Make the impossible possible – The complete story behind a next-generation self-service banking terminal
Forensic engineering, a factory constructed mid-program, and 250 components delivered across two countries
Some programs look tough from the outside. This cassette program was genuinely challenging from the inside, and the people who delivered it deserve to have the full story told.
When this program is summarized, the focus is usually on the headline numbers: 250 production-ready components, two manufacturing sites, six months to production. Those stats are impressive. But they don’t capture what made this program truly remarkable.
The real story starts earlier, runs deeper, and involves a level of engineering complexity most contract manufacturers would never agree to take on. This is that story.
The program at a glance
- Phase 1 January 2025 – Program kick-off. The client brings cassette parts to Rosti. No original design data available. Improved design phase begins.
- Phase 2 June 2025 – Tool kick-off. Reverse engineering phase begins. Third-party CT scanning, managed by Rosti, is used to validate the improved design against unknown original
specification. - Phase 3 Ongoing – Dual-site production ramp-up. Rosti China (Suzhou) and Rosti India (Chennai) qualify simultaneously. Chennai facility under active construction throughout.
- China SOP December 2025 – Start of Production achieved at Rosti China (Suzhou). 120 plastic tools manufactured and qualified. 250 components delivered on time, meeting all specifications.
- India SOP February 2026 – Start of Production achieved at Rosti India (Chennai). Site fully qualified, built, and ramped up during the program itself.
The challenge nobody saw coming
The customer came to Rosti with a clear requirement and a physical product: the cassette parts that needed to be manufactured at scale. The global team – David Orr, Global Program Director; Roseann Wilson, Global Account Director; and the customer – brought real leadership and commitment to the program from day one, building the conditions for a true partnership instead of just a supplier relationship. What they couldn’t provide, through no fault of their own, was the original design data behind those parts.
The cassette had originally been designed by another company. That design history, the drawings, the tolerances, and the engineering reasoning behind every geometric decision simply weren’t available. There was nothing to hand over as a production baseline for a manufacturer to use.
This created a problem that went far beyond routine tooling and production challenges. Before Rosti could improve the design, tool the component, or qualify a production process, we first had to understand exactly what the part was, at a level of precision that matched the original specification—even though that specification was unknown.
In practical terms: we had physical parts but no drawings. We had customer requirements but no design baseline. We had to reverse engineer the specification from the part itself.
‘We had physical parts and no drawings. The original design data did not exist in a form that could be shared. We had to find the specification inside the component itself.’
Phase 1: Improved design (January)
The program launched in January with Rosti receiving the physical cassette parts. The first phase wasn’t tooling. It was about understanding.
Tony Shen, Rosti’s Project Manager, led the Suzhou engineering team through a detailed analysis of the physical parts to create a working design baseline. From that, the team developed an improved design, focusing on manufacturability, tolerance stacks, and long-term production consistency, while strictly maintaining the functional requirements of the original component.
The collaboration between Tony’s team, David Orr, Roseann Wilson, the customer, and the local project team in China during this phase was critical. Everyone was deeply committed to getting the design right before any tooling began. That front-end investment in time paid dividends throughout the rest of the program.
Improving a design without access to the original intent is a precise and demanding process. Every decision had to be based on what the part physically showed us, not what a drawing specified. The Rosti engineering team used the parts themselves as the primary source of truth.
This phase set the foundation for the rest of the program. It also set the tone: rigorous, evidence-based, and unwilling to make assumptions where data could provide the answers.
Phase 2: CT scanning and reverse engineering (June)
With the improved design established, the program reached a key decision point in June: how do you validate a new design against an original specification that doesn’t formally exist?
The answer was CT scanning—industrial computed tomography, the same kind of technology used in medical imaging, applied to precision manufactured components. Tony Shen coordinated a specialist third-party CT scanning process, generating detailed three-dimensional data of both the internal and external geometry from the original cassette parts.
