MHD takes your electronics from requirements to approved first article and carries deadline and quality of the development. Five years as Head of Electronics at LUMA Vision, from proof of concept to FDA approval. Layout and development in-house, everything else in a curated partner network, under one responsibility. 84% of builds run at the first attempt, with jumper wires, 98% at the second. More than 200 projects for over 40 clients since 2013.
In a hurry? +49 89 820 815‑00
Four steps lie between concept and series production. Whether they succeed is decided beforehand: in the requirements, the architecture and the standards that apply to your product. Whether the result holds is decided afterwards: in the EMC lab and at the assembly house. You commission the full chain or a single stage, wherever your project is currently stuck. Each stage ends with a deliverable your team can review and reuse.
What do we actually need?
We create clarity before the first trace is drawn. Early strategic decisions such as layer stack-up and technology selection call for experience and professional requirements management. A clean analysis provides the foundation on which everything else can safely build.
The product idea, the functional specification and what is written between the lines become a verifiable requirements register. Every requirement carries a rationale and an acceptance criterion.
DeliverableRequirements register with acceptance criteria, agreed and approvedBlock diagram, power architecture, interfaces and the partitioning into modules. This is where the decisions are made that would be expensive to correct in the layout. Obsolescence management starts at the same point, during component selection, to IEC 62402.
DeliverableBlock diagram, power architecture, interface list and the risk assessment of the component selectionWhich standards apply to your product and what they mean for the design: IEC 60601, IEC 62368, EMC limits, clearance and creepage distances to IEC 60664. Plus an assessment of where the risks to approval and deadline lie.
DeliverableList of applicable standards with their design consequences, plus the test planHow does this become the best possible product?
Developed with foresight: we consider supply chain, complexity, embedded software and approval requirements from the outset and confirm feasibility through DFM, DFA and DFT reviews. Professional, well-documented schematics, designs and design rules are the foundation of every project that succeeds in the long run.
Footprints and schematic symbols to your CAD guidelines, with 3D STEP models on request. Your team keeps using them beyond the project.
DeliverableLibrary for reuse beyond the project
Your concept becomes a complete E-CAD schematic, cleanly annotated and ready for your internal review. We import legacy data from Eagle, OrCAD, CADSTAR, PADS, P-CAD or Tango.
DeliverableAnnotated E-CAD schematic, ready for your internal review
Placement and EMC-compliant routing, with signal integrity and manufacturability taken into account. Routing is 100% manual.
DeliverableNative Altium project with all source data
Gerber X2, ODB++, NC drill, Pick & Place and bills of materials (BOM), exported to your manufacturer's specification, metric or imperial, at the required precision. The design file grows alongside: months later, the reasoning behind every decision is still on record.
DeliverableGerber X2, ODB++, NC drill, Pick & Place and BOM, plus the auditable design fileWho is best placed to manufacture this for us?
We know the market. Curated manufacturer recommendations, technical support with the request for quotation and continuous PCB and EMS support from the first enquiry to ongoing production.
Curated fabricator recommendations to match layer stack-up, technology and quantity. When you request and compare quotations, someone who knows both the data sets and the fabricators is at the table.
DeliverableFabricator recommendation with technical rationale, complete request-for-quotation documentsManufacturing release, first article inspection and clarification directly with the assembly house, from the first production run to ongoing manufacturing. Years at the repair bench trained the eye for what brings a pick-and-place machine to a halt.
DeliverableApproved first article, faults clarified directly with the assembly houseThe complete electrical assembly, beyond the PCB itself. Wire list, connector pin-out, conductor cross-sections, shielding concept and strain relief, matched to the layout and to the enclosure in which the harness will later be routed. The interface between board and cable is where most field failures originate.
DeliverableCable harness drawing, wire list with connector pin-out, assembly specification and test specificationFrom released layout straight to assembled sample, with no detour through a tendering process. MHD knows the manufacturers, the data sets match each process, and questions from the shop floor go straight to the person responsible. The first sample is on the table while others are still comparing quotations.
DeliverableAssembled sample from the partner network, manufacturing queries resolved directlyIs our product ready for the market?
We keep CE, FCC and the like in view. We assess electrical and EMC risks for you, support you in the test laboratory and advise you as early as incoming inspection. Only tested quality leads to commercially successful products.
Which characteristics the first article must demonstrate and which incoming inspections are the critical ones. Defined before the first delivery arrives, not after.
DeliverableFAIR definition and inspection scope for incoming goodsFirst the test plan: which standards, which test severity levels, which set-up, which operating states. Then support in the laboratory. If a limit is exceeded, a corrective measure follows. Immunity and emissions are designed in from the first trace, which is why a retest is rarely needed.
DeliverableTest plan for the laboratory, test report and, in case of failure, the corrective measures implementedInsulation concept, clearance and creepage distances, protection classes and the evidence the test laboratory wants to see. Assessed on the actual build, not only on paper.
DeliverableAssessment of the electrical risks, supporting documentation for the laboratoryFrom requirements to approved first article, with one person responsible all the way.
Request the full chainExactly the one where your project is stuck. Only the layout, only the cable harness, only the EMC test plan.
Request one stageIndependent design review or expert report on a design created in-house. Documented to a depth that satisfies purchasing, quality assurance and audit.
Go to design review Request a reviewA physicist examines the real thing. That is why this section shows actual working states from customer projects. Detailed case studies with layer counts and signal classes will follow once customers have given their approval.
