--- title: "When the catalogue ends, the engineering begins." description: "Bespoke hardware engineering engagements for deployments that sit at the edge of what standard platforms can do." url: "https://www.lmtek.com/custom-engineering" locale: "en" --- # When the catalogue ends, the engineering begins. Custom engineering is our smallest practice by volume and our most demanding by depth. We take on a small number of bespoke engagements each year where the standard hardware will not solve the problem and the customer's application is engineered enough that the fit is worth doing properly. ## We take the work we can do well. A custom engineering engagement sits between the hardware engineering our catalogue products come out of and the system integrator practice that puts them into service. It is engineering as a supplier relationship, with the economics and expectations that come with that. We take on a small number of these a year. We say no more often than we say yes. The selectivity is not a posture. It's the only way the work stays at the standard it needs to be at. ## Thermal engineering, across very different rooms. The constant across these engagements is not the hardware, it is the discipline of designing thermal solutions against the deployment, not the data sheet. The applications themselves vary widely. - Server hardware - Edge AI · machine vision - Motorsport · telemetry - Laboratory instruments - Defence · mobile platforms - Research · national labs - Industrial · process tooling ## Engagements we can name. ### Sandwich GPU cooling for ultra-dense servers A French server manufacturer building toward the upper bound of GPU density per rack unit. We developed custom water blocks, including sandwich-style designs that cool one GPU on each face of the same block. This way, the chassis could carry more silicon per slot than air or single-sided liquid could support. ### Integrated cooling for NVIDIA® Jetson AGX Xavier™ and AGX Orin™ Connect Tech designs carrier boards and integrated modules around the NVIDIA Jetson AGX platform - devices deployed into smart traffic systems, vision cameras, and outdoor lighting controllers where the enclosure is sealed and the ambient is whatever the weather decides. ### In-car compute and telemetry cooling under racing load Revolve NTNU is the formula-student team at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, racing at the front of their category in driverless and electric classes. Their cars run substantial onboard compute and telemetry that has to hold under races where vibration, heat soak, and packaging are all working against the electronics. ### Sample-stage thermal control for a cytology platform X-Zell builds laboratory instruments for cellular analysis. We developed custom cooling, including Peltier-driven water blocks. Inside those instruments, where the cooled element is the biological sample stage or the imaging chain, temperature stability matters more than raw capacity. ## What a good engagement looks like. The first conversation is about fit. If the engagement is right for both sides, the scope follows quickly. If it is not, we will say so plainly and often point you somewhere that is a better match. - Yes — The standard hardware catalogue is close, but not quite right for your deployment envelope. - Yes — You have a specific physical, thermal, or electrical constraint that rules out off-the-shelf. - Yes — You need engineering to be the supplier, not a distributor. - No — You need one-offs at volume-one pricing. - No — You want us to source and badge someone else's design. - No — The engagement is a purchasing exercise rather than a technical one. ## How a bespoke engagement moves. ### Fit call A technical conversation. We understand the problem. You understand whether we are the right supplier. ### Scope Engineering scope document. Clear on what is in, what is out, and what the deliverable is. ### Build Design, prototype, iterate. You are in the loop; we do not disappear. ### Deliver Production units, manufacturing documentation, and the support relationship to match.