Challenges when Bringing Hardware to Market?

sandbenders asks: "I'm interested in building a product that would be of interest to some Slashdot readers (in other words, it's full of geeky goodness), and I have had great luck finding companies to help me build my design. It uses electricity, obviously, and I know this means that it has to be inspected, listed, etc. by the appropriate bodies. Does anyone have any advice for how to get this process completed, what costs to plan on, or other advice for someone starting up a business of this type?"

Try checking with SCORE

[Lando]

http://www.score.org/

SCORE is made up of retired executives to help provide advice to small business owners. Not only can they help you work through the production process, but they can also give advice and help with administration, personal, etc.

Testing laboratories

[zobo]

Check the nameplate labels on devices similar to the one you plan to build and look for the compliance verbiage. Two common certifications needed for consumer equipment in the US are UL and FCC. You can get these certifications at various third party testing laboratories, such as this one [etlsemko.com]

On another note, this information is readily obtained with a simple Google query ("certification ul fcc safety"). Take the time to research easily answered questions yourself, and the answers may lead you to ask deeper questions that would be more interesting for readers here.

Re:Testing laboratories

[asmithmd1]

There is no law that requires you to get a UL listing, they are a private company. However, some retailers may not carry your product unless it is UL listed. If the product is less than 32 volts UL considers that "low voltage" and does not even list it. For example there is no UL label on GameBoys or Palm Pilots. The charger on the other hand plugs into the wall and does carry a UL listing. Is there any way to power your product through a "wall wart" transformer? You can buy these already UL listed and not have to bear the $10000+ expense of getting your product listed.

Re:Testing laboratories

[eqteam]

This doesn't bring into account (FCC & ETSI) type approval testing. If you are an intentional (or even unintentional) RF radiator, type approval will be a challenge the first couple of times. I deal with wireless product marketing, and is something I talk to customers about quite a bit. Here it is in a nutshell:
1) If you plan to do your own manufacturing, you will need to take your 'cooked' design to an FCC approved lab for testing, and then submit the testing docs to a lawyer you have hired in the DC area who specializes in FCC type approval document submissions. The more you pay, the more quickly your design gets the OK.
2) If you plan on going to a contract manufacturer, make sure FCC/ETSI type approval is on the checklist. Talk to them. Ask them about past designs where they took care of type approval. Ask for quotes on how much they will charge you to do this. This is one of the reasons why companies like Murata do so well. They know this game (US, Japan, Europe, ROW) and take care of it for you.

Either way, it can be expensive, and really depends on the type of RF radiator your product is, and what band (frequency).

Hope this helps, and there is more to talk about, but then I'd be writing a book!

The first step

[unitron]

Well obviously the first step is to provide all of us with free prototypes to play with. Strictly in the interest of market research of course. E-mail me for my shipping details :-)

Business Links and TECs

[ClickNMix]

I dont know about in the US, but in the UK two bodies are very helpful to any kind of startup situation where you need to know who to ask about what. Particularly when it comes to navigating red tape.

'Business Link' provide alot of help and courses about the day to day running of a business (Like tax, accounts etc) which might seem unimportant at first, but if your going into -any- business, its helpful to know what to expect.

and the TECs (Training&Enterprise Councils) who again seem to provide help to people who need details on what bits of paper they need to fill in, where to get them, and where to get help and grants etc.

I know when I started my own company (Even tho it was a huge disaster!) I didnt look to much into these places because I figured they were more for admin and office types, and i just wanted to focuse on writing software.. big mistake. The hardest part is finding out -what- you need to file, then, your can normally get a guide of some kind from the same place as the paperwork. Getting in touch with groups and organisations like these opens alot of doors to the things you probably dont even think about, and if what your after isnt directly under their area of experties, you can bet they'll know who can help out.