What is the best way to develop a new product?
 

I was impressed by the guy who developed the cup holder for 911's that bolts to the base of the passenger seat. Very elegant design IMO. I've often fantasized about developing a clever gadget and then marketing it. But what is the best way to accomplish that? I saw a website mentioned here called emachineshop.com which seems to do prototyping and small scale production. Is that the best way or are there other ways?

Wow, there's alot to cover. Emachine shop will take the specs you provide and translate into a machined piece. My experience has been best when working with someone locally and providing very frequent feedback to develop the prototype properly.

Will you need to source other components for this idea?

Things to keep in mind when maturing the design are :

-Can this be manufactured efficiently?
-Replicated cost effectively?
-Can I utilize alternate materials if needed?
-How many steps will be required to assemble?
-How will this product ship? (weight and/or size an issue?)
-Can it be copied too easily? (Brand identity very important)
-Any obvious liability/safety concerns?
-Are you designing to last forever? Does it need to be?
-Turn around time for each component?
-Can this be manufactured and shipped from overseas reliably?

A good design is a simple design....<b>K</b>eep <b>i</b>t <b>s</b>imple <b>s</b>tupid.

Then you have a multitude of legal protection concerns such as Copyright, Trademark, Patent(s), Liability insurance, etc.

Marketing can be a bit easier these days with the internet but you'll need a plan to determine timing, saturation, ordering frequency/volume, target audience and intelligence gathering (JD Powers/Polk etc), budget etc.

I love and have done the full cycle a few times and am passionate about it. Each step is quite interesting.

I do all of my prototyping with an angle grinder, a Dremel, and a drill press. :D

Serious answer: It depends on what you want to make and who you plan on selling it to.

If you are handy enough to make your own prototypes even cardboard cutouts or rough carvings to help sort out any design flaws that can help. Remember that other people will not or can not share your vision. A lot of people didn't liked my cup holder but I have sold over a thousand so far. Everything that RickM said .
JMPRO

Thanks for the info. I must confess I would not attempt anything elaborate. I was thinking along the lines of working on a sexy design for aluminum pedals or maybe a nice set of drilled floorboards. The examples I see out there don't strike my fancy and so I figured it might be worth trying to make my own (and then sell them if others like my design). So maybe I can add another "S" to the KISS phrase - Keep It Super Simple Stupid :)

So maybe emachineshop.com would be a good idea? Are the other (or better) companies that do similar things?

JMPRO - Which cup holder design did you create?

JMPRO - Which cup holder design did you create?[/QUOTE]

I do the one that plugs into the lighter socket.
There is a lot of competition in the parts you suggested and It would be hard to get that stuff placed with the big retailers which is the only way you can sell enough to make it worth while. All of my products except for one are unique parts that no one else made so I had no competition.
JMPRO

I would start with sourcing the base material to get an idea of availabilty and cost. Then brainstorm and experiment with different ways to execute your design.
Some questions to ponder:
Will it be CNC machined from billet? Can it be cast from aluminum as an alternative? How about stamped and a pattern drilled? :D The fun is in playing around with YOUR ideas and see what you create.
At minimum you'll end up with some unique stuff.

Janus, why don't you just buy my business and then you will have a head start on any thing else you want to make.
JMPRO

I have that one in my 911. I bought it from Pelican. At first I thought it could not hold the weight of my coffee - but it turns out it works great. Unfortunately, the cig lighter in my 944 is not in a location that allows me to use your cup holder. It is too far to the right for the reclining position one uses in a 944 (hard to explain). So I started looking at the one that attaches to the seat.

May I ask how you developed that product? Was it a super DIY approach with hand bent wire and a broken cig lighter or did you use something like a CAD system? And may I ask if you make them yourself or if you have someone else manufacture them?

HA! I've never sold anything in my life! I'd run your business into the ground (Dammit Jim, I'm a programmer, not a marketing genius). IF I ever manage to make myself a nice set of pedals (or whatever) and IF anyone else ever likes them enough to pay money for them, I assure you it will require a minor miracle. :D

emachineshop.com is pretty pricey. I wanted a part made, and had a cool design worked up in emachineshop.com. It was pretty pricey. I asked some of the guys on the board here if it would be much cheaper to have it done someplace else. Yes, it would have been, but it also still would have been pretty expensive. I think I'd try to work up some stuff on my own before I'd go with an expensive option.

