An Industrial Design Company Explains When You Should Use Certain Prototype Methods

Are you uncertain when to use specific prototype methods? Let an industrial design company explain how to go about this here.

An Industrial Design Company Explains The Reality Of Large Scale Production

 

If you sell products you must always bear in mind that when you are designing products for mass production, for instance with an industrial design company, you have to greatly consider how manufacturable the products are and how cost-effective they will be when going into mass production. 

The reality that most industrial design companies in California face is that they cannot simply create a CAD file and ask a plastic modeler to produce a tool for mass production. If only it was that easy! Many companies offering industrial design services recommend that the CAD file of the product has to be designed using equal wall thickness, undercuts also must be prevented, and draft angles have to be added to specific surfaces to prevent the product from getting caught in the mold.

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If the industrial design company ignores any or any other items, the part could be very costly to make, impossible to create or look terrible when it is produced. 

Creating a new product is a pretty big deal and is an enormous part of many various businesses. To sum things up, a new product can result in new revenue opportunities, but there is also tons of work that has to go into the product design process. If you have a new product idea and you are racking your brain to try and work out what the necessary steps are, it is important to understand what product engineering is and how it all ties into mass manufacturing. 

 

What Is Product Design For Mass Production?

As any industrial design company will tell you, unless you have a product that is a handmade item that you only plan to make one or maybe two times, you are probably going to hire a manufacturer to make the product for you. 

In a nutshell, mass manufacturing, whether it is through an assembly line or more complex production systems, is the most convenient method to make a product affordable, as well as ensuring you have sufficient products when demand is high to make sure customers are always happy. 

 

Stage One: Concept

Before a great product is produced, first comes the even greater idea. Maybe you want to create a pen that is ergonomic and comfortable for left-handed users. Or maybe you have a concept for a new toy or have an idea for an improvement in modern technology. 

In any case, whatever your vision is, you can’t go very far without some type of drawing or description to show others in your team how it works. 

This when a product design service is very handy since they can use your ideas and their experiences to help you find out the brass tacks of your idea, and can make sketches or even renders based on it. 

If you have a very sophisticated idea, and you don’t know where to start, you could need a design engineering service to help you get things off the ground. Engineers can assist you in troubleshooting a product that isn’t working correctly, enhance the design that you have, and provide general suggestions to help you make the product more user-friendly. 

Whatever you select, the resulting documentation is your concept design, which you will require for the next phase in the manufacturing process. 

 

Stage Two: CAD Design

After the first concept phase has been carried out, the next step is to make a manufacturer-ready design. At this stage, every single bolt, screw, and wire has to be accounted for within the CAD design. Also, instructions for each part have to be included, and details on exactly what materials are also required. 

Finding a good industrial engineer is important for this phase so that you can send your documents to the manufacturer with assurance, knowing they can understand what it is you want to be produced. 

 

Stage Three: Prototype

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how delightfully detailed a CAD is, you must have a working prototype as well to help explain to the manufacturer what it should look after it is completed. You don’t necessarily have to create the prototype with expensive materials either, but it must be as finished as possible so they can understand how it works. 

For instance, if it is a clothing item, how should the pockets and zippers function? What type of decorations does it have? If it’s a toy, does it have any moving parts, and if it does, how do they move?

A prototype is a very good way of avoiding any confusion the CAD designs show and provide the manufacturer some assurance that what they have produced is something that you actually want. 

 

Stage Four: Test

The last stage before production is the testing phase. Even though modern CAD software has made it possible that minimal testing is required. CAD software can measure durability in many situations, from extreme weather to falls of great heights. 

Testing through CAD software is so sufficient that you may not need to go through a series of testing phases to confirm a product’s durability. Despite the fact that CAD software is very advanced, it is still required to confirm the results with at least one cycle of testing first. 

 

Stage Five: Production

Finally, you have reached the last stage of production and that is finding a manufacturer to help you make the product. This is a very crucial stage since, ultimately, the most momentous part of your investment is confined to manufacturing. Until this moment, every step you have gone through is to make certain that this phase of the production process goes without a hitch as much as possible. 

Prior to sending the data, you have collected for product creation to a manufacturer, you have to choose an appropriate one. Do not take for granted the fact that when you are looking for a manufacturer, it will probably be the company you are going to be working with for many years to come if the product launch goes to plan. 

So, try to be as selective about who manufactures your product, just as you are when you choose your new husband or wife!

