What is the best way to develop a new product?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Moneyguy1

Get Billy Mays to hawk it for you.

That guy makes me want to put a hammer through my TV.

The shouting, the weirdly black hair and beard that covers most of his head, < shivers >. Yep, just don't like that guy.

[djmcmath]

I'll resurrect this old, dead thread on the off chance there are any other entrepreneurs out there who'd like to chime in.

Specifically, let's talk manufacturing of product. Let's say I've got a widget that I'd like machined. What's the best way to prototype, then mass produce stuff? Let's say it's a new attachment for a Kitchen-Aid Stand Mixer, to give everyone an idea of the scale. emachineshop is almost universally reviewed as expensive and rude, but I don't see a lot of alternatives for that kind of work. It isn't like PCBs -- you want a custom PCB prototyped and mass-produced, there are dozens of independent shops. I've been contacting machine shops found using Google, but they all seem to specialize in bigger work -- building forklifts and transmissions and what-not, rather than cranking out small items.

Any ideas for affordable prototyping and production of machine work?


Thanks,
Dan

[9dreizig]

It's really not that tough. Do you have CAD files? If not that's the first step. You can then send things out to quote. What volume do you anticipate? Have you selected your materials ?
There are a number of shops that specialize in prototypes.

[john70t]

Proforma can make simple CAD files from anything:ProFORMA - create 3D models with a webcam – Computer Chips & Hardware Technology | Geek.com
Nextengine is much more expensive, but detailed: https://www.nextengine.com/indexSecure.htm
3-D printing in plastic 3D Printers - Dimension Printing - 3D Printing, 3D Printer, uPrint, Rapid Prototyping
You can model the part in anything, and make a plastic prototype for fit with the above.

Maybe there are companies that have these services for small inventors/businesses? I once had a passing thought to create one.

[djmcmath]

I don't have CAD files yet, but I've long thought that buying a copy of AutoCAD and learning how to use it would come in handy for just such an event.

John -- thanks for the links to manufacturers. Does anyone know of any companies doing that sort of thing in, say, stainless steel? Next question for you -- What's holding you back from starting your own company?



Thanks,
Dan

[john70t]

Dan, try playing around with free Google Sketchup to get the hang of working with CAD tools.
It's quirky with some tools(picking up endpoints, combinding objects), but a good way of familiarizing oneself with the method of creating an environment.

The planning of a model-from the structure to the details-has to be done in a specific order or else you'll run into complications later on.
That should become instinctual.

Each CAD program is a little different, but I think the .dwg file format is the most universal. I also liked FormZ(lower price), but it may be geared towards quick design instead of transfer to machining. There are a bunch of them out there. Island911 or some of the machinists here would have better advice than I.

[island911]

Thank John. Yep, if the part has any swoopy surfaces you'll need something better than Sketchup or A-cad. - those are more for architectural structures.

Dan, I don't know if you remember, from when you lived here, but my thing is product development, so I certainly do have all the tools to put shapes into 3D models, and the contacts to move it on to prototype houses. -- I know the good ones.

I'll be glad to give you a few hours ...maybe get whatever modeled and off for proto quote. My pm box is likely full, so drop me a line ...my pelican name at comcastdotnet

[phoenix_iii]

Ever think of protecting the idea and pitching it to Kitchen-Aid? If it really is good, they will offer to buy it from you, and you walk away with a cool amount (or perhaps a small, small % of sales)? That way you are also interested in seeing it do well, and if it soars, you do even better? They have all the contacts/mfg in place, + the KA name is stronger than yours.... + it shows up in the catalogs, etc.

[john70t]

(disclaimer:the following should not be construed as legal advice)

Dan,
There are a couple different approaches to fruition for the small inventor.
Most require a great amount of time and/or research and/or money, but the initial steps can be "done on the cheap", at least, by filing as small inventor at United States Patent and Trademark Office.
This is one of the few well-run government agencies.
A Provisional filing covers you(somewhat) for 2 years while developing the idea. This will probably be publically published.
A Non-Provisional will cover 30 years but requires maintinance.

First-don't keep ideas or records that can be stolen, and/or hide them carefully.
You can talk to proffesionals in the field after they sign a non-disclosure agreeement, but it could later become a "his word against ours" situation in court.
Do you searches using semi-vague terminology.

You should be asking yourself some questions:
A). Is it unique and defendable?
-This could equal millions and millions of dollars and thousands of hours of personal time later on when fighting against against an established company with a similar product on the market.
-There is a lot of "grey area" intellectual property rights overlap out there.
Your idea may be based on A+B=C, with C being the unique claim. There may already be quite a few A's and B's already existing, as well as other variations of C.

