Finished Prototype - Mass Producing ??

[twocik]

I've finally finished my prototype, and I'm just about ready to put my company in full gear !!


I'm looking to make only 5 - 10 for the beta testers, but after that I have a list of about 50 that are interested. I need to put out the beta testers first, but only have so much money and time to do so.


Where to go for mass producing my product ?



What are the steps I need to take to get this done successfully ?





Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Khalid]

what is ur prototype????

[twocik]

It's a lens attachment.

[russeller]

Don't put the first one out until you've talked to a patent attorney. Not only will they protect your device but they have connections with small shops in the area that can handle small pre-production runs. If the number your calling mass production is 200 or less, you won't need any more then local small shops to get it done. Many production factories today are contract manufacturers and will accomodate just about any volumn you require but a good contract attorney will be needed there also. Do you have sales and distribution set up yet ? Warehousing ? What quantity are you referring to as mass production ?

[andreitargino]

Originally Posted by twocik I've finally finished my prototype, and I'm just about ready to put my company in full gear !! I'm looking to make only 5 - 10 for the beta testers, but after that I have a list of about 50 that are interested. I need to put out the beta testers first, but only have so much money and time to do so. Where to go for mass producing my product ? What are the steps I need to take to get this done successfully ? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

For production I suggest Brasil or USA .
China has bad quality control to produce any product.
If have interest in Brasil contact me.

[MicroMill]

Have you done your market research on this item? Who are the users? Who is your competition? Is somebody else producing (or produced) a similar product? How wide of a scope will the product include? eg. will it work with only a limited lens type? (Nikon vs Canon)?

[RRFireblade]

K let's see. This is pretty much my business so here's my take. . .

If your planning on producing small scale yourself , say under a thousand pieces , don't bother with a Patent. Unless you have the 20-50 thousand $$ to defend it in court , it's a worthless peice of paper. Get a 'Provisional application' if you are planning on shopping the idea around and/or selling it out right. It's good for 1 year and will run ~$100.

I'm going to have to assume this a mostly machined product since your here at this forum.

So then , figure out how your going to market it (Internet , Ebay , Forums , Local print , etc) , figure what you think it can retail for then go hit up your local machine shops for machine estimates unless you have those means yourself. Finishing , packaging , shipping , etc costs needs to be figured and then if there is profit left worthy of going forward , you can deciede that.

If so , get started.

Any 'private' questions or details I can help with feel free to email or PM for a phone number or whatever and I'll help if I can. I do have small scale manufacturing as well.

Good luck.

[twocik]

"Do you have sales and distribution set up yet ? Warehousing ? What quantity are you referring to as mass production ?"



Sales & distribution ? Not sure what you're asking





50 - 100 first run, but after the beta testers.

[twocik]

"Have you done your market research on this item?"

Yes. I'm one of the first to make, have docs to prove it. I made and sold a design four years ago and so on. This is my 5th design that I'm finishing up on. I start this project about 2 years ago, and have just about finished. So this is why I'm asking how to do this the right way.




" Who are the users? "

DP's, rental houses, etc..






" Who is your competition? "


Well I can say from the past that I've had alot alot of ideas, names, and well you get the point stolen from me. So now when on the internet I keep my mouth shut, learned my lesson the hard way. That's ok because I got to sit back and watch at someone elses expense.






"Is somebody else producing (or produced) a similar product?"


I'm sure there's more than one now, but last time I checked about a hand full.






"How wide of a scope will the product include? eg. will it work with only a limited lens type? (Nikon vs Canon)?" "


No I have made/making many lens mounts. Minolta, Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Konica, PL, etc..

[apache405]

from what i have been told/read you have one year to disclose for patent once you talk about with someone outside your family/company.

last time i checked, a patent would run you about $21K for a full term (i wanna say its 20 years or so) patent in fees alone, the patent attorney's fees are above and beyond that. the big name patent law firm around here is Fish & Richardson, LLP, no clue what they charge, but i know they serve a lot of bio-tech houses in my area.

hope this helps you out.

[ImanCarrot]

Might be an idea to also market a cleaning kit for the lenses- a box of squezy bottles containing IsoPropyl alchohol (or methanol) and a pack of Watman's lens tissues and some AR quality de-ionised water, all in a nice box with your company logo - the markup on that would be impressive.

Oh, don't use acetone if the lenses are plasitc- it'll melt them.

If you need your lenses coated for antireflection give me a shout, we're experts at it.

[svenakela]

Well, Mr twocik didn't ask for business management, he asked for production management advices. So to get back to the topic...
It all depends on your requirements on finish compared to cost, what kind of material and very important - what the prototype looks like. First of all you have to decide if it can be moulded or if it has to be milled totally. Usually it's a mix between both and if you can do as much as possible with the casting you save time and money in machining. Your questions are pretty vague though. To be able to help you someone has to look at the piece and suggest a way forward to mass production.