The scan data enabled the Rosti engineering team to:
- Map the exact geometry of the original parts at a level of detail that no manual measurement could match
- Compare the improved Rosti design directly with the original part geometry, wall by wall and feature by feature
- Identify and verify critical dimensions that couldn’t have been reached using traditional inspection methods
- Create a reverse-engineered design record that, for the first time, provided a documented specification baseline for their own component
This wasn’t a routine quality check. It was forensic engineering applied to a production program running under significant time pressure. The CT scanning phase brought rigor and confidence to a program where there was no room for assumptions. It also produced something lasting beyond the program itself: a documented design baseline for the cassette that hadn’t existed until Rosti created it.
‘CT scanning didn’t just validate our design. It provided a documented specification for their own component that had never existed before.’
The man who made it happen
Every program of this complexity has a core, one person around whom trust, decision-making, and momentum gather. For the cassette program, that person was Tony Shen.
Tony didn’t just manage the program. He led it in every sense of the word. He drove engineering rigor in Suzhou during the design improvement phase. He coordinated the CT scanning and reverse engineering processes that unlocked the original design mystery. He transferred process knowledge and quality standards from China to India in real time—building a new team in Chennai while at the same time keeping the China program on schedule.
But what set Tony apart on this program—what made him truly irreplaceable—was something that doesn’t show up on a GANTT chart.
Before a single tool was made, before the program was officially underway, Tony Shen built the trust with the global leadership team that made the entire program possible. David Orr, Roseann Wilson, and the customer needed to believe Rosti could deliver something unprecedented: a dual-site qualification, a new factory, a reverse-engineered specification—all within a timeline that allowed no margin for error. Tony gave them that confidence. Through technical credibility, transparent communication, and a personal commitment to the program that the customer could see and feel, he created the conditions that allowed them to say yes.
‘Without Tony Shen’s ability to build trust with the
leadership team, this program never would have been launched. He didn’t just deliver it; he made it possible.’
That’s a rare quality in any program manager. To be technically outstanding and commercially trusted, to be the reason a customer takes a leap on the impossible, defines a career. On this cassette program, it defined the outcome.
With the design validated and tools released, the program moved into production qualification at both sites. This is where the true manufacturing complexity of the project became apparent.
Rosti China (Suzhou) was the primary holder of engineering know-how and served as the production stability anchor for the program. The Suzhou team’s experience with precision components and complex tooling meant that the China qualification—while demanding—was within the scope of the site’s usual operations.
Rosti India (Chennai) was an entirely different scenario.
Chennai wasn’t just a running factory taking on a new program. It was a factory still being built, infrastructure being put in place, equipment being commissioned—all at the same time as the program was being executed. The team delivering on it was brand new.
Leading this remarkable undertaking was T.K. Purushothaman, Managing Director of Rosti India. Building a brownfield factory from scratch is daunting on its own. Doing that while also qualifying and delivering a live customer program of this complexity, in a new country, with a new team, under an unforgiving schedule, is another challenge altogether. T.K.P’s leadership in establishing Rosti India as a credible, capable, and qualified manufacturing site laid the foundation for everything the program achieved in Chennai.
The Rosti India team was recruited specifically to build out and operate this facility. They arrived at a factory still taking shape, with no legacy processes, no established routines, and a live customer program running from day one. What they did have was support from the Suzhou team, Tony Shen’s program leadership, the active involvement of David Orr and Roseann Wilson, the partnership of the local customer project team in India, and the determination to prove Rosti India could deliver.
And they did. The knowledge transfer from Suzhou to Chennai was a real-time capability build—Tony’s team provided process knowledge, quality framework, and technical support to a site and team that were simultaneously ramping up from scratch. The global customer team’s engagement throughout this phase—maintaining confidence in the program and working collaboratively through every challenge—was a key factor in the success.
The fact that the new India team qualified a complex precision component in a factory still under construction, for their first live customer program, and delivered on time, is one of the most impressive achievements the Rosti Asia business has pulled off.
What made delivery possible
Three things really stood out as decisive in this program.
