Not too long after we shared news about the Kik-Fix, we received quite a few requests from news outlets that wanted to get product manufacturing tips from MAKO and learn how we bring people’s ideas to life. One of these companies was CompanyWeek, a media company from Denver Colorado. CompanyWeek is a network of manufacturing media, supply-chain tools, and data focusing on the manufacturing economy across the western US.
On the front page of CompanyWeek, you’ll find an array of stories about manufacturers across the United States. They provide a unique angle on each company by not only highlighting their achievements but also discussing the challenges, opportunities, and needs. In early January, they posted a feature on MAKO Design + Invent. CompanyWeek interviewed our President and Founder, Kevin Mako to learn about our mission and our goals for the future.
Here are some of the product manufacturing tips Kevin shared with CompanyWeek.
Kevin’s Feature in CompanyWeek | Product Manufacturing Tips
Challenges
The first tip about product manufacturing? Maintaining brilliantly simple designs is a challenge. Kevin explains, “Our job is really to make a quality product, which most often means keeping it simple.” Indeed, the simplest products tend to be the most successful ones.” In our 20 years of experience, a common occurrence is that inventors may try to pack as many features as they can to satisfy a broad audience. Of course, we love when clients show excitement for the product. However, it needs to be said that more features will result in an incredibly more challenging product manufacturing phase. This may lead to risks such as defects, malfunctions or a poor user experience.
The second product manufacturing tip is by focusing on one or two key features of the project, the designers and engineers will be able to focus on making those few items are designed and engineered right. Not to mention the other benefits of making a brilliantly simple design. It’s more affordable and easier to manufacture, which leads to fewer defects, and most importantly, happier customers.
Opportunities
“There’s a lot of work we’re pouring into education. We run the industry’s leading podcast — The Product Startup Podcast — which is part of a whole education initiative, where we’re helping startups,” Kevin revealed. Our podcast is the hardware product development industry’s number one podcast. We only invite the top industrial designers, engineers, manufacturers, hardware investors, and other industry leaders to our show. Along with product manufacturing tips, our guests their entrepreneurial and product development insights . In fact, we recently hit 100 episodes!
Needs
As others faced product manufacturing issues during the pandemic, MAKO was able to react quickly. This was largely in part to our flexibility and tech-focused processes. Kevin explains, “I think now more than ever, it’s important to be nimble in your design and to be nimble in manufacturing. Again, it comes back to ensuring quality and reliable design from the onset, and having the team there so that if the market changes, if there are supply shortages, you can find the best solution to smooth over that hiccup.”
For the full CompanyWeek story on product manufacturing tips, click here.
About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!
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