1.INTRODUCTION
Designing a product that’s easy to manufacture at minimum cost is a tricky business. Poorly thought-out industrialization can spell disaster in a matter of months, even if your product is a commercial success! You won’t be able to produce and deliver, and while you’re wasting energy and cash trying to produce quality, you’ll be annoying your sales force and your customers, who will have to wait to take advantage of the promised offer. Methodical, rigorous industrialization is the way to avoid these pitfalls. It begins as soon as the proof of concept has been validated, and ends when production becomes routine. Successful industrialization begins with three key projects:
2. Take a look at your needs, without forgetting regulatory constraints.
High-tech products must comply with a wide range of standards and regulations before they can bear the CE mark. The European directives governing them are complex and increasingly demanding.
If you intend to market your product outside the CE zone, find out about local regulations. Technical standards are generally unified, but acceptance thresholds differ from region to region. In Japan, the permissible power of an LTE-4G modem is significantly lower than in the USA or Europe, making it difficult to design a universal product. Failure to note this difference in the initial product design cost us 6 months of additional development and the creation of a Japan-specific reference.
3. Choose an industrial scenario in line with your ambition and available skills.
If your expertise lies in product design but not in manufacturing, it’s best to opt for a fabless organization from the outset, and entrust this task to specialists. They’ll design the entire supply chain for you. And be clear from the outset about the fundamentals: production capacity, batch sizes, seasonality of demand. As estimation is tricky for an innovative product, plan your investment tranches with your subcontractor, bearing in mind that it takes several months to increase line capacity, recruit additional staff and supply components.
4. Contractualize with your suppliers and industrial partners.
A good contract is about devising solutions to deal with potential disputes with suppliers, not just defining the price and content of the service. Spending time on the contract allows you to get to know each other better. It’s also an opportunity to discuss everything without taboos, such as the sharing of intellectual property or the cost of non-quality. The fact remains that, contract or no contract, it’s late changes that cost the most. They will be all the more easily absorbed if you have succeeded in creating a climate of trust with your partners. Once you’ve completed these tasks, you’ll need to ramp up production and move on to routine production. But let’s not rush things. That’s the subject of another article. In the meantime, remember to manage project risks to minimize setbacks throughout the development process. Experience has taught me that Murphy’s Law still applies: anything that can go wrong, will.
Olivier Carbonaro