About ETS · Since 1984
Someone already paid for the mistake you’re about to make.
For 41 years ETS has been called in after the part cracked, warped, crept or failed in the field — at the OEM, at the supplier, and in the courtroom. We wrote down how every one of those stories ended. That record is the company. Everything we sell is a different way to put it in front of your engineers before steel is cut.
The record
Four decades. One body of evidence.
Most plastics knowledge lives in the heads of senior engineers who retire, or in supplier datasheets written to sell resin. ETS kept something different: the outcome. Which wall thickness warped. Which boss cracked at the thread root. Which snap-fit crept open after a summer in a parking lot. Which draft angle galled on ejection and cost the program a re-cut.
That record was built on real production floors at passenger-car OEMs, commercial truck makers, Tier-1 suppliers, appliance and medical-device manufacturers — and it was stress-tested every time an ETS opinion had to survive cross-examination.
- 1984
The practice
A plastics design consultancy built on the production floor, not in theory.
- 1994
The book
Designing Plastic Parts for Assembly, first edition. Now in its 10th, from Carl Hanser.
- 1997
The courtroom
Expert-witness work begins. Over $186M in settlements since.
- 19,800+
The room
Engineers trained across 500+ OEM and Tier-1 organizations worldwide.
- 2026
The platform
The memory, programmable: ChatETS, ETS Build and a verified physics engine.
Don’t invent a new mistake. Learn from the ones already paid for.
Why ETS
Three things nobody else can sell you.
Plenty of firms offer DFM checklists, simulation seats or a chatbot. What they can’t offer is the combination below, because it took 41 years to accumulate and it can’t be bought, only built.
Outcome memory, not opinions
Every guideline we teach traces to a part that failed or survived in production. When we say a rib is too thick, we can tell you what happened the last time someone shipped it.
Neutral by design
We sell judgment. Not resin, not molds, not simulation licenses. The recommendation you get is the one the physics supports, not the one that moves our inventory.
Tested under oath
An opinion that has to survive a Daubert challenge is held to a higher bar than a slide deck. That standard carries into every design review and every course.
How we work
Four ways in. Same memory behind each.
Engineering organizations rarely start with a platform. They start with a problem, or a new hire who needs to get competent fast. Pick the door that matches your risk today; the rest is there when you need it.
Train the team
Three-day seminars taught from the textbook, plus an Academy catalog spanning polymer failure science, EV, crash, compliance and AI enablement. Open enrollment, private cohort or on-site at your plant.
Prove it on a live part
A fixed-price pre-tooling design review from $3,500: a senior engineer scores your CAD on wall, draft, ribs, bosses and gates, returns annotated findings and walks you through every one live.
Put the answer engine on every desk
ChatETS answers design, material and process questions from the ETS corpus and your own documents, with the source for every claim. Free to start.
Defend the part in court
Failure analysis and testimony for product-liability, patent and supplier disputes. Conflict check first; availability, CV and fee schedule within one business day.
The textbook
The field’s reference. Ten editions deep.
Paul A. Tres, Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers, first published Designing Plastic Parts for Assembly in 1994. Carl Hanser publishes the 10th edition worldwide, with Chinese editions in print. Its forewords were written by SAE presidents and chief technical officers across the supply chain.
- Seminars are taught from it. Every attendee leaves with the method in writing, not just in memory.
- ChatETS is grounded in it. The answer engine cites the same corpus the book was built from.
- Courts have relied on it. The author has testified since 1997, with over $186M in settlements.
- Engineers keep it on the desk. Ten editions across three decades is what staying useful looks like.
Who we serve
Every industry that lives on plastic parts.
Automotive is the biggest market we serve, not the boundary. The failure modes, materials and quality bars change by industry; the discipline travels.
Lightweighting across every powertrain
Explore →Million-mile duty, whatever’s under the hood
Explore →Win the quote, keep the program
Explore →Designed to never have a story
Explore →Click, seal, never creep
Explore →Mud, sun, fuel and 10,000 hours
Explore →Get your resin spec’d in
Explore →See every market we serve
View all →Go deeper
The rest of the story.
Competence, expertise, how an engagement runs, and the method on video.
Next step
Bring us the part that keeps you up at night.
A senior engineer, not a sales sequence, replies within one business day. Tell us the part, the program stage and the worry. We’ll tell you honestly whether we can help and what it costs.
- NDA on request
- Senior engineer replies in one business day
- Fixed price where applicable
- Your data stays yours