The #1 Reason Products Don't Make It To Market - Design Failure
 

Your product's plastic enclosure affects its look and feel. In fact, the plastic enclosure will influence how people interact with your product. Do you want your plastic enclosure to be modern and sharp? Engaging, yet professional? Intuitive in how it functions? Devoting plenty of time to the design phase is essential if you want to bring to life the product you've been envisioning.

Below are challenges often encountered during this phase that can hang up a project -- or kill it altogether. The strategies that follow will help you stay on track.

Challenge:
You don't have any concept renderings, or you have only industrial sketches.

Strategy:
Having a mental vision of your product concept is not enough. And while industrial sketches are great at developing your product on paper, Computer Aided Design (CAD) files are critical to the successful manufacturing of your product. You can opt to outsource this to a design engineer; however, quality thermoforming companies should be able to create 3D files of your concept in-house and work closely with any industrial designer you choose.

Challenge:
Your CAD files are in ProE (Pro Engineer), and you're not sure the thermoforming company you've selected can work with them.

Strategy:
Make sure the thermoforming company you choose can support your CAD files. A quality company should be able to work with, at the very least, ProE and SolidWorks.

Challenge:
You're still working out the fit, feel and function of your product concept.

Strategy:
Make sure you solidify this. Ask yourself the following questions and make sure you have detailed, specific answers:

• How is this product going to be used?
• Is it agency approved (UL/ETL)? If not, what steps must you take for approval?
• How should the product feel (e.g. how heavy should it be)? For example, if someone has a product, such as a hand-held device, he knows how he wants the product to feel in his hand.
• READ MORE QUESTIONS IN OUR COMPLETE THOUGHT PAPER - CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

Challenge:
You're unsure of which materials to use for your product.

Strategy:
When you make decisions about materials, you're straddling the design and development phases. It's something you should be investigating during the design stage, and it's something that you'll need to sign off on early in the development phase. Good thermoforming companies should be able to educate you on your options and guide you in making the smartest choices in terms of economics and practicality.

There are many other design, manufacturing, and delivery considerations you should think through before working with a thermoforming company. Click on the link below to read our complete thought paper.

Included throughout the considerations are ThermoFab Thought Notes - these will give you a sense of how we address many of these important concerns.

If you want to bring a product to market, give us a call. We like to be involved in the early stages of the process so we can advise you on your options. This saves everyone time and money.

For More Tips on Getting Your Product To Market Read Our Tips Guide: 3 Reasons Why Some of the Best Ideas Never Make It To Market