For most, but not all projects, we typical follow a process similar to the one listed below. This is a general outline of getting a product idea from concept to market. It is a time tested formula and used in many companies across many industries. There are several variants of this formula, all of them are good as they fit different situations and types of product development. Oftentimes, we have experienced clients that come to us who are already partly through this process and looking for us to complete it. This is something we are also happy to do. Below is the process broken into the phases we normally use.
Concept Phase
This is the initial phase where the idea for the new product is generated and documented. The idea here is to flush out the idea as much as possible and assess if it is worth pursuing. To some degree, this is always done by an inventor or client before coming to us, for why else would someone hire a product design and development company unless they already have an idea they want to pursue.
Discovery Phase
This is an added phase in our process where a customer shares their idea with us so we can bid on it. It's common practice to sign a non-disclosure agreement up front with the customer to keep what is discussed confidential (keeping a customer's information confidential is something we do even without the agreement in place, unless agreed to by the customer). We also work with the customer to flush out the idea, this usually stems naturally from our need to have a a good specification to create our quote and this process can range from a short phone call for a simple design to a couple of weeks of talks if the design is complicated or requires a lot of detail. We do not charge for this. At the end of this phase we usually deliver a proposal to the customer with a firm quote for the preliminary phase and estimates for the other phases beyond that.
Preliminary Design Phase
In this phase, we create a preliminary design based on the specifications agreed upon in the discovery phase. We create an engineering model and do any other engineering and design that is necessary to flush out the product so that there is a high level of confidence that the design will work before proceeding to detailing the parts and creating engineering drawings and documents.
This phase is really where the bulk of the product design & development is done. At the end of this phase the work is summarized and delivered to the customer at a Preliminary Design Review (PDR). A written report is also delivered detailing the work done in this phase. After this phase, it should be very clear to all parties what the final...
