New Business Models with Customer Participation in Design

Do you remember the quote of Henry Ford that the customers can have any color car they want, so long as it is black? Yep, those are long gone days. The injection molding industry today is turning the tables all around and quite frankly, it is long overdue.

Imagine the following: You are sitting opposite a manufacturer who is actually asking you what you think the product should look like. Not merely nodding in agreement and showing you their usual catalogue, but actually collaborating with you in design choices that will end up making the finished product. Sounds rejuvenating, does it not?

The traditional injection molding has never been too much of a two-way traffic. The manufacturers made molds, the manufacturers manufactured and the buyers… buyers just bought what was there. You might ask to have something changed, of course, but that usually came with the eye-popping tooling costs and minimum order quantities that would make your CFO sweat.

Here is where it becomes interesting. There is a paradigm shift in the industry; the customers are no longer only placing orders, they are now part of the creation process. And no, it is not another fad in manufacturing that will soon be forgotten quicker than… What is really changing then? Necessitate a variant of configuration? Then simply add the blocks to the mold. This might sound a little far-fetched, but there are already a few firms that are doing exactly that. It is just a matter of replacing a module. This technology has really impressed my wallet.

The technology that makes all this possible is really spectacular. Those are cloud-based design platforms, and they are bringing down the walls between consumer and producer to the point that it would have been science fiction just ten years ago. Design sessions in virtual reality are becoming typical. I have recently witnessed a medical equipment company design a complex part of a housing with their manufacturing partner halfway around the world. Both were working on the same 3D model in real-time, and they were discussing wall thicknesses and draft angles as though they were in the same room. Mind-blowing stuff.

However, the thing is that as a buyer this is what really matters: These are not some cool toys. They are changing the economics of custom manufacturing. When you can iterate on designs without having to physically make molds, explore new materials virtually and have a good understanding of what a change will cost, well, then all of a sudden custom does not have to mean high cost.

Authentic Companies, Authentic Results

Let me tell you a story that best illustrates this shift. A consumer electronics company (we will refer to them as TechCo because, you know, NDAs) wanted custom battery housings for their new product. Traditional approach? Six months of to-ing and fro-ing, three versions of the mold, and a cost blow-out that would make your eyes water. Rather, they partnered with an innovative injection molding company which offered collaborative design services.

The process went more or less like this:

Week 1: Design workshop (obviously online) in which the engineers of TechCo communicated directly with the molding specialists. They tried out various set ups on the fly and could witness every design moldability in real time.

Week 2-3: rapid prototyping. TechCo received physical samples to check its function. It turns out that there was flaw in their initial design that they missed. Fortunately they discovered this before they invested in steel molds!

Week 4-5: Refinement of the design (based on the feedback of the prototype). The teamwork platform traced each update and displayed the cost consequences in real-time. No surprises, no, Oh by the way, that will cost you $50,000 more on your tooling.

Week 6: Final design is approved and the molds production begin.

The Money Talk (Because Let It Be Honest, That is What Matters)

Well, you will say, all this sounds so good, but there must be a catch. Fair question. The monetary system of shared manufacturing is different, though in a good way.

Traditional model: Huge upfront tooling costs, long lead time and hope you had the design right the first time. Changes? Another $30,000, please.

Collaborative model: Lower initial investment, cost of iterative development is spread out over a very long period of time and the ability to make changes without reinventing the wheel. It is just like the example of buying a house and developing it room by room as the demand varies. A packaging company that I deal with estimated that they had saved nearly $200,000 in the first year of operations because they had learned the design faults at the virtual prototyping stage. That is not pocket change; that is hire another engineer money.

It is time to become realistic. This collaborative practice is not free of challenges. Intellectual property – IP protection is a big issue when you are collaborating with designs in real-time over the cloud. Make sure your manufacturing partner has high security and an IP agreement. I have seen alliances that have broken up over this not being discussed beforehand.

Learning curve: Your team may have to re-work the process in their workflow. The engineers who are accustomed to the culture of throwing it over the wall may have difficulties with the constant iteration and feedback. This is akin to transitioning to Slack out of email. Do your homework. Request demonstrations. Interview their current customers.

Making the Leap: Your Action Plan

Are you interested in becoming collaborative in your next manufacturing project? This is the way forward. The future has already come.

Now, this may come as a surprise: there are already injection molding businesses that experiment with design optimization through AI. The system produces several design options that are manufacturable, cost-effective and performant after uploading your requirements. It is equivalent to a group of professional engineers working round the clock on your project.

We are also witnessing the development of so-called design communities where buyers can share non-proprietary components of their designs. Consider having a library of known solutions to everyday problems. Looking to have a snap-fit that functions? You can probably find it.

What You Can Do

The injection molding industry is at a turning point. The companies that adopt collaborative manufacturing will be more adaptable, less expensive and will have better products. The ones that do not… well, they will still be sending CAD files back and forth via email when their competitors will already be in production.

And that is my challenge to you: On your next injection molding project, ask prospective partners about their collaborative design capabilities. Insist on demonstrations, not only presentations. Request a chat with other purchasers that have utilized their group-based platforms.

Since, after all, the tools are available. This technology works well. Visionary producers are waiting. The question is just this: Do you want to be a co-creator and not just a customer?

I said at the beginning about Henry Ford? It turns out that he may never have said that famous line about black cars. But you see what? The rule does stand. And unlike Henry, manufacturers are nowadays listening to what you want. It is quite cool how we have evolved, right?