A Product Design Services Company Takes A Brief Look At The History Of Patents

 When product design services think about patents, they are considering something that goes back hundreds of years. As a matter of fact, within the United States patents’ duty and function dates back to the original constitution and the people who composed it. However, the actual history of patents is older than when it began in the United States, and U.S. patent law appeared after a tradition that was already stated centuries ago. 

Many product design companies refer to the Venetian Patent Statute that dates back to 1474, which was a time when the capitalist system was coming out from the decline of feudalism. Although product design services inform us that patent law is always changing and evolving, the statutes laid out in that document almost six centuries ago are today still the fundamental standards of patent law. 

The Venetian Patent Statute — 1474

The Venetian Patent Statute is the oldest document which product design and development company say it defines in broad terms a codified patent system. It was established by the Republic of Venice as the first statutory patent system in Europe. 

Obviously, the practice of patent rights came before the writing of this specific document, however, what makes the Venetian Statute so fascinating for product design services is that it represented for the first time that patent customs were codified in an overall applicable, well-defined, and broad manner. 

Prior to the Venetian Patent Statute, patents were handed out on a case-by-case basis in response to individual requests for protection by petitioners. From the time the Statue existed, the conditions defining the rights of inventors to find patent protection were well described. They declare that “any new and ingenious device, not previously made” which served some useful purpose was eligible for patent protection.

This quickly reminds us of the current USPTO patent law which calls for a patentable invention to be original and useful. Contrary to patent law, there was no cost for applying for protection under the Venetian Patent Statute. 

From 1474 to 1788, about 2000 patents were granted by the Venetian Senate. This is minuscule in comparison with modern patents, in which the USPTO received 615,243 patent applications in 2014 alone. 

U.S Patent Law: The Patent Act — 1790

Before the revolution and the sanction of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, patent law in the American colonies was managed in an off-the-cuff manner, with no across-the-board patent rights until the early 1780s when specific states started to bring in their own statutes. This was all amended with the Constitution and the Patent Act of 1790, which established the basis of patent law which has regulated intellectual property rights in the U.S to this day.

These rights were detailed even further in the Patent Act of 1790. The act issued the responsibility of granting and administering patents to the Patent Board. There were only three members of the Board, and they were the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of War. 

As anticipated, the patent process was very slow initially, as these three would have to appoint meetings in which to talk about the applications they had received. 

Applicants had to hand in a written description of their invention, along with drawings when possible. This had to both sufficiently describe the invention as well as provide instructions that could be followed for the replication of the invention by others. At first, applicants also had to complete an examination though this requirement was quickly abandoned by the Patent Act of 1793.

When there was a violation, a jury was summoned to determine whether a patent holder was entitled to damages. Convicted infringers would have to surrender all their infringing items to the patent holder, and patents could be declared null and void if they were found to be infringing upon a previous claim. On the other hand, if someone brought up an accusation of infringement against someone else but lost, they were forced to pay the costs of the case. 

Up To The America Invents Act — 2011

American patent law was subjected to various changes after the original patent Act of 1790. The first was an amendment in 1793 to clarify the application process. This was tailgated by the Patent Act of 1836. Patent law then encountered fierce criticism during the Great Depression, which witnessed the eventual legislation of the Sherman Antitrust Act which wanted to reduce the influence of monopolies. 

The Patent Act of 1952 proposed the requirement that patents be ‘non-obvious’, and to be original and useful. This amendment was created to prevent shady people from claiming patents over what should be thought of as common knowledge.

The most momentous change to U.S. patent law that has happened recently was the America Invents Act of 2011. When referring back to the English Statute of Monopolies which advised U.S. patent law up till this moment, patent rights were awarded to whoever could show that they were the first person to invent the object in question.

Although this requirement sounds like a lot of sense, it caused some complications. With the total number of patent claims now encountered by the USPTO, it became challenging sometimes to figure out who was the first inventor. This led to the popularity of “interference proceedings”, where inventors would compete in trying to show that they had been the first inventor so they could claim patent rights.

With the America Invents Act of 2011, U.S patent law changed from a “first to invent” system to a “first inventor to file” system, which got rid of interference proceedings completely. Under U.S patent law, it is no longer important who invents a thing first, what matters is which inventor files a patent application first.

Keep in mind that not everyone can file a patent application since you still have to be an inventor. Therefore, if two people both invent a new device, the first of them to file a patent application will be granted the patent. The law does not allow someone who had not invented that device to takeover by filing for a patent for their invention. 

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