Taking prototypes to market.

[EEEnthusiast]

Friends,
Does anyone know of companies which can take prototype designs to full production and sales?
The model is as below

We provide them with all information like the bill of materials, gerbers, assembly instructions, mechanical enclosures, user manuals, software , test instructions etc. (All that is required to manufacture and sell a product). We also demonstrate a working prototype which can be easily taken to production. The product is already certified for FCC/CE and other relevant certifications as applicable for the class of product and target market.

They take it to volume production, handle marketing and sales, and handle all the logistics like customer returns, warranty etc. And they work on a royalty or revenue share model.

This way the engineers can focus on solving engineering problems and still have enough time for leisure. I'm running a small company and the manufacturing/sales logistics takes up bulk of my time, which is energy draining and repetitive tasks.

Thanks.

[mrpackethead]

Plenty. Expect that you will get around 10% of the profit share though.  There is no free lunch.

Friends,
Does anyone know of companies which can take prototype designs to full production and sales?
The model is as below

We provide them with all information like the bill of materials, gerbers, assembly instructions, mechanical enclosures, user manuals, software , test instructions etc. (All that is required to manufacture and sell a product). We also demonstrate a working prototype which can be easily taken to production. The product is already certified for FCC/CE and other relevant certifications as applicable for the class of product and target market.

They take it to volume production, handle marketing and sales, and handle all the logistics like customer returns, warranty etc. And they work on a royalty or revenue share model.

This way the engineers can focus on solving engineering problems and still have enough time for leisure. I'm running a small company and the manufacturing/sales logistics takes up bulk of my time, which is energy draining and repetitive tasks.

Thanks.

[EEEnthusiast]

With 10% I would rather slog myself.

[EEEnthusiast]

If there is no company of this kind, then it may be worthwhile to start one. May be some one with a manufacturing plant with enough employees, can start a new marketing division. All they need is to do market research to check if the new product can sell. It is not very high investment, as they can test the markets with small volumes initially. They can charge the prototype owner for the initial production build to minimize the losses. Then a 50-50 share on the profits would be a good deal in my opinion.

[Jeroen3]

There are companies you can sell your product idea to. They will then own it and you can negotiate some share in the profits. Less profits for you if they may not own it.

If you are not comfortable with that, then you're into entrepreneurship and you can use services from:
- turn-key product manufacturing
- marketing firm
- warehousing/logistics partners

You don't have to do all yourself. Except above is expensive, so during startup you must do it yourself.

[mrpackethead]

Whats the product?

[EEEnthusiast]

The product is an IOT Power Profiler tool : ZS-2102-A
Details available at www.anglercircuits.com

[sokoloff]

Plenty. Expect that you will get around 10% of the profit share though.  There is no free lunch.

They take it to volume production, handle marketing and sales, and handle all the logistics like customer returns, warranty etc. And they work on a royalty or revenue share model.

This way the engineers can focus on solving engineering problems and still have enough time for leisure. I'm running a small company and the manufacturing/sales logistics takes up bulk of my time, which is energy draining and repetitive tasks.

They are, after all, doing around 90% of the work. Distribution alone can easily represent more than 50% of the total markup accruing to the distribution channels vs. the original manufacturer. 

Nifty product by the way.

[EEEnthusiast]

I got leads on one company in the USA which does the sourcing of components, assembly,  test , packaging and order fulfillment.
They will not undertake marketing and sales. If all goes well, I would recommend them in the forum. Will keep you guys posted on the progress.

[Mr. Scram]

Consider taking that banner that pops up after a few seconds off your website. The world already decided that pop-up ads are a bad thing years ago and somehow some websites are making the same mistake all over again.

[EEEnthusiast]

Consider taking that banner that pops up after a few seconds off your website. The world already decided that pop-up ads are a bad thing years ago and somehow some websites are making the same mistake all over again.

Got that off... Thanks for the feedback.

[Kean]

I've done this kind of project outsourcing with Seeed Studios in the past.  As mentioned they take about 90% of the revenue.

Your best bet for such a unique product is to deal with manufacture and then sell it yourself (e.g. on your website, Crowd Supply, Tindie, etc).  Otherwise find a small-medium company in a similar industry (i.e. test equipment) and work with them.  They don't have to go through all the R&D effort, and would already have manufacturing and sales processes in place.

Edit: I should mention that the design was already open-sourced by me, so Seeed could have manufactured and sold it without paying me royalties.  It was done as part of their Wish program (top voted project), which doesn't seem to exist any more.  They do still do manufacturing and third party sales, e.g. RF Explorer

[EEVblog]

May be of some interest:

[SeoulBigChris]

Another aspect here is risk.  One of the risky portions of development is already complete, the development phase, that is, your engineering design, prototyping, agency certification, etc.  The future manufacturer of your product has a reasonably low risk, assuming he has properly checked your credit and references, and delivery and final payment are linked in your contract. The various warehousing and order fulfillment services, too, are not terribly risky, and they also will typically hold your inventory.  But the remaining risk is marketing and sales.  One might have a great product, well manufactured, with full warehouses ready to ship.  But if the marketing is wrong, or the timing is wrong, etc, it might not succeed in the marketplace. Asking someone to take on marketing and sales of a product is a big deal, and I'm not surprised the few companies that do this demand a very large percentage of the profit. 

As engineers, we tend to focus on the importance of the design, manufacturing, etc.  And I know that in the past, I have looked down on the sales side as inferior and just a nuisance.  But working on several consumer and industrial projects has given me a newfound, albeit begrudging, respect for those folks.  I told myself, their world is completely different from mine, and at times I almost loathe them, but they bring a needed skillset to the table and are necessary cog in the machinery of a successful product.

