Startups Stack Exchange Archive

Steps to manufacturing a product

One of the things that has always confused me about some startups that offer a product rather than a service is how they actually go about creating the product..

For instance, clothing, accessories (watches, wallets, purses), certain tech, etc - How do these entrepreneurs make what they draw on a piece of paper a reality? Are there certain manufacturing companies that you need to get in touch with? How do you know they wont just take your idea and run with it?

Answer 8081

My experience comes from manufacturing consumer products.

Standard processes includes the following:

  1. Product Design - generate 3D renderings that appeal to your customer base (after you’ve validated who the target customer is)
  2. Mechanical and Electrical Design - Mechanical design will mimic the 3D rendering; Electrical will build components that fit within the mechanical constraints.
  3. Prototype - Additive Manufacturing and PCB Batches do well here - this process is highly iterative. Continue to tweak mechanical and electric design based off of consumer/engineering feedback
  4. After prototyping is complete, considering reaching out to multiple manufacturers for vetting - this process can take months depending on the volumes that you’re seeking
  5. Select contract manufacturer based off vetting process
  6. Tooling & batch runs- develop tooling and testing jigs for production (again, an iterative process). Note that flaws will still be discovered in this phase but hopefully mistakes are minimized due to Step 3
  7. Production Run - Mass manufacturing

Note that this is a high-level approach - you’ll still have to deal with fulfillment, certification (e.g FCC, UL), etc..

Answer 8516

As add-on to kidlogic’s answer:

  1. You can get help for any of the above steps … there are product designers (mechanical, industrial, ‘designers’, etc…), prototyping firms (machine/3d-print/etc like ProtoMold, or more full-service firms like the company I work for).
  2. Contract manufacturers - sometimes you can find a one-stop-shop, or you can ‘subcontract’ out the various pieces to multiple different shops. Usually the one-stop shops are pricier … but you usually have a greater likelihood of them getting the job done with less headache on your part.
  3. You haven’t touched on IP … if you’re going to outside ANYTHING, you want to make sure you’ve addressed IP concerns – copyright? trade secrets? patent applications for anything patentable? Make sure you use NDA’s (non-disclosure agreements) … but while they help, they are far, far from fail-safe.

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