Engineering expertise
The CT scanning and reverse engineering phase required an engineering capability far beyond standard contract manufacturing. Rosti’s ability to oversee a complex forensic engineering process—including third-party CT scanning, interpreting scan data, comparing it to improved design geometry, and establishing a validated design record—shows an engineering culture that treats technical challenges as problems to solve, not reasons to decline a program.
Technovation
Rosti’s Technovation platform, centered on 72-hour concept-to-prototype capability, was invaluable during the design improvement phase and at tool release. The ability to iterate quickly, rapidly test assumptions, and move from design decisions to physical validation without the delays of traditional manufacturing cycles was crucial for keeping a complex program on schedule.
The Rosti Asia network
The integrated structure of the Rosti Asia operation—shared quality frameworks, shared process knowledge, and a culture of cross-site support—was what made the Chennai qualification possible. Without the depth of transfer from Suzhou, standing up a new site on a live program of this complexity, within the timeline, wouldn’t have been possible.
The result
250 production-ready cassette components delivered to exact specifications. To support that delivery, 120 plastic tools were manufactured and qualified throughout the program—a tooling investment that reflects the complexity and precision required for the cassette design. Rosti China (Suzhou) reached Start of Production in December 2025, followed by Rosti India (Chennai) in February 2026, a site that was under construction for the duration of the program.
- Beyond the headline delivery, the program resulted in outcomes that will outlast the initial order:
- 120 plastic tools manufactured and qualified throughout the program to support the 250-component delivery, demonstrating the engineering depth and complexity of the cassette design.
- For the first time, the customer now has a documented design specification for the cassette, created by Rosti through CT scanning and reverse engineering of the originally designed parts.
- Rosti India (Chennai) is now a fully qualified production site for the customer, accelerating the site’s commercial capabilities by years.
- The Suzhou-to-Chennai knowledge transfer model used in this program is now being integrated into Rosti Asia’s standard multi-site launch framework.
- The CT scanning and reverse engineering methodology is now part of Rosti’s documented engineering toolkit for programs where original design data is unavailable.
‘The program didn’t just deliver 250 components. It delivered a design baseline, a qualified new site, and a methodology that will benefit future projects.’
In their own words
A senior procurement leader reflected on the significance of the program:
“This was the most significant program we have undertaken, completed within timelines that were critical to ensuring supply continuity. Our manufacturing partner stepped up well beyond expectations, collaborating with our internal team to achieve this. This is the most complex module we have ever outsourced, and the way it was managed as a true partnership—not just a supplier relationship—made all the difference.”
Senior Procurement Leader, Global Technology Company
That recognition from the CPO of a globally recognized technology company speaks to what the Rosti Asia team built over the course of this program—not just manufacturing capability, but also a relationship and a reputation.
Closing thoughts
The cassette program started in January 2025 with physical parts, no design data, and a requirement that most manufacturers would have declined. It concluded with Rosti China achieving Start of Production in December 2025 and Rosti India following in February 2026, resulting in two qualified production sites and a design record the customer did not have before.
The team that delivered this deserves to be named: Tony Shen, who led the program from Suzhou with the precision and poise that the complexity demanded. T.K. Purushothaman, Managing Director of Rosti India, whose leadership in establishing the Chennai facility created the foundation for the site’s qualification—and who led a new factory and a new team to success under conditions that would have challenged even the most experienced operators. The new Rosti India team in Chennai, who qualified a live customer program in a factory they were building for the first time, from the ground up. The local customer project teams in China and India, who worked side by side with Rosti at every stage and never let challenges become reasons to slow down. And from the global team: David Orr, Global Program Director; Roseann Wilson, Global Account Director—whose leadership and genuine partnership throughout made the impossible achievable.
At Rosti, we say that if we’re not improving your design, we’re not adding value. On this next-generation self-service banking terminal, we improved the design, reverse engineered the original specs, brought a new factory online mid-program, and delivered on time in two countries.
