Part Two

The champagne cord had barely popped when the realization dawned. We now had to bring this new clever idea to market. I hadn’t overlooked it but I had underestimated the time and treasure this was going to take. After seemingly having finalized the design we hawked it around the sheet metal manufacturers of industrial Adelaide only to become more and more dejected. There was a market price that we had to achieve and we could not get a basic price for manufacture that could realize that price. Included in our final price was the overhead need to run the office in Adelaide and the marketing company in Dubai.

It just wasn’t fitting together. Finally we recognized that wages, overheads and shipping from Australia were the killers so we decided to manufacture in Dubai. Our time estimate had now overrun by several months and we still had a way to go before we could launch the product, sell it and regain some of our investment. Back in Dubai we hired a young graduate manufacturing engineer and he took the paper design and we started making a prototype that would be bird proof and rainproof. We could not test these features in the laboratory so we had to use our ingenuity. After several designs we came across one that looked practical and we could manufacture. By using our own workshop roof we could carry out field tests that would compare the performance of the new unit against the old rotating type.

Our first prototype was a fairly crude affair with most of the components either being handmade or subcontracted out. But it worked and the results were encouraging with a significant improvement on comparative performance. Next we had to investigate the most economical means to manufacture. Machinery was the first priority, and we faced a plethora of options. Italy, Germany, China and India all had a variety of equipment that appeared to meet our requirements however when assessed they were either too big, too expensive or too long a delivery. Finally we opted for a combination of India and China.

China was a bit of a surprise, their deliveries were prompt and the machinery adequate although the IT programme was a copy that didn’t work. Fortunately there was a local efficient agent for the software. India was a different kettle of fish and it needed a visit to Mumbai to sort out the different options. Despite promises to the contrary, the delivery of the India components are now of deep concern.

Whilst the machinery was being resolved we had to search for material. I had decided for better or for worse that we would use the best aluminium available. Naturally the best would be more expensive, take longer and be harder to find. Again China came to the fore although the same is available from India; trying to negotiate there a reasonable deal is a prickly patch of thorns.

Having decided on a final design more testing took place and more minor changes were made to the unit, each having an effect on either to cost or performance. To date we have now made five prototypes and hopefully the last one is the last.

Meanwhile in the back ground we had to get the brand name registered or at least filed so we could produce marketing material. The process of filing to register a trade mark is far from simple in this part of the world but at least we had been through the exercise before and knew the ropes.

Finally we are on the last leg. The design is set, brochures and visiting cards printed, data base reviewed, all we have to do now is go out and sell. Try to make up for nearly six months of time we never planned for. Would I do it again, may be but I would be a lot more realistic about the time schedules and try to keep place flights to a minimum.

Read Part One