How to take a consumer electronics product from prototype to mass production

1. Energy Reducing Products Ltd
Manufacturing Consulting Services
September 2013

2. Introduction
ERP manufacturing management services
• There are many specialist steps required to
take a product from prototype to mass production;
• ERP has experience of these processes and has successfully
taken a number of products into full production;
• It makes sense to outsource this work as
it is intermittent and specialist.

3. Manufacturer Communication
It is Vital to communicate with manufacturers credibly
• ERP has working relationships with many
UK and Far Eastern product manufacturers
• ERP has templates for
– RFQs (Request for Quotation)
– Manufacturing agreements
– Licensing agreements
– AQL agreements

4. Quotations and pricing negotiation
Know the pitfalls
• Use open book pricing agreement
• Understand likely margins, wastage figures etc
• Critical path to product delivery analysis and reduction
• Ensure component multi-sourcing and/or
• Carefully manage single source components

5. Use Open Book Pricing
Create a win-win situation with the manufacturer
• Create of Approved Vendor Lists
• Create Bills of Materials including :– Source long lead time items quickly
– MOQ's / batch size implications
– Tooling / change costs
• Establish the real capital outlay
for initial and repeat orders

6. Manufacturing Execution
Ensure execution is trouble free
• Implement a Change Note system
– ensure all changes are approved
• Procedures for accepting alternative components
• Manage alternative component sources
• Ensure EN or UL approved components
are used if and where necessary

7. Product delivery & Stock management
Manage your cash and costs
• Work with Sales teams to establish expected volumes
• Use of waterfall or equivalent method to qualify these
• Derive manufacturing finance requirements
• Factoring to improve cash flow
• Project repeat orders and advise
manufacturer(s)
• Manage long lead/critical components

8. Quality Assurance
Work with manufacturer to ensure quality
• Golden sample Acceptance
• Implementation of AQL (Acceptable Quality Level) system
• Ensure access to and knowledge of standard AQL tables
• Test and acceptance of product batches
• Critical, Major, Minor categorisation
• Agreeing course of action on rejection

9. Test for Manufacture
Maximise yield
• Test software planning and delivery (before product release)
• Manufacturing pack release requirements
• Drafting of Functional Specifications,
User Guides, etc
• NB: PCB Pads for signal access

10. CE marks and European Approvals
Meet regulatory requirements
• ERP has access to British Standards Online
• Can assist in choosing the correct standards
• Safety Approval execution
• EMC testing and approvals
• CE Certificate generation
• Relationships with specialist
consultants in the UK / Far east

11. Parts List database creation
The key to delivery
• Knowledge of data field capture requirements
• Part numbering systems to managing
– Electrical / Electronic Components
– Mechanical / non electrical Components
– Assemblies and Components

12. Design for manufacture
Make sure your product can be made in volume
• Test for manufacture requirements
• Bed of Nails Testing
• Design and assembly of test rigs
• Test-time adds to product cost,
so design in fast test ability
• IP protection, typically retain
a key piece of technology **
** Software only released in protected IC rather than in soft binary form

13. ERP Design
Make sure it works and can be produced
• ERP design consumer electronics products, providing
– Consumer electronics software and hardware design
– Schematic capture
– PCB Layout (approvals may have impact)
– Analogue and Digital hardware debug
– Component tolerance analysis for acceptance

14. Relationships
The ERP knowledge
• Far Eastern manufacturers
• UK manufacturers
• UK Industrial Designers
• UK low volume prototype assembly
• Safety Approval consultants
• EMC consultants
• Component Distributors
• Prototype plastics/product models

15. END
Contact us
Telephone: 01223 969934
Email: Giles.Hutchison@erp-uk.com