Leardon Solutions client Apt Innovations from Northern Ireland is portrayed in the BBC News article Cold winter inspires NI man’s pipe business. Leardon Solutions designed, engineered, prototyped, and qualified the Floe winterizing product for Apt Innovations and currently manufactures components for the product.
There are many inventors in this world but unfortunately many of their inventions never see the light of day. Why is this? There must be some factors that determine if the inventor will create a successful company from the product idea or if the inventor will fail.
Leardon Solutions worked with Randy Hupp from EcoLeeser from the early days of his invention of a product that helps increase the chances of survival for released rockfish suffering from barotrauma. This invention named the RokLees is pictured below.
Throughout the process of working with Randy, there were three success factors that contributed to the success of Randy’s invention and hence his company EcoLeeser.
(1) Proper prototyping and product testing: Even the best product ideas can fail if they are introduced to the market prematurely without the proper engineering and testing. Some inventors believe that the best way to develop their product is to go onto one of the outsourcing websites and hire an overseas company that makes similar products. Many times this leads to failure since product prototyping and qualification do not occur. Skipping the prototyping phases will definitely limit the ability to succeed.
Randy understood that in order to be successful, he had to provide a quality product that simply did what it was meant to do and did it well. In order to achieve this quality, multiple rounds of prototypes were necessary. He knew that he had to build prototypes and test them in the hands of actual customers. First, Randy built a Proof-of-Concept Prototype that proved his idea actually functioned properly. While this prototype wasn’t pretty or refined, it proved that his idea was feasible. Next Randy worked with Leardon Solutions to develop a Form/Fit/Function Prototype that not only functioned properly but also met his cosmetic and aesthetic goals. Randy was able to test this product in actual fishing conditions and fine-tuned the design to meet his needs. As Randy started production, he had a design that he knew would function properly across all operating conditions.
(2) Develop a trusted network of suppliers and professionals: Many inventors are worried that their product idea will be stolen if they discuss the invention with potential suppliers and professional service companies. As such, the worried inventor will try to do everything themselves, ranging from the engineering, prototyping, intellectual property, business planning, marketing, and website development. Fortunately for the inventor, most service companies are more interested in helping the inventors than in stealing their idea. The sooner the inventor realizes that there are trusted companies that can help them, the sooner they will be successful.
Randy new his limitations and began to develop a trusted network of suppliers that could help get his product developed and his company formed. Since Randy was new to the world of product development, he hired Leardon Solutions to perform the prototyping, product qualification, and manufacturing. Randy also understood that he had no knowledge in the areas of intellectual property and therefore hired Intercontinental IP to develop his intellectual property filings. These two professional services companies were only a small part of the trusted network that was developed throughout the process of creating the RokLees and EcoLeeser.
(3) Proper use of intellectual property: If an inventor is actually going to move forward and create a company around their product invention, it is important to protect their intellectual property. Many inventors feel that filing provisional patents, utility patents, design patents, or trademarks are a waste of money. When the intellectual property isn’t filed, what happens after the company invests time and money to develop a market for their product only to find that another company is selling a very similar product? All that effort developing the market has gone to waste and this other company can easily leverage the market development work already done. Intellectual property is a critical way to prevent this situation.
Randy filed a provisional patent application which provided patent pending protection for one year and two trademark applications, both of which have been approved by United States Patent and Trademark Office and are in the “publication” phase. As the expiration date for the provisional patent approaches, Randy will need to decide if it is important to file a utility patent in order to extend his invention protection. This will depend on the success of the RokLees product in the marketplace.
In summary, inventors with good product ideas should implement these three simple success factors into their operations to improve their changes of success.
When an inventor, entrepreneur, or company has a great product idea, they typically start out by constructing a prototype to prove the idea is feasible. While this might seem like the logical first step, it should actually be the second step taken. The first step should be to document the product features and functionality so that there are product goals for the team to pursue. Without first defining and communicating the product features, the product team will be moving forward blindly while wasting time and money.
Leardon Solutions follows a rigorous Product Development Lifecycle and commercialization process shown in the figure below to ensure all products achieve their product development goals and objectives. The first phase of this process, the Definition Phase, is sometimes thought to be the most important phase because it sets the stage for the success of the product. Without properly completing this phase, the team will be working without any objectives or goals for the product. A detailed list of the activities and deliverables that should be accomplished in the Definition Phase can be found in the Product Development Lifecycle presentation.
Leardon Solutions Product Development Lifecycle. Copyright 2011 Leardon Solutions
To summarize, the goal in the Definition Phase is to do exactly what the title states: define the product thoroughly. An organization’s worst enemy in product development is vagueness and ambiguity. The engineers and designers need specifications and guidelines to properly complete their objectives and this phase provides the list of clear, concise, and measureable specifications. The two most important documents, the Product Requirements and Engineering Specifications, are described below.
Product Requirements: The Product Requirements, also known as Product Data Sheet or User Needs, is a list of performance, functional, and interface requirements that are focused on the customer’s point of view. One way to compile a complete list of these requirements is to get the cross-functional product team together for a meeting and answer the following questions:
How will the product perform and what are the functional characteristics?
Will the product interface with other products outside of your control?
What are the industrial design requirements (the look of the product)?
What are the human factors requirements (the feel and human interaction of the product)?
Are there any installation, support, service, and maintenance requirements?
What type of qualification, regulatory, safety, and standards compliances are required?
Should the product be compatible with other products and if so what are these requirements?
What are the packaging, shipping, and labeling requirements?
This is just a short list of all the questions that will arise when compiling the Product Requirements document. Of course, compilation of this document requires ample time and research but if it is done properly, it will be one of the most useful documents of the product development process.
Engineering Specifications: The Product Requirements document provided earlier is the first step in specifying the product with respect to the customer’s point of view. While this is very helpful for the product team, it does not typically provide an engineering team with enough detail to begin designing. Therefore, the engineering team needs to take these Product Requirements and translate them into Engineering Specifications. The engineers will use this document as they move through their design and development stages.
The simple example below demonstrates how to construct the Product Requirements and Engineering Specifications.
Leardon Solutions Product Requirements and Engineering Specifications Example
The effort required to generate the Product Requirements and Engineering Specifications might seem too detailed for such an early stage of product development. These documents are valuable resources that will be used throughout the product development lifecycle and will save the team valuable time and money by focusing the team on the proper goals and objectives. This is definitely a step that should not be skipped.
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