When Your Prototype Works but Manufacturing Doesn’t

Why Gradient Layerworks Exists

Too many good hardware ideas get stuck between design and production.

Engineering teams create brilliant prototypes with no clear path to fabrication. Shops return five-figure quotes and twelve-week timelines for parts that should take days. Startups burn budgets on revisions that could have been caught earlier.

We bridge that gap.

Gradient Layerworks helps hardware teams turn working designs into manufacturable reality, before cost, timelines, and complexity spiral.

Built by Someone Who’s Seen Where Products Break

Founded by Mac McKane, a manufacturing operations leader with 20 years of experience spanning machine operation, process optimization, and lean manufacturing, Gradient Layerworks combines hands-on fabrication with systems-level thinking.

We’ve built production systems, optimized workflows, and helped teams move from concept to scalable operations without unnecessary complexity.

What Makes Us Different

Most shops execute drawings.

We help teams make better decisions before manufacturing pain starts.

• Catch design-for-manufacturing issues early

• Reduce costly iteration loops

• Translate between engineering intent and real-world constraints

• Explain the why, so teams get stronger over time

• We don’t sell hours. We reduce expensive iteration.

This is a collaboration, not a transaction.

When Teams Call Us:

• Supplier quotes come back higher than expected

• Assembly reveals problems no one predicted

• Prototypes work, but production feels risky

• You need manufacturing expertise without a full-time hire

Based in Kirkland, WA

Serving Seattle hardware teams and beyond.