Have you always wanted to design your own product but have been put off by the complexity of the progress and the potential of spending a lot of money with very little to show for it? This article will take you through the entire product design process in 7 easy steps.
1: Product Concept and Research
The product concept stage is when you produce the basic sketches of your product idea. This helps you to get a feel for your product idea and how your product is going to be used.
When you are producing your first sketches it is vital to research the current markets and demands. Are there any products similar to your idea already in the marketplace? If there is a similar product, how can your product be better?
2: Product design development
Once you have collected your research and preliminary sketches you can start developing your product designs to fit with your market research. When you are developing your product designs you need to keep these questions in your mind:
- What is the function of your product? How will it be used?
- Who is your target market? Why will they use your product?
- Will your product be able to withstand use? Will your product need to withstand multiple uses?
- Will the product be reliable and work every time it is used?
- Can the product be produced at a cost effective price so you can still make profit? Will the manufacturing process be easy to produce the final product? Does it contain multiple parts? Which material(s) will your product be made from? This will depend on the use, cost and the forces your product is expected to withstand.
- Do you want your product to be of a high quality or be disposable?
- Does your product need to be repaired and maintained?
3: Final design
Your finally design can now be chosen from the several developed product ideas you created in Step 2. Your final design is a technical to-scale drawing of your final product design including dimensions and material selection.
4: CAD – virtual modelling
Using 3D modelling software (CAD – computer aided design) you will get a computerised 3D model of your final product design. These designs will often highlight problem areas where the theoretical stresses and strains on the product will be shown. If there are problems now is a good time to address the design faults and revisit step 3 to tweak the design to accommodate for the issues raised by the virtual modelling of your product.
5: CAM – prototype creation and testing
A prototype of your design will be created using computer aided engineering (CAM) systems. A physical representation of your design is great for testing and developing. Not everyone needs to get a prototype, however, it is recommended so you can carry out detailed testing before plunging into manufacturing your final design into a tangible product. Once your product is made it is not a good time to notice any issues with the design.
When you test your prototype you must be critical – will your product function properly? If your product isn’t right, go back to Step 2 and re-develop your designs. Get your prototype tested by family and friends and people from your target market. Don’t tell people how to use your product so they can high-light any areas of confusion. These are problems that you won’t have noticed because you know your product inside out.
6: Manufacturing and assembly
Once you are happy with your product prototype you can then manufacture your product! The type of manufacturing process you choose will depend on the complexity of your product, are there multiple components, your material selection and your batch volume. These factors also affect your manufacturing costs therefore they need to be considered to ensure you will make a healthy profit at the end of the process.
When you manufacture your product you also need to consider how your product will be assembled. Do you need to use a glue to attach your parts together? If you use a glue that will degenerate quickly you will not sell many products unless you are creating a single-use product. It is recommended that your product should have the minimum number of joins; this will not only spend up manufacture and reduce manufacturing costs it also makes assembly of your product quicker. So the overall costs of your product will be considerably less than a complex product.
7: Your final product
Once you have your final product manufactured and assembled it is good to trial run it again with friends, family and focus groups before trying to sell your product.
If your testing and feedback have highlight areas that need more improvement, you will need to revisit your product development step. However, most manufacturing companies would have flagged up obvious issues before you get to this stage. If there are no issues you now have your first product created to be sold.
Article written by Amtek Plastics, a UK based plastic injection moulding manufacture that has an in-house team of engineers who can take clients through the entire process of product design to manufacturing and assembly.