that benefit the consumer, doing a considerable amount of consumer insight early on. Ninja works with a team of chefs in the US to make sure the technology matches the food that consumers want to create and eat.” 

Wrap battle

“We also look at products we have sold and see what might not be working to improve them. A big example was with our vacuum cleaners. A particular problem has been hair wrapping around the brush-roll, which is designed to dislodge small particles of dirt from the ground, but we developed anti-hair-wrap technology to prevent that happening. A ‘bristle-guard’ and comb separate and remove all the hair from the bristle brush-roll to make it far easier for the customer. 

“We also used that tech in a new advanced robot cleaner that uses optical sensors to map out the room it is in. Usually vacuum robots use a technology known as ‘random bounce’, but advanced navigation is six times more efficient, having a big impact on battery life.

“The robot also docks automatically and empties its waste container, then you can just empty the dock once a month. Making devices low maintenance is a big driver for our products. 

“The expertise in the London office is primarily product design and within that there is mechanical engineering, particularly in Shark. Motors, gearing and airflow are a large focus for both brands, and there are also a lot of software engineers in the robot and mechatronic side of things. 

“Our advanced development team works right through to production. Everyone looks at all aspects of our products, giving us a more all-round approach. That complements the work at our offices in the US and China, where they are more specialised. The head office is based in Boston. Having engineers around the world means we have a 24-hour development cycle. When China finishes, we are getting started, and then we pass on to Boston at the end of the day. 

“We have an advanced team starting with low-fidelity models and then card prototypes to get initial performance testing. We do rapid prototype testing, but if it is a big thing we rely on our Chinese producers, who can build things that operate in high temperatures. Once we get to tooling, we work very closely with manufacturing to make sure the products meet our quality requirements. We also source expertise that we don’t necessarily have in house, in fluid dynamics for example. 

“I’ve never worked anywhere else with that kind of continuous cycle, and it enables a fast pace for delivering technically challenging products. We can take quite complex consumer products to market in about five months. Having different skillsets across each site allows us to deliver that without compromising technical quality.” 

Foodie feedback

“Because our products are always trying to push the boundaries – and do that very quickly – there are a lot of challenges in making sure new products are not too costly. We are trying to make consumer products at the end of the day, so devices need to meet consumers’ needs at the right price. We do regular check-ins with our customers to make sure we are meeting those expectations. 

“One of the biggest benefits is the ability to see your efforts on the shelf in a relatively short length of time. To see new devices get to market quickly and get good feedback, from foodie groups on Facebook for example, is really rewarding.”