I just read an incredibly interesting article on infomercials and inventions in USA Today. Great reading for anyone wanting to get their product on TV!
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2009-04-14-pitchmen_N.htm Click the link to read the article.
Tyler Harrell
President
We're currently in the process of finalizing the first sets of
prototypes and engineering, and the new trip trak unit just won an
award in Las Vegas. Keep your eye out for this unit to be a hot item
since they will be used by AAA Rental Cars!
Tyler Harrell
For the past 2 months, PRG President, Tyler Harrell, and the staff have been working with our graphic design team to launch our new website design. Since our website acts as our company brochure, it was necessary to update all of our service and company information, as well as the overall look and feel of the site. We wanted our site to be user friendly, full of information, and most importantly, Simple! The new clean fresh look is very pleasing, simple, and full of the latest product development information for our company, services, and new technology available at PRG. We are looking very forward to the new site launch, scheduled for the end of March 2009. Please check back regularly to see when it becomes available. www.creativeprototyping.com
As of last week, we were able to secure an additional 2,000 sq. ft. to our administrative, prototype, and product development facilities, making our office and shop space a total of 4,000 sq. ft. We are located in the same building, and now have almost the whole building that we are in. We are very excited about this expansion, and now have the opportunity to grow into other areas to better serve our customers by adding new equipment and staffing that was not feasible previously with our limited space. We will be updating the new office space over the next few months by adding new equipment that will allow us to expand in the areas of prototyping, engineering, manufacturing, shipping and marketing. We will be adding pictures to the blog of the new space once we have it ready.
Concept design is the process of taking a napkin sketch, applying creativity and developing a product. This process includes brainstorming, concept sketching, 3D style renderings, 3D CAD creation, Design for Prototyping, Design for Manufacturability, Product Animations, Virtual (Computer-Generated) Renderings, and full Concept Design reports that fully describe and explain every aspect of the product. If you have a patent, or a product that is in the conceptual phase, then our Concept Design Engineering services will be exactly what you need to build functional prototypes, and obtain Target Manufacturing Prices and complete Material Selection reports. Whether your project is plastic, metal, electronics or textile fabrics, our Engineering team has the ability to design and build it for you. We operate on fixed price agreements for our concept design service. E-mail or call us for a quote today.
Virtual (Computer-Generated) Prototyping is a form of 3D CAD drawing that looks realistic. The advantage of doing a V.P. is that you can often convey the message of your product without actually building a physical prototype. Most of the time, the V.P. is used as a supplemental tool to your presentation package or marketing materials. Virtual Prototypes are presented in JPEG format that anyone can open, they can have background scenes to feel more realistic, and most people do not know that they are looking at a V.P. because it is so real. We use the highest quality software available to offer our clients a very affordable method of presenting their product. Here are just a few examples of our High Quality Virtual Prototypes.
There are several reasons why a prototype is helpful. The first and most obvious reason for building a prototype would be to prove the overall functionality of your product. This is an extremely fun process watching a 3D CAD drawing turn into a functional product. Many customers want to build a prototype so they can take it to their Patent Attorney for obtaining Patent Protection, and the majority of customers want a prototype that is a professional presentation unit to show to either manufacturers for licensing or product buyers for placing their product on the market. As new products continue to be designed and developed every day, the need and demand for High Quality Prototypes is becoming even greater. Technology advancement and skilled engineers allow our team to build the most professional & highest quality prototypes available. We provide prototypes for every need, including virtual prototypes, early stage concepts, prototypes that demonstrate functionality and final prototypes that are cosmetically accurate and engineered for production.
A prototype by definition is a representation or an example of a finished product. This is a bold statement to say that a prototype represents a finished product, and that is why there becomes a variety of prototype processes from a very simple rapid prototype part, to a custom fabricated product that uses production processes to obtain the prototype. We have built prototypes that represent only the aesthetic form of a product, and we have completed several prototypes that represent the form, fit and function of a product. Although there are several processes available to obtain a prototype, there are also several skillsets used to make a prototype that represents a finished product. It has been our experience in the past, that it makes the most sense to complete a level of concept design engineering and industrial design styling before making any prototype. We then like to make a “mock-up” prototype in some cases where dimensions are crucial before making a final presentation prototype. The term presentation can be referred to as making a model of the product that looks like an off-the-shelf unit with the proper surface finish, aesthetics and 100% functionality. When dealing with plastics, metal, electronics and textile fabrics, you have the ability to use many techniques and processes to obtain the final result of a presentable prototype. The cost does vary based on how high of quality you are trying to obtain. Very seldom do you build only one protoype and expect it to be perfect. It generally makes the most sense to expect two or three prototypes before the product would be determined “off-the-shelf”. If you are licensing a product to a company, then a simple example or rapid prototype may suffice; however, it’s like buying a new car. Do you want the new car to be that pristine shiny perfect looking car, or do you want it to have rust spots, dirt in the seats, etc… It is the same when you represent your new product to a company. You may only have one shot in front of executives and ceo’s to make an impression, and it is always our representation to invest in the development necessary to make a big impression. Whichever method of prototyping you chose to make, do remember that the price of a prototype is project depended, and we always make sure to involve skilled engineers initially that may save an extreme amount time and money in the long run. And last but not least, building a prototype is a very fun and exciting process, and there is nothing like watching your product come to life from a napkin sketch to a workable prototype!
