The first essential rule for ventures that are beginning to think about manufacturing (Part 1: There are various meanings of ” Manufacturing”)

You have achieved good results in your research, or you have been able to verify a principle using a prototype.That in itself is very gratifying.
However, the road to social implementation after that is usually quite long.

• Can it really be used in the real world?
• Isn’t it just a lab level?

You may be told something like this. However, you still have to be able to move on.
In this note, I will introduce a bird’s eye view of “manufacturing” that is necessary for R&D-oriented venture companies to realise their vision. In particular, I will explain the different meanings of the various terms related to “manufacturing” that are talked about when R&D ventures are manufacturing.

目次

1. For social implementation, you need to build up both the expectations and trust of many people.
2. Keywords that are often confused about manufacturing

For social implementation, you need to build up both the expectations and trust of many people.

When you think of steps for social implementation of R&D-oriented venture companies, “mass production,” “product sales,” “collaboration with large companies,” and “funding from banks and VCs” may come to mind. There is no doubt that these items are very important. However, in order to proceed with them, an learning about in manufacturing is also very useful.

For example, selling something and having other people buy it. It’s a simple thing that happens every day.
The buyer expects benefits from the product and trusts the seller in the form of product quality.
In other words, in order for a start-up venture company to get outside cooperation, it needs to win the trust of the public in some way and create a sense of expectation.
One of the quickest ways to achieve this is to “produce something concrete and show results”.In other words, the element of manufacturing comes into play.
This is why the element of manufacturing is so important.

Keywords that are often confused about manufacturing

First, let’s sort out the keywords related to manufacturing.

＊The words “mockup” and “prototype” have slightly different meanings depending on the industry (IT, electronics, telecommunications, etc.). We hope you will keep them in mind and use them as references above.

＊＊A mock-up is used to create an image of the product in use. At the same time, we may use principle prototypes to confirm functions and work toward establishing technology.

There are so many different kinds!

For each of these, you need to properly design and execute what you want to accomplish.
However, the problem is that in many cases, manufacturing cannot be completed within the venture alone.

Naturally, there are phases and stages where we need to proceed with the development through trial and error on our own. Particularly, the establishment of elemental technologies can be accomplished after such a lot of hard work.
However, when you get to a certain phase, you need to ask for help from professionals in that field.
This is because there is a huge gap between individual manufacturing and manufacturing a “product” that is properly evaluated by the outside world.

I will discuss how they differ in detail in another note.

In the first place, design and processing are too sophisticated to handle, but the concept of mass production, safety and compliance with standards require extensive and deep knowledge.

To be continued

By: Cho Nobuaki, Leave a Nest Co., Ltd.