The Prototyping Process of a New Product

There are new products which we see on the shelves each day. What you need to know is that the products go through a product prototype process before you see them on the shelves. There are major phases which the product will go through such as the design phase, the prototyping phase, and the production phase. A product prototype can be defined as an image which is used to present the final look of a certain product. In this article, you are going to learn the prototyping process of a new product.

The Process

When you have an idea about a certain product, the next thing which you need to carry out is determining the way in which your product is going to look like. You need to take your time and determine all the features of the product. Some of the common questions you need to ask yourself include:

• What are the common attributes or features of the product?
• What is the functionality of the product which you are bringing to the market?
• Will the usage of the product involve invention of new technology?
• How long will the product last?
• How will you manufacture the product?
• Where will you be selling the product after manufacturing it?
• What will be your manufacturing cost and what are the ways you are going to recover the amount you have spent on the manufacturing process?
• What are the common issues regarding safety and any government regulations about the product you have manufactured?

When you have got the answers to the above questions, the next thing you need to do is to go ahead and build the prototype for the product. The different prototypes of the products will play a role in the development process of the product.

The first thing you will carry out is coming up with a drawing of the product. The drawing will only be a visual aid or presentation of the product and it is not necessary to come up with something which will withstand all the tests at this stage. However, there are certain specifications of the product which you will need to have in detail. It can be a gear system. If you are developing a chain drive for your bicycle, for example, you do not need to have the entire bicycle to see how it will work. You will only need some part of the bicycle.

If you realize that your product has some issues, you will have to spend most of your time changing the design and fixing different issues about the product here and there. As the developer of the product, you will need to have something which will look the same way as the original product. It requires you to take time and fix all the issues if you want to have the exact product.

After you are done developing the product, you will have to go further and use different ways of developing the product. It can involve the use of computer software or any other means. By following the above stages, you will have done a lot in developing your product prototype.