ABOUT THE FOUNDER

Doug Maddox – Founder & CEO

Maddox Product & Systems Development

Maddox Product & Systems Development was built on real-world experience—not just theory, not just CAD, and not just consulting.

Founder and CEO Doug Maddox brings together a rare combination of backgrounds:

  • 16-year veteran Firefighter / Paramedic (OIC) (Medically Retired from Line-of-Duty injury)

  • Army contractor with the Longbow Missile program

  • Machinist/ Tool Maker (formally trained)

  • Product Development Engineer

  • Industrial systems and training simulator designer

  • Commercial and Residential Construction

This isn’t an academic résumé. It’s a career spent under pressure, in hazardous environments, and around mechanical systems that must work when failure is not an option.

FIRE SERVICE & LIFE-SAFETY OPERATIONS

Doug served as a Firefighter / Paramedic and Officer-in-Charge (OIC) for over 16 years, operating in:

  • Emergency response scenes

  • Technical rescue

  • Industrial incidents

  • High-risk environments

  • Live-fire and hazardous materials conditions

This experience built a deep understanding of:

  • How systems fail in the real world

  • How people behave under stress

  • How equipment must perform when lives depend on it

  • Why training must be realistic—not theoretical

This background directly informs how Maddox designs training simulators, failure-mode systems, and safety-driven equipment today.

ARMY CONTRACTING & HIGH-RISK SYSTEMS

As an Army contractor, Doug worked in environments where:

  • Equipment reliability is mission-critical

  • Failure leads to immediate consequences

  • Field conditions are unpredictable

  • Systems must be rugged, maintainable, and functional

This reinforced a design mindset centered on:

  • Durability

  • Redundancy

  • Real-world operability

  • Practical engineering over idealized design

MACHINING, FABRICATION & BUILD EXPERIENCE

Doug is also a trained Machinist and hands-on fabricator, bringing full awareness of:

  • Tolerances

  • Materials

  • Manufacturing constraints

  • Tooling

  • Assembly realities

This eliminates the classic disconnect between:

“What looks good in CAD”
and
“What actually builds, assembles, and survives use.”

Every design produced through Maddox is shaped by build experience—not just software.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & ENGINEERING

As a Product Development Engineer, Doug has led projects across:

  • Mechanical product design

  • Fixtures and tooling

  • Prototypes and validation rigs

  • Industrial process equipment

  • Failure simulation systems

  • Training props and simulators

One example includes the development of a high-fidelity industrial kiln failure simulator, where:

  • Phase-change material replicated molten flow

  • Compressed air cooling matched real emergency response

  • Failure behavior mirrored real-world industrial incidents

  • Operators could train safely under realistic conditions

This is the type of work Maddox Product & Systems Development now specializes in—realistic, functional, physically validated systems.

WHY MADDOX EXISTS

Maddox Product & Systems Development was created to serve a specific gap in the market:

Too many products and training systems are designed by people who’ve never operated equipment under real risk.

This company exists to bridge:

  • Emergency response

  • Military-grade thinking

  • Mechanical engineering

  • Machining & fabrication

  • Product development

  • Industrial training realism

Every system is approached with the same standard used in:

  • Fire service

  • Military contracting

  • Industrial life-safety environments

If it wouldn’t be trusted in those environments, it doesn’t ship.

FOUNDER-LED. HANDS-ON. ACCOUNTABLE.

Maddox Product & Systems Development is founder-led and hands-on.

Doug is directly involved in:

  • Design decisions

  • Engineering direction

  • Prototype development

  • Field realism

  • Training-system behavior

  • Validation methodology

Clients work directly with the person responsible for:

  • The concept

  • The design

  • The build strategy

  • The real-world performance

There is no outsourcing of responsibility.

CALL TO ACTION

If your product, system, or training environment must function in real-world conditions under real risk, let’s talk.

[ Book a Design Call ]
[ Request a Simulator Concept ]