In House Vs Outsourced Manufacturing

Once the hardware is designed the next important question is how to ramp up manufacturing.

Broadly these are the basic steps for setting up a business for hardware products and can be defined as

• Concept Validation – There may be one or more than one iterations of the product, before the concept is validated.
• Design Validation – The concept needs to be converted into a design and the same needs to be validated, ensuring the product is meeting all the design specifications and comply with all the government and legal requirements.
• Process Design Validations – The detailed process is validated during this phase of the product life cycle. The manufacturing team must be involved and contribute to the overall process as this is the most critical phase of the product manufacturing.
• Product Ramp Up – All the toolings and capacity is build up during this phase. The phase is considered completed once the product reaches its expected quality and volume milestones.
• Ramp Down – Every product has a life and is always replaced by a better version or a complete product itself. A detailed plan is required on how to ramp down, provide support for what is already available in the market for a smooth ramp down. Any obsolete product should be served as per market expectations.

In house Vs Outsourced manufacturing

This is one of the most critical decisions to be made by startup while launching a product. There are multiple factors involved for making this decision and must be aligned with the organisation and product strategy.

I have created a presentation which can help product designers and businesses to make an informed decision about this subject.