Learn how to take your technical products from prototype to market with greater efficiency.

Knowing how your potential manufacturing partner will take your existing design from prototype to production is crucial before making a commitment. The journey involves several key stages designed to ensure quality, efficiency, and alignment with your requirements.

Initially, you’ll engage in detailed discussions to outline what you expect from your manufacturing team. This is followed by the prototyping phase, where your manufacturer will create and test mock-up versions of your product. Once you approve the prototype, pilot production will refine manufacturing methods and address any issues. After you and your manufacturer are satisfied with the pilot and overall process, you can launch into full-scale production with continuous quality control and communication.

Let’s explore each aspect of prototype to production in more detail so you know exactly what to look for when choosing a manufacturing partner.

Consultation

The process begins with in-depth discussions about your specifications, requirements, and expectations for the item(s) your manufacturer will produce. When working with a manufacturer whose responsibilities begin at the prototyping phase, you will need to bring several references material to this initial meeting, including:

• 2-D engineered drawings
• Blueprint of product/part
• Surface finish
• Critical dimensions
• 3-D digital renderings
• CAD file

Your manufacturing team will use these references to plan their approach for prototyping and ensure their methods align with your goals.

Prototyping

Prototypes are essentially a “first draft.” During this stage, your manufacturing team will test production processes and the product’s performance and aesthetics to identify and resolve any flaws or issues. You can bring other company stakeholders into this stage to gather feedback and make requested or required adjustments before progressing to the next phase of manufacturing.

Pilot Production

Pilot production is critical for ensuring your customers receive items that exceed expectations. Here, your manufacturer will assemble a small batch of your product(s) to guarantee they have resolved all concerns from the prototyping phase. If necessary, they will further refine their methods before full-scale production. This is the ideal time to test production workflow, identify any inefficiencies, and ensure quality meets your standards.

During this phase, your manufacturing partner will also work with you to develop detailed plans for mass production, including finalizing supply chain logistics, scheduling production runs, and establishing quality assurance protocols.

Full-Scale Production

Once all of your company’s stakeholders and your manufacturing team are satisfied with the pilot’s results, it’s time to launch full-scale production. Your manufacturer will implement the detailed production plan and deploy your rigorous quality assurance protocols in conjunction with their own. With the help of packaging and logistics teams, you’ll get your expertly engineered products delivered to customers intact and on time.

As an engineer or procurement professional, you likely spend plenty of time and money coordinating multiple vendors for different stages of production. What if there was a more efficient way – a one-stop-shop manufacturing partner with in-house capabilities to take your product from prototype to production?

The Ten X approach speeds up timelines, cuts costs, and ensures better quality control. By having all services for manufacturing medical, agriculture, aerospace, transportation, and plastic electronic housing under one roof, you can focus more resources on improving your business.

Why One-Stop Shop Manufacturing?

Here are a few ways your company can benefit from one-stop shop manufacturing:

Better Communication

With all services under one roof, you eliminate the back-and-forth and potential miscommunications that often occur when dealing with multiple vendors. You’ll work with a single team that deeply understands your products, leading to smoother operations with fewer errors.

Faster Timelines

You can reduce downtime between stages by housing prototyping, production, and finishing under one roof. Additionally, you don’t have to waste time dealing with external coordination whenever you need to adjust products – your one-stop team will implement changes immediately. With this approach, you will significantly accelerate the overall production timeline and bring your product to market faster.

Lower Costs

Using a one-stop shop manufacturer avoids extra costs and logistical complexities that come with juggling various suppliers. Additionally, bulk pricing and bundled services from a single provider can mean significant financial savings for your company and a more cost-effective production process.

Improved Quality Control

When the same team oversees every stage of manufacturing your products, you can rely on a thorough understanding of specifications and quality expectations from design to post-processing. Your critical devices will have more consistency across the board because they are all made in the same facility.

Simplified Project Management

Coordinating multiple suppliers involves extensive scheduling, monitoring, and communication, which can be time-consuming and prone to errors. You can simplify all aspects of project management by using one facility that provides a single project timeline and unified progress reports.

Enhanced Innovation

A one-stop shop can provide integrated solutions and creative approaches that may not be possible with a fragmented production pipeline. When the entire manufacturing team works together from start to finish, there is a continuous exchange of ideas and feedback. Rest assured that your manufacturer is working behind the scenes to innovate and optimize production – your company will benefit from better products and more successful projects.