How to Consider The Prototype To Production Launch

 

One of the most reliable ways of getting a complete insight into the design aspects of a product is by creating a prototype. A prototype will help you detect the operation flaws, design challenges, and the level of functionality. It will give you the necessary pointers to improve on the design and help you better visualize the working of the final product. It also provides an inexpensive way of experimenting with a project idea and gauging its feasibility. A well-designed prototype will help reveal design flaws, gauge the usefulness of the product, and its marketability.

Prototypes sometimes don’t provide a complete solution to the design challenge. The techniques which were used to make the prototype may not match with the mass production processes used to make the final product. This is the reason why you need to consider the prototype to production launch and fine-tune the process for better results.

At the same time, some functionalities of the prototype may not match exactly with those of the final product. All these are some of the factors which may make the final product have significant differences from the prototype. But with the right considerations and due diligence, most of these problems can be eliminated.

 

Below Tips You Need To Ensure A Prototype To Production Launch.

 

• What Process was Used to Make the Prototype?

CNC machined and 3D printing is great for making rapid prototypes need. Each process can make different features and requirements if you want to make one or a few pieces, or feature or functionality purposed. So product developers have to aware of what purposed for the prototype making.

The process used to make a prototype may not necessarily be the same as that used to make the final product. Therefore, you need to consider the prototype to production launch aspects and optimized the design. Consider the machining method used,  the time it took to come up with the different parts, and the precision level. Compare these with the process which will be used during the production stage and evaluate the feasibility of the whole process.

• Do all the Processes Lead to the Same Result?

Different methods can be used to come up with a similar product part. For instance, you can use die-casting to produce a part or use CNC machining to produce a similar machine part. While these two processes produce parts that resemble, a closer look will reveal both mechanical and aesthetic differences in these parts. The time taken for each process, the accuracy level, and the strength of the final part should be evaluated to ensure that a wise engineering decision is made.

Knowing this will help product developers understand product requirements, price, and developed time. So they can make different choices in advance to avoid any cost increased.

• What Kind Of Materials Were Used?

It’s true that different materials have different properties. Ensure that the materials used in making the prototype resemble those which will be used during the mass production stage. Any deviation may create both performance and aesthetic differences.

Further considered that the prototype material itself we can make common materials from marketing in order to avoid any special materials cost is high, or difficult to find during mass production.

Understanding that the materials for the prototype are different from production, such as the plastic material for 3D printing and production materials are different. The CNC machined material and die-casting materials are different.

• What Kind Of Finishing Process Was Used?

There are different finishing processes that can be used on the material. A part that is sandblasted will be different from that which has undergone lapping. Or a prototype that was surface-finished through magnetic polishing will have significant differences from that which was surface-finished through the ultrasonic process.

Prototype finishing we can elaborately make it very beautiful but we can’t consider this to our mass production, Large scale production should favor those processes which are easy to apply, are less costly and high efficient. When production launched before we have to further consider automated production but no use hand working out.

• Consider The Components Quantity To Build For Production?

Much attention is given to the prototype. Sometimes such attention ends up creating a prototype with more parts and components. The drawback with such a high number of components is that it makes the assembly work complex and prone to error and added cost.

Therefore, it is important to minimize the component parts as much as possible as this will shorten the assembly time and also reduce the errors associated with many components working for the bigger whole.

For volume production, minimizing each variable is the best way to both costs reduce and maintain consistent quality.

• Keep Everything Simple and Repeatable

Simplicity in design is key. While the functions performed by the product may be significantly complex, the operation of the product should be made as simple as possible. It’s also important to ensure that the process which was used to come up with the prototype can be repeated with ease. Repeatability ensures that the prototype design can easily be transferred to production, This is very important to product developers.

 

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