How to manufacture a new tool

Okay - I'm a newcomer, so have patience!
We have 'invented' a new tool that is currently with a Design Engineering company. Once all the different components are designed for production, what happens then?
Do you get one company to supply the blow molded part, get the battery from someone else, the toolhead machined by a third company, the pump by a fourth etc. etc. And then do those components get shipped to another location to be assembled? Then where does the packaging happen? Who then ships? We'd like to do the last three steps ourselves, but we are in Alaska, so all those components would have to come from the Lower 48, with all the huge shipping costs, and then get shipped back out!
With the economy as is, outsourcing abroad seems tantamount to treachery.
Forgive my ignorance. If anyone has answers or can suggest some good books/online resource material, I'd be grateful.
I submitted this same question on Thomas.com forums and haven't had a single reply yet... hope you guys are more responsive!
Thank you!

I cant help you. But I am proud of the following statement you made.

With the economy as is, outsourcing abroad seems tantamount to treachery.


If you want to do it yourself now is the time to buy equpment. Price wise at least.

I'm not being flip when I suggest that you consider moving your operation south temporarily. Plenty of dying cities would give you the moon right now to attract some industry. Probably would tax you into the ground as soon as you are profitable, but in the meantime, you'd be in the midst of a lots of hungry shops with time on their hands.

I don't know what size operation you are considering, but you may find it profitable to at least check out what may soon be the new rust belt....Joe

What you're looking for is known as a contract manufacturer. A good contract manufacturer will have contacts with the various shops you'll need for parts, may procure your bits and do pretty much whatever assembly and packing you want.

They'll also take a fair bit of your profits, but that's only fair.

Also, if you go this route, you absolutely live and die by their abilities, so choose wisely.

There are any number of companies who would do the assembly and packaging for you.

http://www.thomasnet.com/nsearch.ht...tract+assembly&navsec=search&heading=17868001

I know some guys at a design engineering outfit that ended up doing everything from design of products and automated assembly equipment to contract manufacturing. The latter was by popular request. (Their first manufacturing effort was producing ice cream cones, because someone stiffed them and didn't pay for the machine they built, LOL.) Good guys. http://www.adventdesign.com/

In april, in Seattle, there will be a contract manufacturing trade show, where various companies that do contract manufacturing will be trying to get your business.

http://www.biztradeshows.com/trade-events/amcon-seattle.html

might be worth a trip down.

Different firms specialise in different things- some do electronics, others sheet metal, others plastics.

Might take some searching to find the right fit.

Thanks all - please keep the great advice coming.

rossross1,
I applaud you for taking a stab at manufacturing. I have one bit of advice. It is worth what you pay for it.

First; I would have someone that knows manufacturing and assembly look at this project. Many times a little bit of oversight, from a set of fresh eyes, can see a few easier ways to make a device. I have turned a lot of cast parts into fabricated parts. Many times I went the other way. You have to run through the numbers for cost and function.

Second; a lot of times you have to draw in a lot of job shops to make one device. No one has all that is needed under one roof. Final assembly is always best done in house. For something as simple as a water seal, I have to involve a molder, a stamper, a spring shop, and a laser cutter shop. If you watch those tolerances; everything falls into place on your shop floor. This is also a good place to keep control of quality and costs. Since you are in Alaska, shipping costs can be kept down by shipping parts one time, and in bulk.

Good luck on your endeavor. I have been doing this same thing for a number of years. Trust me; it gets easier every day.

Charlie

I'll second what Charlie said and add that the success of your product is highly dependent upon the skills of the design engineering outfit you have working on it now.

I started making things before I went to kindergarden and finished up my career as a manufacturing engineering manager, having done just about everything in between in many different fields from steel erection to microprocessor testing equipment.

It isn't the age or years of experience that matter as much as the free-thinking, flexible thinking and cleverness of the folks working with your design.

Innovation in new products is absolutely connected to innovation in manufacturing. But that innovation MUST be connected to complete reality!!

Pete

CharlieBiler said:

rossross1,


Second; a lot of times you have to draw in a lot of job shops to make one device. No one has all that is needed under one roof. Final assembly is always best done in house. For something as simple as a water seal, I have to involve a molder, a stamper, a spring shop, and a laser cutter shop. If you watch those tolerances; everything falls into place on your shop floor. This is also a good place to keep control of quality and costs. Since you are in Alaska, shipping costs can be kept down by shipping parts one time, and in bulk.


Charlie

Click to expand...

Thank you for your explanation.
So, it seems that if we get all the parts and pieces shipped to us, we are not actually manufacturers, but assemblers? Would the shipping costs justify the cost-saving of us assembling, packaging and then shipping the finished product back out again, I wonder. This isn't a high-tech tool - there's just nothing else out there for its specific application, and requires around 12 main separate components.Should we just be looking to have it all done in, say, the Seattle area where most of the components could probably be found within a reasonable radius?
Or like Joe D Grinder suggested above, locate everything somewhere where they are desperate for work?
Can you realistically 'manage' such an operation from a distance, or would we have to up sticks and go to said state?
If you've ever visited Alaska, you'd understand any reluctance to leave, but if test run sales looked really promising, we'd be willing to do it.
Which are the best/most advantageous states?
Thanks again.

Your single biggest management issue will be the reliability of your suppliers. Reliable price, supply and quality.

You need to qualify each supplier for each part and once that supplier can make that part properly, you must document exactly what is involved in producing that part successfully. The documentation doesn't need to be extensive; a 'check list' of operations/checkpoints/tooling/etc. is plenty.

Then if the supplier can be made to follow that formula the part will be correct.

What follows then is visiting the suppliers and auditing their compliance to the formula.

What you want to completely avoid is inspecting the parts as they are received in your assembly facility. Push the determination of a quality part all the way back to the start of the suppliers process!!

You don't need to move your headquarters, but you will need to do some traveling, especially as you start up the suppliers. Once you get things going a lot of travel won't be necessary.

Oh, another thing. Once you have suppliers that are producing good parts at prices that work for you, don't go trying to jack them around on prices!! I've seen too many successful products/companies ruined by purchasing people trying to squeeze dimes out of things.

Every dime you spend at the supplier end will save you dollars at the assembly end!

Pete