Earlier this month, I had the privilege of traveling to Fredrikstad, Norway to visit the headquarters of projectiondesign (www.projectiondesign.com), a manufacturer that seems to thrive by swimming upstream against today’s price-conscious projector market.

projectiondesign (yes, the name is all lower case) traces its lineage back to ASK, an early 1980s start-up that went on to design several breakthrough LCD and DLP projection chassis for Proxima and InFocus. Eventually, ASK bought out Proxima, which was subsequently acquired by InFocus, and faded into obscurity.

The company principals did not, however, and with their help, projectiondesign was reborn from the ashes in 2001 with the first-in-class F1, a single-chip 1280×1024 DLP projector that caught everyone by surprise. Further innovations included a migration to SXGA+ (1400×1050) in 2003, the 6500-lumen F3 in 2005, and a single-chip 1080p offering in 2005 - also a first.

What makes the company different is that it isn’t chasing the bottom of the barrel, unlike many other projector manufacturers and re-sellers. projectiondesign doesn’t offer low-cost business and classroom projectors, nor do they care to. A great deal of engineering and design work goes into each one of their products, and during my visit I could see just how much value is packed into each model.

One of projectiondesign’s principals, Bard Eker, also heads a fast-growing, award-winning design studio (www.ekerdesign.com) that has also created the world’s fastest production sports car (the $800,000+ 240 mph Koenigsegg) as well as a line of sleek, fast powerboats (Hydrolift), both of which are also manufactured locally.

As you examine the lines and curves of each car and boat, you can also see many design elements that go into the projectors, such as one-piece lightweight frame castings and innovative air circulation and cooling systems. The projectiondesign factory is also efficiently designed, relying on "just-in-time" manufacturing as orders are taken so as to avoid building up an inventory of unsold product.

That sort of approach might seem like lunacy in Japan and China, but manufacturers based in those countries are largely selling their products in the USA through distribution. projectiondesign however, is developing a more traditional dealer network, offering value-added education and consultation services as an integral part of the sale.

It was obvious from my visit that projectiondesign has done everything possible to keep operating and overhead costs down. The manufacturing facility, located in a former radio station in an industrial park across the Gloma River from Fredrikstad, uses the latest in automated, high-volume PC board population and vapor deposition soldering equipment.

In contrast, the final assembly of each projector is performed by a small but efficient crew, working at long, contiguous workbenches. Service technicians and design engineers are located nearby, and adjustments or "tweaks" to the manufacturing process can be performed quickly and efficiently.

The most interesting thing about going against the grain is that the strategy can succeed, even in this near-commodity projector market. There aren’t that many projector manufacturers these days that support dealer networks exclusively, but there are customers for whom price isn’t as much of a consideration as performance - just as there are for racecars and powerboats.

From what I could see, projectiondesign (who also OEMs to Christie and Digital Projection) will unveil a few more ground-breaking DLP projectors at InfoComm 2007 (sorry, mum’s the word on my end) that will push size, brightness, resolution, and design even further. Keep an eye on these guys - they are definitely players, and will be for some time to come.