So you want to start a small product-design business? Here’s the good news. The playing field is more level than it’s ever been, and sophisticated social media and digital marketing tools allow for a more intimate connection to your consumer.
If you’re one of the few with that million-dollar idea, here are five key manufacturing trends you should know about to help bring your product to market faster, cheaper, and more efficiently.
1. Crowdfunding. Why borrow money from a friend when you can borrow from a thousand friends? More and more entrepreneurs are looking to harness the power of the crowd to acquire capital, and there’s lots of money to be had. Globally, the crowdfunding industry is projected to raise a staggering $5 billion in 2013. The largest and most well known of the crowdfunding engines is
Kickstarter, but smaller sites such as Indiegogo or appbackr target specific communities with niche needs. Though donation-based funding does occur, investment is the buzzword for small businesses and their consumer base.
“It’s a new currency of remuneration,” says Jordan Brandt, Technology Futurist at Autodesk. “Finding ways to incentivize people, give them exposure, and make them feel like they helped in bringing a product to market carries a lot of weight.”
Whichever crowdfunding site you choose, your page is the first place to introduce your product to the masses. Don’t underestimate the quality of a compelling and well-edited video and coherent messaging. But remember, a Kickstarter page is not a business plan. The road to a successful crowdfunding campaign is littered with stalled or broken-down initiatives that began with a great idea, but fizzled due to a lack of long-term planning.
2. Reshoring. Call it what you want: reshoring, onshoring, distributive manufacturing. With the increased cost and environmental impact of shipping goods overseas, a decreasing wage disparity, and cheaper domestic energy, many businesses are bringing their manufacturing closer to the consumer. All those aforementioned financial factors—coupled with an increased desire for product personalization and a decreased tolerance for waiting around—has resulted in a trend toward local manufacturing.
In the past, small businesses had to latch onto a larger supply chain or team up with other small businesses to get their order numbers high enough for overseas manufacturing. Now that it’s proving more cost-effective to bring everything back home, another phenomenon is occurring: a resurgence of the “Industrial Commons.”
“As easy example would be Detroit in its heyday,” Brandt explains. “Not only did you have the auto designers and the large car companies, but you had the supply chains making the parts for them. Then you had all the logistics organizations making sure everybody got the right part at the right time.”
With big business reshoring, smaller businesses can take advantage of those newly created local ecosystems and thrive domestically. They also get PR points for putting those manufacturing dollars back into U.S. pockets.
Read the rest 3 trends on Product Design & Development.