By the way, one phase that might need some additional work is adapting the manufacturing process you developed, presumably without any specific manufacturer's input.  Depending on the complexity of your assembly and testing, there will be some additional tailoring of your procedures and test equipment to the selected manufacturer(s).  This isn't usually risky, but it can take some additional effort.

I've been through what you're facing, and even dabbled with the marketing and sales, and can appreciate the issues you're facing.  Best of luck to you.

[Mechatrommer]

Plenty. Expect that you will get around 10% of the profit share though.  There is no free lunch.

They take it to volume production, handle marketing and sales, and handle all the logistics like customer returns, warranty etc. And they work on a royalty or revenue share model.

This way the engineers can focus on solving engineering problems and still have enough time for leisure. I'm running a small company and the manufacturing/sales logistics takes up bulk of my time, which is energy draining and repetitive tasks.

They are, after all, doing around 90% of the work. Distribution alone can easily represent more than 50% of the total markup accruing to the distribution channels vs. the original manufacturer. 
Nifty product by the way.

not mentioned is the risk of not getting enough sale? for whatever reason. whose money was used? this should cater more insurance in the form of profit share percentage.

With 10% I would rather slog myself.

you bet. one can have brilliant idea, but zero risk, so 10% share is reasonable imho. designing and prototyping is engineers (workers) work, and at what percentage the engineers get (salary)? 50-50? if i'm the company, 50-50 is not a deal.

i've been meditating quite hard on this on and off for so long. entrepreneurship? you need to work it, poor money in it and face the risk. maybe the lesser work and risk is if you pay for google ads (marketing), but production cost and risk is still yours, unless you join Kickstarter. since your device is not everyday consumer product, more like niche measurement device for another designers/R&D, you may also want to search your target costumers/companies/firms in your area. or if you are in china, like someone who once asked adviced from here about his pc dso, get the china online resellers to get your product sale all over (and i'm not sure how profit sharing or risk management works over there).

[EEEnthusiast]

Thanks to everyone for the valuable inputs,
Now I tend to agree that the sales and marketing , even though not every engineer's cup of tea, is indeed an important part of running a company. As I stated earlier, I have found a vendor in the USA who can do everything in production and order fulfillment. So that leaves only the sales and marketing to the engineer (me) which is still manageable. At least I need not worry about the inventory, ordering parts, shipping them and tracking the orders. So I think this is still a good model to work out to maximize the profits.

[mrpackethead]

I looked at your product, and its well, way more than i'd pay for it.  Simply because the same functionality is avaialble on the $99 IOT dev boards that i use already. The extremely low current measurement etc is all there, and i can easily connect it to the tools that.

I'd be unsure about the size and scope of your market.    Maybe you should try crowdsupply...

[Fire Doger]

I looked at your product, and its well, way more than i'd pay for it.  Simply because the same functionality is avaialble on the $99 IOT dev boards that i use already. The extremely low current measurement etc is all there, and i can easily connect it to the tools that.

I'd be unsure about the size and scope of your market.    Maybe you should try crowdsupply...

Which boards do you use?

[mrpackethead]

example would be https://www.microchip.com/DevelopmentTools/ProductDetails/dm320111

[AndyC_772]

Another aspect here is risk.  One of the risky portions of development is already complete, the development phase, that is, your engineering design, prototyping, agency certification, etc.  The future manufacturer of your product has a reasonably low risk,

I disagree. Suppose someone approaches you with a prototype, and asks you to put it into production.

How do you know that there's a market for the product at a price which makes it economically worthwhile?
How do you know there's any market for this product at all?
Is the prototype reliable? Easy to use? Correctly pitched in terms of features / quality / complexity / price for its target customer?
Has it really been production engineered so it can be mass produced easily?
Do you have the right industry contacts to effectively promote, market and exploit the product?
What if it generates a lot of support enquiries? Or warranty returns?
What will you do if a component goes EoL shortly after the design is in production?

These are all things which are outside of your control, if you were to just take a design that's handed to you by someone else with a request to "make and sell this".

Now imagine you're the owner of a company, and you decide the specification for a new product. Instead of making and selling someone else's idea, you instead hire an engineer to design something specifically for you.

This puts you in control of some of those variables. You already know your own market, what it needs, where there are gaps (and where there aren't), and what kind of product might fill them. You can specify the design exactly, and have a much better chance of creating a product which you can sell.

You're still responsible for the ongoing costs and support, which is why it's a good idea to build up a relationship with an engineer you can rely on. As with the spec for the product, the design engineer you work with should be your choice.

[AndyC_772]

I got leads on one company in the USA which does the sourcing of components, assembly,  test , packaging and order fulfillment.

These functions aren't at all unusual; most contract manufacturers will do a full turnkey, drop ship service if you ask.

[Mangozac]

I have found a vendor in the USA who can do everything in production and order fulfillment.

Surely there are a plethora of Contract Manufacturers in your indicated country of India who could do this at a better cost and without the international shipping?

[sokoloff]

If he believes the majority of his market is inside India, that makes sense. If the majority of the market is in the US...

[Mangozac]

If he believes the majority of his market is inside India, that makes sense. If the majority of the market is in the US...

If he believes the majority of his market is outside the US it makes sense too. And depending on the assembly and warehousing prices quoted it still may make sense for the US - and this is even before considering the benefits of working with a company in the same time zone. As with any business decision due diligence should consider all of these things.

[Fire Doger]

example would be https://www.microchip.com/DevelopmentTools/ProductDetails/dm320111

Thank you for your info.
After a little research I found something dedicated from ST https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/x-nucleo-lpm01a.html
Any users?