Innovation/Inventor Support
Having had the opportunity to visit and do business in Asia, and more importantly China – the factory of the world, I have had the opportunity to visit hundreds of manufacturing companies in a broad range of industries. Developing a broad base of contacts and knowledge on the Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturing capabilities I have been able to parlay this knowledge into a service specifically targeted at inventors that are committed to getting their product ideas to market.
It is my experience that everyone has an idea for a product that if commercialized will change the way we live or interact with each and every day. The main problems encountered by the average inventor is that they are unaware of the time investment required, the cost to create one or more prototypes, the financial investment required to get the product manufactured and packaged, the sales and marketing collateral and the need to make contact with the target customer to keep them interested during the development process. Each one of these activities is a specific roles within any product company and usually most inventors are a one man show stretching themselves to perform duties that they do not have the skills for.
The most difficult of the activities encountered by an inventor that is committed to commercializing a product idea is associated with the manufacturing of the product. Inventors treat the project as a part-time activity and manage it using personal funds. The inventor spends most of his time and money working with manufacturers to develop and create a market ready product and usually finds that this process consumes most of the available financial and time resources. In addition, since the product is just another in a long list of products a manufacturer is contracted to make the inventor is very low on the totem pole as a production and support priority. I have witnessed product development timelines at more than two years and with depleted financial resources the product dies before it has a chance to successfully enter the market place.
I have had several encounters with frustrated inventors many with unrealistic ideas and goals a others that have a great idea, have researched the market potential and the local market potential. Based on the information gathered they quickly realized that they could not meet the timeline and target manufacturing costs required to successfully take the product to market. For several committed individuals I presented to them the Asia manufacturing opportunity. The clients were provided with two approaches to getting their products developed and manufactured in Asia, the first being that I would help them find and work with one or more companies and the second option provided is to handle for them the Asia activity related to product development and manufacturing.
Both models were successfully used by inventors yielding for them a cost structure that was supportive of a profitable distribution and sales strategy. In addition the timeline for development was reduced to months instead of years. Leveraging my contacts and knowledge of the Asian market provided me with the opportunity to support the successful product development for several projects. The programs pursued are as follows:
- Hammer mallet attachments that converts the claw and ball peen hammers into one of three types of rubber mallet
- Aerosol channel cap with tool storage
- Aerosol cap with integrated storage for spray extension tube
- Camping shower spray head
- Air intake system plug
- Re-engineer/Modernize/Update a family heavy duty of automotive service maintenance equipment for the professional repair industry
- Develop a series of light duty automotive service maintenance equipment for the do-it-yourself automotive enthusiast
- Interlocking stacking bulk liquid storage system for metal and plastic 4L, 5L and 20L pails, cans and jugs. Included in the program are a drip tray collector, side holsters for dispensers, and a top shelf unit for storing dispensers and service equipment
- Re-engineer an alternative refillable/reusable aerosol dispensing system using compressed air as the propellant. This is a non-ozone depleting solution
- Re-engineer a critical fluid comparator syringe for visual presentation of contaminated fluids