How do you keep your product(s) relevant in a rapidly evolving market?
Even when a company already has a successful product on the market, it often pays to question the technology and production methods being used. As a healthy, innovative business, you don’t just aim for a competitive product and sound financials — you also keep a close eye on an ever-evolving market and respond to it proactively.
A key question when selecting technology is how quickly your product is likely to change. If demand increases at a certain point and larger volumes need to be produced, is the chosen technology still the right one? Should the focus be on keeping the price as low as possible, or on remaining flexible to the market so the product aligns as closely as possible with customer needs?
At engineering bureau Artori, cost efficiency is a core principle throughout the product development process. We actively take the lead in growing alongside our clients — today and tomorrow.
How do you keep your product(s) relevant in a rapidly evolving market?
The graph above serves as a guideline, illustrating the relationship between required volumes and the cost of both tooling and the final product. It shows, for example, that with high-pressure injection moulding, the initial investment cost for the mould is higher, while the unit price of the product decreases. This demonstrates that a higher upfront investment pays off when producing larger volumes — with a direct impact on both product cost and production lead time.
Conversely, when circumstances demand increasing flexibility in a product, such changes cannot be accommodated by an existing mould, and investing in a new one often no longer makes sense. In that case, it is more worthwhile to opt for an alternative production technique that offers greater flexibility through a lower tooling investment, albeit at a higher unit cost.
In practice: charger case for Rightcrowd
Rightcrowd approached product development bureau Artori with the request to review an existing product — a charger case. At launch, the product had an annual volume of 50 units, making plastic sheet material the most suitable production method. However, as the product gained traction and volumes increased, sheet processing was no longer viable due to a high unit cost and long production lead times.
The challenge was to reduce unit cost, assembly costs and overall production time. High-pressure injection moulding proved to be the right solution. While the initial investment in the mould was higher, the unit cost dropped significantly. In addition, production time was reduced from two months for 50 units to just one to two weeks for 1,000 units, and assembly time decreased from 15 minutes to only one minute. From a design perspective, we remained true to the original look and feel.
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