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SGW Taps TechHelp Talent Pipeline to Meet Growing Demand

With the help of: TechHelp

About

SGW Designworks was founded in 2008 in Boise, Idaho, by three colleagues who had worked together in the corporate world on large development projects for a Fortune 500 company. The trio noticed a lack of firms qualified to help companies with product development challenges and formed SGW to fill the void. SGW Designworks has earned success and respect by passionately delivering exceptional engineering services to companies across Idaho and throughout the United States.

The Challenge

SGW Designworks creates next-level engineering solutions by applying creativity, experience, and multidisciplinary development principles to solve difficult problems. Ryan Gray, SGW President, expressed the company’s need for talented and experienced engineers to address their growing clients’ project needs. Such talent has not always been easy to find in Southern Idaho, but is increasingly available thanks to the Boise State New Product Development (NPD) Lab, managed by TechHelp, a member of the MEP National Network™.
SGW has been utilizing NPD students on our client projects for years. Tapping proven engineering talent from the NPD student pool has reduced the risks associated with hiring and onboarding new designers to SGW. This resource is one of the most effective ways TechHelp is available to help us grow our business and overcome challenges.
— Ryan Gray, Co-founder and CEO

MEP's Role

Rather than compete, SGW and NPD formed a partnership to develop local engineering talent necessary to meet client design, engineering, and prototyping needs. NPD is known locally for hiring, training, and mentoring top Boise State engineering students and engaging them on client projects. TechHelp and SGW recognised that the most important “product” generated at the NPD Lab was the talent pipeline of young engineers who hone their skills working on client projects. SGW took its relationship with TechHelp a step deeper by “embedding” student employees within SGW to work on specific customer projects, giving SGW the ability to augment its staff with top young talent and to evaluate NPD student employees for potential full time employment. NPD student employees benefit by gaining exposure to industry skills and experiences that augment their academic curriculum. SGW has helped NPD become more relevant to the evolving needs of its client base by providing training in product design lifecycle and innovation brainstorming strategies. 

During the COVID pandemic, SGW’s relationship with TechHelp became even more valuable thanks to the quick turn additive manufacturing capabilities provided by the Lab. TechHelp helped drive business at SGW by offering subsidized funding for third-party contractor design work with Idaho manufacturers and entrepreneurs for SGW customers.


Created April 2, 2021, Updated April 30, 2022