Case Study - Productisation Solution for Distributor - from Innovation to Mass Production
The Challenge
Our client is a leading distributor of Hardware Peripherals and Consumer Electronics in the United Kingdom. The company, having identified a highly innovative new product for its portfolio, asked the team at SerCom Solutions to evaluate the supply chain for this product. Initial findings were bleak - the supplier failed SerCom's quality standards and did not attain the SerCom Seal of Approval.
However, the client had a very strong desire for this product which was driven by the absence of any other similar design in the marketplace. This, coupled with the willingness of the supplier to work with us on major improvements, resulted in the challenge for SerCom Solutions to re-engineer the entire supply chain and production processes for this product.
Undoubtedly, the supplier had excellent design capabilities but there were some serious challenges:
- Basic manufacturing processes for medium to high volume requirements were not in place
- Suitable packaging had yet to be designed for the European marketplace
- Basic regulatory approval (CE, UL, FCC) had to be attained along with very specific approval for Blue Tooth
- The status of various patents was unclear
One of the most serious challenges which this situation posed was time. With such an innovative product, we had to ensure first-mover advantage for our client.
SerCom's Solution
Despite these very serious difficulties, SerCom believed that, with persistence, this situation could be turned around. For a start, the supplier, driven by the ambition to bring his product to a mass market, was willing to allow SerCom staff to co-locate at the factory, set up bills of material, production processes and ensure quality controls permeated throughout the process. A detailed training programme was implemented and SerCom staff also closely monitored the supply of raw materials to ensure their availability as required.
We worked with the client to fine-tune the product specification and packaging design. We ensured all components were tested appropriately by our supplier. We also established bulk packaging requirements, in terms of the multiples required for our client's customers, specifications and assembly instructions. We leveraged our existing vendor base in China to select packaging vendors for this product.
We worked closely with both the supplier and the client to attain regulatory approval. We verified patent requirements and ensured necessary processes were put in place to administer royalty payments for patented components and features.
As is required with any innovative consumer product, we continued to work with both client and supplier, to identify potential enhancements and as a result, this product has now proliferated into five different versions.
The Results
- Product has been successfully launched and adopted by a wide range of retailers across the globe
- This would not have been possible without SerCom's ability to establish a reliable source of supply
- The supplier, essentially a design company, is now in a position to broaden their market reach across a number of designs and geographies, through their markedly enhanced production capabilities. SerCom, undoubtedly was the key enabler for such growth potential
- Product has all required regulatory approval, patents are clear and all relevant royalties are paid for through the SerCom system.
- Our client obtained an exclusivity agreement on all versions of this product for the UK market, and now has access to a range of new product possibilities, with a quality assured supply chain to ensure smooth delivery