When Projects Hit Problems | Deferred Procrastination

I’m still undergoing a delay with having a prototype kit manufactured. It’s a bit of a disappointment when each promise of a quote for parts turns out to be empty. I know part of the problem is the small scale of the production I’m looking at – 10 kits batched per month is a small order for most workshops. One firm suggested buying a whole year’s supply in one go. That’s around £100,000 investment in stock, for a fledgling company that is trying to start up without loans or debt.

Really, I think I’m just at the point that many small projects get to: the easy bits are done (designing) and the hard bit starts (production). For some projects this means that they die; others go quiet for months or years, on hold until the problems get ironed out. For me, I’ve spent so long looking at Atomic Duck that I’m itching to have one to ride!

While I could spend this time manufacturing my own prototype (Atomic Duck is designed so it can be cut with hand tools) this means that I can’t test the production method for kits until the first kit is manufactured for sale. As I don’t have the manufacturing capability personally, I’m outsourcing kit production, so I want to know that I can produce a kit before I put it for sale.

However, there’s actually no need for the delay in manufacturing to affect the other parts of my business. Along with selling kits and making design drawings available online, I also want to offer printed design drawing sets, and kit parts for sale. As there’s no reason for work on the chassis to stop that, so I’m currently looking at shop software.

The current front runners are:

Opencart
PrestaShop

Anyone had any experience with these, or have and alternative suggestions to try with php and MySQL?

While I’m intending to launch with design drawing packs, adhesive packs and fastener & bearing sets, are there any other products you would like to see available? Maybe things like large scale vinyl stickers of the Atomic Duck logo, or Sturmey Archer gearbox built into a rear wheel (3/5 speed, with coaster brake and reverse gear).

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Gonzalo Peréz Chomón wrote, “Hi Patrick, I use for my business OScommerce and I am very happy with it. BR”

Patrick Fenner wrote, “I think I'm going to take a second look at osCommerce. I rejected Prestashop at the installation when it started asking me about database engine, and I spent a couple of days with OpenCart, seeing how it works and re-skinning the fit the rest of the site. The thing that might swing it, is the one that can deal with bundling multiple products together. i.e. being able to sell structural epoxy tubes in singles, or as a bundle of three with applicator and nozzles for a chassis build.”

Gonzalo Peréz Chomón wrote, “Well the standard program has many functions, but you can add many more to the program, I have added some. About what you say it is posible on different ways, let me explain You have to think like if it is a normal shop, you have one product (reference) that is epoxi (single) and another product (reference) that is for example a set of 3 units plus aplicator, nozzles etc... that is one way. Another way: you have the options of making differences in each product (reference) for example: Epoxi: red, black, white... and give a different price to each color. Another way you can make groups in the same reference like Buy 1; 10$, buy 2; 19$, buy 3; 18$, etc... I use oscommerce because it is the most used worldwide or at least it was when I installed it...”

Gonzalo Peréz Chomón wrote, “I just checked opencart and looks very good and more friendly than oscommerce, but it has more options that can be good but as well a nightmare...”

Patrick Fenner wrote, “Hmm, that's an idea. I could do 3 epoxy tubes with an option of an addition of three tubes plus applicator, plus nozzles. I hadn't thought of that, thanks! Closest I found so far was this extension for osCommerce.”

Andre wrote, “I'm using magento which is open source - it is very powerful and allows you to offer free or pay download digital products ie pdf drawing files which are bought or downloaded only after login with a link sent to the purchaser.”

alphydan wrote, “Hi Patrick, First of all congratulations for your Velomobile design. It's great to see the progress. Have you looked into alibaba.com ? Could it be that it's cheaper to manufacture 10 pieces abroad and then ship ? (perhaps not the best for the CO2 balance, but I'm sure the raw materials in the UK shops have traveled anyway ;)”

Patrick Fenner wrote, “I've seen alibaba in the past, but I thought it was all high volume sources, but looking now, there are a number of European manufacturers listed who can work with low volumes. The main reason I was looking at local manufacturers is because I know that I want low volume production, where the cost of shipping from overseas would likely be higher than the production cost benefit. As it is, I've been searching for suppliers locally, then UK-wide, and now out into Europe. Although I do now have a quote for manufacture for almost all of the main Development Kit parts, so it shouldn't be too long now...”

Matt wrote, “Hi Patrick, have you had a look at kickstarter.com ? Maybe that will sort out funding issues.... Matthias”

Patrick Fenner wrote, “I really like kickstarter, and it's a great platform for launching ideas that don't have a traditional market — just look at how well Joulies did on Kickstarter — but it is effectively a pre-order platform, and I'm not quite ready for pre-orders yet. It's not really a case of not enough money at the moment though, it's just that I haven't found the right suppliers for all of the parts I need. It is getting close though, only the last few to go, and then I can get the prototype together. When I get to being ready to take pre-orders, I'll be looking again at kickstarter type sites, pre-orders in the shop, and any other ideas I can come up with. Pre-orders keep the stock costs down, which means no loans, so no interest to pay off; and that means no pushy selling.”

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