From concept to production
Since joining the Pivot International group in 2019, A2E has combined its product design expertise with access to global manufacturing and supply chain capabilities across Europe, North America and Asia. Working across sectors including oil and gas, renewables, medical and utilities, the company supports clients through the full product lifecycle, from early-stage concept development to volume manufacture
At Oceanology International 2026, we spoke with David Ross, managing director at Pivot A2E, and Anthony McMahon, engineering director at Pivot International, about engineering challenges, testing requirements, sustainability and the technologies shaping future projects.
What does the journey from concept to production typically look like for your clients?
McMahon: A client would provide a description or a requirement specification. We sometimes work with the client to develop the requirement specification if it is not complete. Once we have an adequate definition for the product, we can develop the design specification, which describes how we will meet the requirement (the implementation). We can then progress to developing the circuit schematic, PCB layout, software development, mechanical design and anything else required by the project. We use a staged development process with review points, prototype, testing and release control. We can provide a full product certification.
Ross: It also depends on what the client wants. Sometimes they only want a board and software and handle the mechanics themselves. In the oil and gas industry, because of its nature, a lot of the mechanical design is done by clients themselves.
How do you help clients keep projects on budget while meeting technical requirements?
McMahon: Every project has a dedicated project manager who tracks the project costs. We do a lot of work up front to ensure we can deliver the projects on time and on budget. Projects are tracked very carefully on a weekly basis, and if the client wants changes along the way, we manage that process to avoid overrun.
How do you ensure products meet the demanding standards of sectors such as oil and gas?
McMahon: For the oil and gas industry, we often find high temperature requirements. For example, downhole tools may be tested from 175-200°C We also provide vibration testing, thermal cycling, EMC, ESD, and CE marking. We are experts at developing product to meet ATEX/IECX standards for explosive environments.
For software, we develop to high integrity specifications which require unit testing, verification testing, and regression testing. The result is a high-quality product which is maintainable throughout its life cycle.
Despite serving different markets, what similarities do you see in product development requirements?
Ross: Electronics. There are differences in the electronics from industry to industry, but the core is usually microprocessors, microcontrollers or FPGAs running software or HDL.
What role does sustainability now play in product development?
McMahon: Our manufacturing facilities have processes to monitor hazardous chemicals and remain compliant. During design and development, we make sure we are using the right components and that we are not using anything that could have problems with chemicals or plastics. Typically, on the design side, it’s already low impact on the environment.
What new capabilities or technologies are you looking to develop in the years ahead?
Ross: We already use AI and intend to grow our AI capabilities.
McMahon: We have already worked with AI on quite a few projects, and we are able to train algorithms and run them at the edge. We have also completed some projects using Jetson Nvidia chips, either for high-speed video decompression or along with AI implementations. Within the Pivot group, we are developing quantum products as well. It is early stage for Quantum in some industries, but this will undoubtedly become a key technology in subsea as well as oil and gas.
For oil and gas operators and equipment manufacturers, reliability, testing and speed to market remain critical. By combining design expertise with global manufacturing support, A2E aims to help clients bring robust new technologies to market more efficiently.
For more information visit: www.a2etech.com