I think you're going to be fighting a losing battle if you want to do floorboards and/or pedals because there are so many options already out there that are mass produced, not to mention there are plenty of people that tinker and make their own stuff.

When I first made the cup holder I just got some 1/4" rod and fabbed a few to test. I have a small welder and basic welding skills. The rubber part that goes into the socket has to be custom made by a rubber co. and the frame is custom made for me and then I do all the assembly and packaging. Lucky for me I sell enough of them because I have to order 300 frames at a time and about a thousand rubber parts at a time to get the price down to where it is semi-reasonabe. There are a lot of costs associated with tooling and programing to set up to make a new gadget that can only be recouped by making and selling lots of them.
JMPRO

Depending on how complex your product might be, you might want to consider engaging the services of a small contract engineering firm to bring your idea to life. They can help with cost-effective design approaches, documentation, material selection, prototyping, low-volume manufacturing, assembly (if necessary), safety issues and even marketing & patent application.

One of the things I learned from my own brief stint as an entrepreneur is that the idea is the easiest part.
-Chris

I kinda gave up on inventing stuff (well physical output anyway) .... I still have them in my mind.

Do you want to know why I kida gave up? It is my understanding that copyright laws are so hard to implement. One guy invented a 'chop stick on one end and fork on the other end' to cater to Americans. It was supposed to be a big hit.

However, a big manufacturer literrally marketed the same exact thing. As this was a clear violation of his copyright, he attempted to hire a lawyer. I believe the lawyers said, "Well, we require $250K (or something like that) before we even lift a finger." Not sure what the ultimate outcome of this.

There were others like this one! Go search the web...


I do not mean to bring bad news; actually, I am happy to read that perseverance and ingenuity is still around; thus, I responded to this thread.

Good luck.

Here's how I did it:

1. Work in CNC machine shop for a number of years as machinist, designer, programmer, set up guy, etc.
2. Progress to position of production manager, where one of the duties is production scheduling.
3. Buy Porsche.
4. Figure out which parts could be improved upon, and develop reasonable alternatives/improvements.
5. "Schedule" production at shop so a machine will be open all weekend. :D
6. Prototype said parts, test, refine, test again, and so on.
7. Produce parts.

Finally:

8. Keep day job. ;)

Seriously, there is some money to be made in the Porsche world designing and selling aftermarket parts, but it is indeed a fairly small market. Your best bet would be to find a niche that has not yet been saturated and go from there. I have recently bought a milling machine for personal use, and hope to have a lathe and CNC machining center by mid year. I don't plan on making a great living selling Porsche parts with this stuff, but the machinery will allow me to manufacture parts for outside customers while still keeping my Porsche habit fed.

Good luck,
Jim

Sometimes you don't need a patent or copyrights. Just come out with the best, cheapest, most adorable wigit and pound it to the walls with promotion and develope your distributors to trust you. when the copycats start up they will have a hard time breaking thru and even if they do, you just move on to your next wigit.
JMPRO

Why doesn't anyone make/fabricate the interior panels that go on the sides of the floor panels in the front seat and especially the ones that cover the convertible top lifting mechanism on both sides in the back seat?

We did a carpet project not too long ago in an '86 cab and those rear panels were a real bich!!

Ended up basically redoing both of them because of severe distortion and cracks. Stapled and glued an entire new center section to the remains of the curved outer portion. And then a whole bunch of grinding and filing.

But if someone had the forms and the means to fabricate them it would not be that difficult. Of course, as someone mentioned, there might not be enough of a market to make it viable. But I sure as hell would have bought them!

Get Billy Mays to hawk it for you.

Or some dude with a British accent. :rolleyes:

omgggggg!!!!!!!! then I am set - I have the accent and I work making prototypes for a living, now if only I can think of an idea!!! Thats the hard part :D


Matt