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If you want to sell a physical product to consumers or businesses, you can choose to sell premade products or you can manufacture your own products. Manufacturing your own products might mean finding an established factory to do it for you, but it can also mean taking on the job of manufacturing yourself. Many small businesses choose the second option if they want to have complete control over what they sell. Scaling up your manufacturing can be tough, but it’s possible with the right funding in place. But how can you get started with manufacturing and selling your own products?
Develop the Product
Before you can start making your products in large numbers, or even smaller batches, you first need to have a product. Developing the product is necessary before you can start manufacturing it for real. The development process can take a while, but it’s not something that you want to rush if you want to create the perfect product. It’s important to develop designs and prototypes and spend time testing your product before you’re ready to approve it. Lots of research should go into your product so that you’re able to make necessary changes to its design before you’re ready to send it to market.
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Find a Manufacturing Space
Once you have finalized the design of your product, you need to look for somewhere to have it made. The easier option may be to find a factory that will take care of it all for you, but perhaps that’s not what you want to do. If you want to keep control of the manufacturing process, perhaps you’ll be looking for a space that you can use for your own manufacturing. Depending on the size of your operations and your ambitions, it could be a factory space, a studio, a workshop or an industrial space that meets your needs.
Source the Correct Machinery and Equipment
When you have a space to use, you also have to source the right machinery and equipment, as well as the right people to operate it. This could be pretty easy if you’re starting with a small team. Maybe you need a couple of sewing machines or a small printing press to get started. But you might also be dealing with things on a larger scale. You will have to carefully consider your budget, and perhaps think about buying second hand equipment or leasing what you need.
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Find Right Materials and Components
Even if you’ve designed your product the way you want it, perhaps you haven’t found the best materials and components to use. This can include not just the materials you’ll be using for your products but also the parts you need for your equipment and machinery. You may still need to source sanitary tri clamp valves for your food processing operations. Or perhaps you have to get the right balance between quality and cost in fabric for the clothes you’ll be making.
Manufacturing your own products is a challenge, but it gives you the benefit of having control over the whole process.