Great ideas don’t fail. Execution does.
Photonics programs don’t stall because innovation is missing. They stall when early success creates false confidence and reality only shows up when change is expensive.
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Prototypes break under thermal cycling, real-world handling and the reliability testing nobody scheduled
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Teams drift out of sync across disciplines, cultures, and time zones — with the factory on another continent
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Manufacturing constraints arrive late — when the design is frozen and options are already locked
The result: the schedule slips, cash goes into rework instead of the next product, the spec gets quietly renegotiated — and everyone stops believing the next date you give them.
Most of this is visible months before it becomes a crisis.
Start with a diagnosis
Ramp Diagnostic
Two weeks. On site with your team, then at your manufacturing partner.
Two weeks from now you will know which constraint is limiting your yield.
€10,000 fixed. Flights and accommodation at cost.
If the report gives you nothing you can act on, you don't pay. Your call, no argument.
I work on site — with your team first, then on the line at your manufacturing partner. I review the product, the process, the supply chain, the partner relationship, the cost structure and the test strategy across eight dimensions of manufacturing readiness.
You get:
• A written report with a readiness rating per dimension
• The ranked causes of what is actually holding the ramp back
• A prioritised 90-day plan: what to fix, in what order, and who has to do it
• A 90-minute readout with your team
I am on your side of the table. I speak photonics and I know the Taiwanese supply base, so I can tell the difference between a real process constraint and a partner managing your expectations.
Most companies ask me to stay and fix what I found. That's a separate conversation, and it only happens if you want it.
[See the full scope →]
Who this is for
This works best when:
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You're past prototype and into production
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You manufacture in Taiwan or elsewhere in Asia, and you're running it from Europe or the US
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The ramp is behind, and the explanations you're getting don't add up
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You can open the real data — yield, test, supplier — and someone in the room can act on what I find
This is not the right time if:
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You're still proving the concept.
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You haven't chosen a manufacturing partner yet. Come back when you have — or talk to me before you choose, which is a shorter and different conversation.
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You want a document to support a decision that has already been made.
What success looks like
Two weeks from now, you will know
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Which constraint is actually limiting your ramp
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Whether your manufacturing partner can get you there, or can't
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What it will take to fix it, in what order, and who has to do it
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Whether the date you've given your investors is real
Who you'll be working with
Lawrence Bogaert
PhD in Photonics, PMP
For 15 years I've led complex product development programs from early concept through industrialization and volume production, across Europe and Asia. Before founding The Forward Company I held Director and Senior Director roles in project, program and product management at Heptagon Micro-Optics, ams and ams OSRAM. Before that, I led time-of-flight camera development at SoftKinetic.
My work has been in advanced optics and photonics, sensing systems and highly integrated hardware — environments where the innovation is impressive and manufacturability decides whether it ever becomes a product. I've shipped into the smartphone market and manufactured products in Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.
What I'm best at is hands-on, customer-facing execution: sitting between the customer, the partners and the engineering team, and turning requirements into the concrete decisions that make a promise deliverable. That includes reliability testing, design hardening, production readiness — because a prototype that performs in the lab rarely survives the real world without deliberate maturation.
When you hire The Forward Company, I'm the one who shows up.
Let’s move your product forward.
If you're building a photonics or advanced hardware product and the path from prototype to production isn't clear yet — reliability, manufacturability, supply chain, or a ramp that's slipping — let's have a focused conversation about what comes next.
No pitch. No obligation.
Just clarity on what’s blocking progress and what it would take to fix it.
I read every message myself and reply within two working days.
Or email info@theforward.company directly.