B). Will it sell?
-Is it on the market now? Is there a need? Is it a better solution? Will it compete against existing products?
-This isn't always rational. There is existing technology that sells well now, and much superior ideas that won't ever have a chance in the current marketplace climate.

C). Can I sell it?
-Is it worth enough to gamble thousands of hours creating a company to advertise and distribute it? This would probably require resourcing a fair amount of startup capitol.
-Q:If you sign an exclusivity agrement with a company, what would happen if they just put it in the cobwebbed corner? A:Non-exclusive licencing and/or minimum sales/payment contract. This is what made Bill Gates a billionaire(besides a little sweat).
-I once worked as a waiter, and a few years ago had an idea of a some kind of time-lapse labeling. Imagine "1 minute/5 minute/15 minutes" appearing on a meal ticket. This could also be usefull in a variety of applications such as when a security envelope was opened.
Could it be done by air? Light? Other? Yes to all of the above.
Do I know enough about the technology to make a claim? No way.

I'd suggest watching "Flash of Genius" starring Greg Kinnear. Great movie about the guy who invented the intermitent windshield wiper and the years of personal perseverance he spent fighting his patent infringment against GM.

[deanp]

In this case you're talking about an accessory to a specific item, with limited use.

If the accessory cannot be easily adapted or made for other stand mixers then your scope is pretty limited.

Many retailers are reducing the number of vendors they work with and unless your item is knock-your-socks-off brilliant, the simple truth is that a major brick and mortar retailer isn't likely to set you up as a vendor for one SKU that is an accessory type item, as opposed to a stand-alone item. Not to say they won't but unlikely.

Viral marketing the item yourself and selling through your own website or online retailers is easier, especially if you are willing to drop ship for them, instead of their stocking them item. In that scenario, they have no risk, no inventory, list the item and if it sells great, if not pull it from the site...

I would recommend taking it as far as you can to prove the idea. Talk to a lawyer about a good confidentiality / non-disclosure agreement and see if you can get to the right people at KA and hope they haven't started working on something similar in-house OR developed the idea and deemed it not market worthy. Lastly you need to worry about concept theft and determine if they opt not to use your design but come out with something similar, is it worth your time, aggravation and money to seek legal action.

[85eurocarrera]

Originally Posted by deanp

Lastly you need to worry about concept theft and determine if they opt not to use your design but come out with something similar, is it worth your time, aggravation and money to seek legal action.

I have seen this happen. At the time I worked in the Model Shop of a pretty recognizable company. Be very careful.

Find a good Industrial Designer with Engineering and Prototyping support.

As a model maker who has seen a few ideas go through my shop, it seems the ones with the best chance to make it are the simple, inexpensive to produce and sell. And you can sell A LOT of them.

Good Luck.

[djmcmath]

Wow. I'm always amazed at the wealth of good advice that turns up here. I guess a lot of Pelicans have been here before, and that's encouraging to me.

Island -- Thank you for your generous offer. I'm drafting an e-mail to you right now.

I don't really believe that any of my ideas are world-changing make-me-rich ideas. If I could develop something that fit a niche market, sell it online -- preferably by drop-shipping to distributors -- I could make a little extra on the side. If the KA attachment was reasonably popular, I might consider approaching KA themselves to see if they were interested, but I don't think that would be my first strategy. I can't imagine that it would be "knock your socks off brilliant" enough to make real brick-and-mortar retailers. In fact, I'll bet my lucky socks that you'll never see my product in Macy's. Ever.

Can it be adapted outside the niche, e.g. to do some other functions, work with other stand mixers ... sure, absolutely. It's definitely not widely applicable, and you're not going to see Sham-Wow Guy selling these on late-night TV, but I think (maybe?) that there's a niche that isn't filled here, if small.

Patents? I don't know that any of my current batch of ideas cross the line into "novel and non-obvious," though obtaining a solid patent would definitely be a sound prerequisite to approaching someone like KA.

Will it work as a business idea? Oh, that's really tough to tell. I'd like to reduce risk on that as much as possible by conducting market surveys, but those can be expensive. So I'm thinking instead that I set up a website to sell the product, complete with a mechanism for taking orders. Then I go to Google Ad Words and set up a $500 budget or so, and see if anyone follows through and clicks "Add to Cart." Before I do that, though, I should have -- at a minimum -- some detailed photographs of my product in action. That would give me at least some indication of the saleability of the thing -- are people interested? How many are interested at a given price point?

And that means I need to build a prototype, I guess.

Thanks again for all the wisdom and experience.

Dan