CAD Design, Production Drawings, Physical Prototyping, Costing, Tooling, Samples, Manufacturing
Spiked Dog Bowl
A Flash of Inspiration
Becky, the co inventor of the Dog Bowl, and her husband Rob have two large German Shepherds, Frankie & Ava who love to romp and play outside. One of their favorite outdoor games is knocking over their dog bowls and spilling their water and food everywhere! Frustrated at having to repeatedly clean up and refill their bowls Becky decided to up the ante by developing bowls that their dogs could no longer tip. Fortunately for Becky, her husband Rob has 30 years of product development and manufacturing experience as the owner of his own successful stainless steel manufacturing firm.
Improvements
Tapping into Robs product development experience and resources they began developing and testing high quality stainless steel prototypes. After much development and testing they decided on a high quality stainless steel commercial version which stakes the bowl holders to the ground. Cleverly designed access slots were also incorporated to easily install and remove the bowls for cleaning or refilling. Rob & Becky have been successfully selling their “FnA Dish” (named after Frankie and Ava) through their website http://www.f-n-a-dish.com. It has performed flawlessly and had 100% customer satisfaction!
Developing a New Model of FnA
While very happy with their very high quality product Rob and Becky had thought about designing a more affordable version out of plastic. Because Rob's 30 years of manufacturing experience is in stainless steel he knew he would need some outside help developing the new commercial version of his bowl. At this point Rob & Becky engaged Dirt Cheap Prototypes to design and build his product out of high quality plastic.
Primary Design Considerations
During the design process we vetted many different design options together in order to find the best combination of features, consumer appeal, quality and production efficiency. The final version Rob and Becky chose for the physical prototyping had many design features that were similar their current stainless steel commercial version. In fact the primary design enhancements were for ease of manufacturing and structural strength in plastic.
Prototyping
Next the prototypes were ordered. When Rob and Becky received their prototype from DCP they were very pleased with the aesthetic appearance and general design. Through examination and testing Rob and Becky sorted out additional design enhancements for the production version of their product and conditioned for stronger materials and wall thicknesses for the mass production of their product. Rob's 30 years of product development experience and Becky's eye for detail have been very helpful throughout this entire process.
Prototype
Manufactured Product
Test Markets & Tooling
Rob and Becky then performed product tests and consumer test market to gauge the products suitability for mass production as well as it's market strengths and possible areas of improvement.
Pleased with the test market results and with structural and wall thickness adjustments to further improve the structural strength of their product Rob and Becky moved forward with tooling. Once the tooling was completed and the first samples were shipped and approved the full production run was performed.
Once the production run was completed DCP assisted Rob & Becky with the shipping and freight forwarding coordination for product shipment from the factory to their warehouse.
With the packaged inventory in their warehouse Rob and Becky are now launching their product into the market place!
Testimonial
Having 30 years of product development experience I can truly appreciate what the DCP team brings to the table. The product development atmosphere from the beginning of design to the inventory in our warehouse was professional, friendly and collaborative, where all efforts and input are focused on the ultimate success of the product. Even with my 30 years of product development and “patent-related experience I found their insight very valuable when we were making product decisions. I would recommend Dirt Cheap Prototypes to anyone who is physically developing a new product and needs help to take their product to the next level.”
Rob G.
PA
Product Development
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* - Dirt Cheap Prototypes does not provide patent or marketing services