One component discontinuation, one EMC retest, and the layout becomes the bottleneck. That is when MHD steps in as the external layout department of your development team: to your guidelines, with layouts that pass your internal reviews, a fixed point of contact and predictable response times.
You bring the product idea, MHD develops the electronics to go with it. From first concept to a production-ready board, including the documents for your manufacturer.
Request the complete packageIndependent design reviews and expert reports on PCB and electronics design, documented to a depth that satisfies purchasing, quality assurance and audit.
Arrange a reviewMHD works with a selected partner network of electronics specialists. Your project starts without waiting for free capacity, and for specialist areas such as EMC an expert is on hand. You reach all of it through a single point of contact.
Responsibility for deadlines and quality rests with Dr Häuser. Your point of contact stays the same throughout the project.
The critical modules and the design architecture stay with Dr Häuser. For volume and peak load we draw on selected design resources from the network, under the same specifications, reviews and releases. Your project starts on the agreed date, and the final deadline holds.
If a question goes beyond the layout, MHD brings in the right specialist from the network.
The focus is on the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), with further partners manufacturing in Europe, the USA and Asia. Every project quickly finds the right manufacturer, from prototype to series production.
30 PCB fabricators in the network
20 assembly houses in the network
12 manufacturing countries
With the schematic, you hand over know-how. Three rules govern how MHD handles your data.
A non-disclosure agreement before the first file exchange, based on your own template if you prefer.
Only what is needed for library, schematic and layout changes hands. Processor firmware and ASIC internals stay with you.
Email communication encrypted end to end on request, from the quotation to final data delivery.
Power Tree: currents through the converter cascade, utilisation against ratings and heat dissipation per component, calculated directly in the browser.
Explaining layouts makes you understand them better. Dr Häuser gives technical talks at trade fairs and conferences, teaches at technical colleges and co-developed the seminar on obsolescence management run by the FED (Fachverband Elektronik-Design e.V., the German electronics design association). The FED has him train the designers who then go on to ZED certification.
Lecturer on the FED foundation course ‘Zertifizierter Elektronik-Designer’ (ZED, the FED's certified electronics designer programme) at Robert-Bosch-Schule Ulm and Technische Schule Aalen.
How many mistakes can your electronics afford?
MICADO at the ELT, work package manager for the cryogenic control system. Cryostat at 80 K, control cabinet no more than 1.5 K above room temperature. Cryogenic cable harness, sensors and vacuum feedthrough.
Haeuser et al., Proc. SPIE 10702 (2018). DOI 10.1117/12.2312048
That is exactly the kind of electronics Dr Marco Häuser has built: instruments for research and telescopes that run in a vacuum and at cryogenic temperatures. Once installed, nobody ever puts a soldering iron near them again. That is where you learn what a layout has to deliver to work first time. The doctorate was completed at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching.
He started at the repair bench of one of Bavaria's largest EMS providers, with other people's faults and a desoldering pump. In between lie years in measurement electronics, a degree in physics at LMU Munich and a doctorate in 2019. Manufacturing gave him the eye for whether a board can be assembled reliably; research gave him the care needed for sensitive signals. Both go into every layout MHD delivers.
Apprenticeship and journeyman years: communications electronics technician, specialising in radio engineering, at KATEK in Grassau.
MHD spots in the layout what will later hold up your assembly house. That saves you a correction loop after the first sample.
Development of measurement electronics, schematic and layout in Eagle, alongside a degree in physics at LMU Munich.
Sensitive signals get a clean reference plane and short return current paths from the start. Your measurement accuracy is preserved.
Instrument design in Altium, a master's degree in astrophysics (LMU and University of Texas at Austin), a doctorate in physics in 2019. Electronics for large telescopes and laboratory instruments: vacuum, temperatures down to −200 °C, a single unit.
Your documentation stands up to audit. Months later, the reasoning behind every decision is still on record.
Advanced Certified Interconnect Designer, the highest designer certification offered by IPC.
The highest level of the Zertifizierter Elektronik-Designer (ZED) programme. 89 graduates worldwide (as of March 2025).
Immunity and emissions, designed in from the first trace. Certified by the VDI (Association of German Engineers).
The tool behind every MHD layout, mastered down to the last detail.
Four questions that come up at the start of almost every project.
Before the first trace is drawn. Capture the requirements in a verifiable form, define the architecture and decide early which layer stack-up and which technology are realistic options. These are exactly the decisions that are expensive to correct later in the layout. A requirements register with acceptance criteria and a list of applicable standards with their design consequences are the foundation on which everything else can safely build.
By considering supply chain, complexity, embedded software and approval requirements from the outset and confirming feasibility through DFM, DFA and DFT reviews. Professional, well-documented schematics, designs and design rules are the foundation of every project that succeeds in the long run. Routing is 100% manual, and the source data stays with you.
With someone who knows the market. Curated manufacturer recommendations to match layer stack-up, technology and quantity, technical support with the request for quotation and continuous PCB and EMS support through to ongoing production. For the first sample, the partner network takes you straight from released layout to assembled board.
Evidence that the standards applicable to your product are met, plus the technical documentation from development. In practice that means: EMC tests to a sound test plan, an assessment of electrical safety covering the insulation concept and clearance and creepage distances, and a file that still explains months later why something was built the way it was. We assess the risks in advance, support you in the test laboratory and advise you as early as incoming inspection.
Three sentences on task, quantity and deadline are enough to start. You receive an initial assessment and a proposal for the next step.
Telephone: +49 89 820 815‑00