I took an extended lunch break to attend a meeting at Maryland Plastics. I met with our local contact to discuss some tooling issues with the current version of the SeaClutch.
On certain picture frames, the SeaClutch binds in the middle allowing the picture frame to wobble a bit laterally. It is a very minor issue and has virtually no effect on the functionality of the product, but I felt that the wobble decreased the quality “feel” of the product. Furthermore, I felt that it would be human nature to continue to tighten the product until the “wobble” was gone, and that could lead to the back breaking.
We sat down with the engineers and determined if it were possible to make a change to the mold itself. If we thickened the back support then the product could no longer bow and the problem would be solved, however that was impossible from a manufacturing perspective. We also considered making additions to the front, however that was also impossible.
After several different brainstorming ideas, we tried inserting some additional material on the front face of the SeaClutch. That completely solved the problem! After some further experimentation, we decided that it would dramatically increase the holding power of the SeaClutch to add gripping “dots” to both the front and the back of the product. While the pictures are enhanced to show the "dots", they are almost completely invisible in a real setting.
With that problem solved, we discussed custom branding of the SeaClutch. Dan had a large showroom filled with examples of screen printing as well as examples of foil printing actually embedded into the face of products. We wouldn’t be able to do that, but Dan would work up an estimate on how much screen printing would cost and determine minimum order amounts.
With the design complete, we were now able to come up with final pricing. That included manufacturing, the cost of the mold, shipping, tariffs, packaging, etc. Within a week Lisa and I would know what this was going to cost to bring to market! Scary and exciting!