Ask An Expert
Issue No. 28 - April/May 2006
Ask an Expert
Research and development
Question: We are a small sheet metal and general engineering manufacturer. The mainstay of our business has been jobbing work and component manufacture. Like a lot of companies in our industry we have difficulty managing the peaks and troughs in our business. We are thinking that we should develop some products of our own so that when orders are low we can use our own products to take up the slack. How should we go about finding the right product?
Response provided by Bob Cother, Cother Consulting Pty Ltd
There is a lot more to successful product commercialisation than merely finding a product and manufacturing it. Before considering any product, you should make an honest appraisal of your organisation’s competencies.
My guess is that your business success to date has hinged on your ability to assess the manufacturability of a customer’s design, devise the most economical method of manufacture, quote the job accurately so that your price is competitive while still making a profit, and deliver the order on time to the required standard of quality. These capabilities have served you well to date but that doesn’t mean you have the skills and resources needed to develop, manufacture, market and distribute your own product.
Here are some questions you need to ask yourself:
You’ve been pretty good at selling your jobbing and contract services but do you have the marketing expertise to target a market, identify the needs of that market and come up with a product concept with a valuable point of difference?
Your design people are probably technically competent but are they creative?
Your production facility is probably set up for flexibility and short runs but can it deliver high volume efficiency?
Then there is distribution. How would you go about selling a product? Through wholesalers? Through retailers? On the internet? Who is going to ho...
