(Overly broad question) Bringing a product to market

[Isaac Lemke]

Hey all, I hope this is the right place to discuss - 

Over the last two-ish years, I've been working on a disc golf accessory. The product works and has received fairly positive feedback - however I'm in this weird middle ground where I'm printing, programming, packaging, and shipping each one (the only thing automated right now is PCBA from pcbway). 

I realize this is an incredibly broad question but does anyone have advice on how I should start automating this process? Below are my most-recent thoughts: 

1. Have Digikey program the boards going forward - brings my chip cost from ~ 33 cents each to ~ $1 each. 

2. Stop 3D printing my own cases - order them from somewhere else - brings the cost up from ~ 5 cents per case to ~ 50 cents per case. Or, alternatively, sink $5k into injection molding and start making them for pennies. 

3. Find a "Contract Manufacturer" that'll accept the completed boards, solder in the battery (PCBWay won't touch a CR2016 with pins), put the device into the 3d printed enclosure, acetone weld them together, and finally, put them into their final packaging. 

4. (Future-State) Send the completed products directly to a warehouse for shipping (or Amazon fulfillment). 

Again, hugely sorry for how broad these questions are - I'm a simple tinkerer who works a 9-5 doing software dev and I realize the above questions are probably something I need to pay someone to answer. 

Product/Website for reference: hellodisc.net 

Side note: I'd love to demo the product during a Monthly meeting! 

[Chris Meyer]

In before Bob's really long e-mail about niche product development o:-)

That's a great problem to have, unfortunately it's a familiar one.  It really comes down to how much you want to pocket off of each sale and therefore how much you're willing to do to get there.  The very related issue is finding someone to do the contracted work correctly and well enough to rely on.  Your product price is very low so without a ton of volume I would think you'd have a hard time contracting it out as the per part value would be low.  Despite throwing shade in Bob's direction, one of the best solutions implemented was a (then) high school student scaling into PCBA and manufacturing the products for him.  There's a big gulf between making and selling a niche product and scaling into production volume where you can successfully outsource, especially a seasonal one where you really could be making a ton of inventory half of the year to sell for the rest of the year but you haven't been around long enough to have a sense of what enough inventory is without overextending yourself (or having a competitor entering the market at half the price). 

I'll send you an e-mail directly with a few thoughts that may/may not be helpful.

Chris

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sector67 Public" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sector67+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sector67/bd3c6c1a-dff0-4475-862d-50427ea23e56n%40googlegroups.com.

[Joe Kerman]

Very cool product!! (Feels like a $19.95 product /at least/!!)

“Potting” might be an attractive option for you if you’d like to reduce your costs to DIY enclosures. ( You can reliably 3D print molds out of TPU). It’s messy. But waterproof! And cheap!

Call and have a conversation with a contract manufacturer about the whole project.  You might be surprised how affordable their quotes are for assembly. (And they can source injection molds or 3D prints cheaper than you probably can!).  And they will give you solid advice about how to scale. (It might not be obvious to figure out when your components crack into reel pricing etc etc)

I’ve worked a lot with macrofab.com the last few years. They are very reasonable for “low” (under 1k) volume jobs. And are very happy to talk to you even if you aren’t a big customer. They can do everything including warehousing and drop shipping your final product.  Get a quote for 1k units with the whole package! :) 

On Aug 6, 2021, at 12:42 PM, Chris Meyer <wate...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sector67/CA%2BMP_mGNsMKv-SrMP6NQv%2B1UwvcMUEes5Aj6cvvqiraVaiRk6g%40mail.gmail.com.

[Bob Baddeley]

I'm not going to have a super long email, but this is my domain of expertise, and I have a lot of experience with this exact sort of product, and specifically small battery powered devices that make a lot of noise to help you find them. I'd be happy to sit down with you for a while and go over everything you have and some options.

I've written a series of articles for Hackaday about the range of tools used: https://hackaday.com/tag/tools-of-the-trade/

And here's one about building your own programming fixture using a Raspberry Pi and OpenOCD: https://hackaday.com/2019/12/30/parallel-pis-for-production-programming-cutting-minutes-and-dollars-off-of-assembly/

The potting is an interesting idea, though a little more challenging with the button, and depending on how you're doing the sounder it might not be compatible with that.

You might be able to avoid programming the device if you use a different circuit based on 555 timers. You can have one 555 that does the delayed turn on. Then the output of that turns on another that does the on/off beeping. Total component cost would be less than the cost of the microcontroller, and no programming is required.

You would not do acetone welding, you would do ultrasonic welding instead in production. Or even better would be snap features, which don't require special assembly tools or components. Screws are also common because they allow for a cheap simple mold.

Anyway, I'd rather have a conversation with you than blast out a whole bunch of stuff you may already know or don't care about, but I can definitely help you out.

Bob Baddeley

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sector67/8947534E-9447-4CEA-B318-3CEAD3379618%40gmail.com.

[beers.jo...@gmail.com]

Isaac, nice riff on the old musical greeting card hack for golf discs!

Circa 2001 I was playing in the winter with a guy who had attached the gizmo from a musical card to the center of his disc. He'd activate it when teeing off so he could find the disc, which would often bury itself in the snow, leaving only a hard-to-see entry slit. (Especially since we often played in the dark, and this guy could throw 400+ feet). We'd search for the disc listening for the faint sounds of 'Happy Birthday To You" from beneath the snow. 

Jon

2003 disc golf gold medalist, Badger State Games (40+ Geezer Division)

[Isaac Lemke]

Thank you all your overwhelmingly positive responses, you've given me quite a bit of homework. Sorry to go dark without a response! I'll be reaching out personally to a few of you to explain the product in more detail (Bob!). 

• Potting: Yes! Something I've very briefly looked into. Might be worth a full investigation, will need to dig deeper. Has huge possibilities of reducing costs at this point. 
• Microfab.com: Will 100% be reaching out to see what they might be able to offer. This is exactly what I was looking for - a company willing to engage with someone who has smaller order volumes. 
• Microcontroller vs. timer: I can see this being part of a "phase 2" of the product, where I offer a slightly less complicated version at a reduced price. Might be worth the effort to develop now as opposed to later if competition arises.  

Above all, I think this has solidified that I need to start attending Sector67 meetups!