Design manufacture service (DMS) is a business model that combines contract product design with contract manufacturing as a service to other companies that have insufficient or do not possess the required resources.
Often the customer is focused on other aspects of their business or their existing resources may simply be overloaded.
Because of the high skill-levels required in each field, DMS firms specialize in different product categories.
Typically, these are areas that require a relatively higher level of internal infrastructure or regulatory controls than the customer possesses.
This is especially important in industries like medical devices where customer owned IP is critical.