Prototyping cannot be ignored because they sought to prove the concept of the inventor to potential customers, suppliers, and investors-and most importantly, to the inventor himself. This opinion has been shared by a majority of the experts in the field. The idea behind creating a prototype is the accomplishment of a lot from the point of view of creativity, that too without having to put on so much of money in the idea of product or going for its commitment early on.
Construction of an ‘invention prototype’ at the appropriate time: It’s essential to construct an ‘invention prototype’ much before buying the tooling for building the product or seeking contract manufacturers. Even before computer drawings are made you will find that people may want to do a prototype first. He is likely to burn up loads of cash on ‘engineering drawings’ when possibly what he needs 1st is the papier-mache clearly showing him what is being tried by him. If that is the case, he is advised to revert to computer-aided drawings. Assessing the proper time for prototype is not all that tough. It just requires a proof of workability of the product invented by the concerned person.
The proper Prototyping for proper audience: An ‘invention prototype’ should be aimed towards the proper audience for doing its job. It means that the tailoring should be done in such a way that the requirements of the customers get fulfilled much to their satisfaction. Not only that, the prototype should be able to bear the critics of potential partners, investors, suppliers, and customers. This is a very important point: real appraisals should be done and friendly appraisals are not what you want to happen. The more slicker looking and operable the prototype, the ‘better’. The praises feel good sometimes but you don't want to get carried away with these praises. It’s better to spend less on this production, as there would be many other places for spending the start up capital.
Let >1 prototype be made
If the overheads are not very much, let the Prototyping be made into multiple versions. The designs will most likely be improved upon in the next few times. Due to this, the latest product arrived at would fetch more money owing to its modern and sharp design. Two different prototypes can be created at one time and some people like to do this. The first one would be meant for ‘show’ and the second one for ‘go’, i.e. the 1st one could be made to look like the end product and the 2nd one for demonstrating the functionality.
For instance- Battery Buddy had a ‘looks-like’ and ‘works-like’ prototype. The 1st one was created at ‘University of Michigan’. A box was fashioned to proper exterior dimensions as per the engineering drawings. It was painted with fancy, fine graphics. This version could fit on around 90% of vehicles in market. The 2nd one consisted of a plastic box. It was grey-colored and around 4 times bigger than actual Battery Buddy. Finishing was not the issue then. The workability had to be checked; and it happened! Hence, the two versions made the task simpler from the buyer’s as well as seller’s point of view.
Prototype Zone is a new community website all about Rapid Prototyping. Visit the website today to sign up for free so you can then download your free book on Basic Rapid Prototyping! Come by Prototypezone.Com Today for your free Ebook on Rapid Prototyping.
No comments:
Post a Comment