Are you an aspiring business owner on a mission to make your dream come to life? Or perhaps you already have a business running and would like to expand your horizon by creating new and innovative products?
Unfortunately, the process of developing new and exciting products can sometimes be a costly experience, especially if there is no guarantee that the said product will work or attract your target audience.
Before you give the manufacturers the green light and order all systems to go for production, prototyping your idea first is a brilliant alternative to consider. A Rapid Axis prototype of your product will determine if the product will work, attract your target market, and ultimately enhance your profits in the future.
What Is A Prototype?
Various industries prefer to use prototypes before the manufacturing process commences. A prototype is an early example model or illustration of a product built to test a concept.
One of the many advantages of prototypes is that it is highly cost-effective; the model will also indicate if your idea is feasible and if the product’s design is aesthetic.
The beauty of prototypes is that they can be made with different materials such as plastic or metal on different scales and showcase the final product’s appearance and functionality.
The Benefits Of Prototypes
- Assists with gaining funding from potential investors
- Early detection of design and functionality predicaments
- Saves time and money on production, materials, and manufacturing
- Enables early testing for product strength and durability
- Determination of production machinery needed
In addition, there are numerous categories of prototypes that will demonstrate the materials, production techniques, and costs of your products which will allow you to present them to the public and interested parties such as retailers, investors and distributors.
Here Are Four Prototype Categories
- Visual Prototypes
A Visual prototype will feature the appearance and exact scale of the original, final product. The prototype will not show the product’s functionality; however, the prototype is mainly used in marketing for advertising and display purposes.
In addition, you will get a clear idea of how the final products should be packaged.
- Proof of Concept Prototypes
You can determine if the product and its materials perform as you’d like them to in this category. Although the prototype will not demonstrate the product’s full functionality, the prototype will test the design function of your desired outcome.
The advantage of proof to concept prototype is that you can make various changes to the design and materials before the production and manufacturing process begins.
Thus, saving you tons of money and precious time.
- Functional Prototypes
The functional prototype is more often used to gain funding for mass production.
It is practically a final product demo, which demonstrates the full functionality and appearance. To save more on costs, the functional prototype does not have to be on the same scale as the final product, and it can be on more minor or different scales and with other techniques and materials.
- Working prototypes
Working prototypes mainly demonstrate the final product’s functionality instead of the appearance of the product’s design. If the prototype does not function as desired, you will be able to change the design to improve the product’s functionality.
Thus, significantly reducing the risk of possible product recalls.