We are pleased to have this great information piece for anyone interested in developing a new product. Please contact us at: tyler@creativeprototyping if you would like to receive our newest services that we provide. A prospectus by definition generally provides a description of a company’s business, services, or securities in most cases. As it relates to product development, we have prepared a prospectus of our services so our general customer base has a better understanding of what we do, how we do it, and why we do it! We personally think that this will be a great marketing tool for us to discuss the basic overview of our company and how we help inventors, entrepreneurs & businesses. Years ago we started out by providing plastic consulting services to inventors and entrepreneurs, and although we still provide those comprehensive services, we now have a variety of engineers and can develop products that involve plastics, metal, electronics & textile fabrics.
I just came across a new Urethane Foam technology that grows in water to 60% of its original size. The cool part is that when the material grows in water, it expands equally and evenly to accurately show all detailed features. This sounds like an awesome product for any artist that is wanting to create any form or statue type sculpture at a very low cost of reproduction. Basically, you take the original model, mold it in silicone and then cast the expandable foam. The foam comes in transparent blue and I believe it can be painted and sanded as well. The only problem I see is that it can take up to 14 days for the full expansion to take place.
The art of Rapid Prototyping allows inventors, entrepreneurs and business the ability to hold their product in a matter of a few hours in most cases. The majority of RP equipment use STL file formats, which are a version of your 3D CAD file. The 3D STL file is electronically transmitted, basically like attaching a file to an e-mail and is uploaded into the RP machine. The RP machine then takes the CAD data and slices it into thousands of layers before the build process begins. Once you start the machine, it works very similar to an inkjet printer, where the heads of most machines move around a flat platform to build the parts from scratch. RP is one of the neatest and fastest ways of getting a form, fit and function model to verify the design before moving into full-scale production. There are several companies who make a variety of different RP machines, and can be referred to as: SLA, SLS, FDM, 3D Printing, etc. Each machine typically uses its own software and proprietary materials. Some of the materials are more for aesthetics than function, and some materials such as ABS can be used in real product applications for functional testing. Our Engineers can work with you on any prototype process or material you may need. It’s also a very important note that just because a 3D CAD has been done on your product and the machine can build it, doesn’t necessarily mean that product will be 100% manufacturable. We always recommend doing Concept Design Engineering by either a Plastic Part Design or Mechanical Engineer prior to building a functional prototype. The RP world will continue to evolve with new technology and materials, and will always remain a critical tool in the product development process.
For those of you who are new to plastic, there has been some definite confusion about what actually falls under the category of plastic. There are actually hundreds of products that can be classified as at least a form or version of plastic, or sometimes known as polymers. The rubber on your car tires are a form of plastic, silicone caulking is a version of plastic, thin film products such as vinyl shower curtains, adhesives like super glue & duct tape also fall under the category. Foam products such as open cell sponges, and closed cell foam products like croc shoes are also a version of plastic. There are literally thousands of materials and products you use every day that classify as a plastic in some form, so remember, just because it’s not a hard plastic product like a Trash Can doesn’t mean that plastic isn’t used isn’t used in your product in some way!
Our company recently did a survey of all of our past and current clients, as well as some general inquiries to try and find what services were most needed in the product development field. We were trying to identify what services clients may want that we could add as a value to our core Engineering and Development services. I was not surprised to find that the majority of the responses wanted us to add core marketing services to launch a product to market. I was a bit surprised that they also wanted us to provide Patent Services. There are several laws and issues involved with offering Patent Services that we will save for another day. For now though, I am pleased to say that we have decided that we need to offer some level of marketing services for placing new products on the market. We have several options on the table that are being considered now. Although we will never become an invention promotion firm, we are evaluating what options there are for offering some sort of marketing assistance in the very near future. Licensing is a very good way to take a product to market with minimal investment, although the royalties can be significantly lower than launching the product on your own and actually running the business to gain market share. Both are good options and I hope to be reporting back soon with an update on how our approach to marketing new products is progressing.
Tyler Harrell
President
