The problem with manufacturing and distributing yourself is that if you hire a fabricator to make your product, the fabricator is guaranteed to make a profit when he sells to you, you need to make a profit when you sell to the distributor, the distributor needs to make a profit when they sell to the retailer. Each entity will want to make 50% gross profit.

Without IP to protect the idea, any manufacturer can take the idea to profit from your idea, therefore compete directly with you on huge scale, and at a fraction of the cost. If they have distribution in place, you can not compete with them.

IP isn’t cheap, but at least you can get into the marketplace and not have an exact copy to compete against if someone else sees the market and wants to copy your product.

For example. I manufacture my own product. If I sell directly to the hardware store only two entities are seeking to profit. Pretty tough to compete against me if I have the resources to manufacture myself.

Connie, are you planning on building a business around this item and take to market yourself and do the distributing, etc? You may want to read this article I wrote for Inventor’s Digest on Licensing Vs Manufacturing http://www.inventorsdigest.com/archives/2927
You need to understand that most companies you contact that you want to make these two parts may have a minimum run you have to purchase, which can be costly. Before you start spending a lot of money make sure you have done your research so that you are making informed decisions. You need to also make sure the design you have now works and does not need adjusting because if you find issues with the final product you just bought a minimum order you can’t sell.

Connie, I do understand the problem you have – disclosing the invention may run the risk of the design being copied. What if you got the parts manufactured at separate factories, shipped to the US & assembled & labelled there? In New Zealand we have workshops that provide state subsidised employment for persons with disabilities. They undertake simple assembly work, packing, labelling, etc. so win both ways. Given the state of the job market in the US, there must be some group such as this there.

I guess I am confused by your question and response. We are investigating manufacturing because we want to go forward. We have dispensed with the idea of a patent protecting it, because from what I have read it is unlikely to be effective if we are not willing to hire a cadre of attorney’s.

I am looking for manufacturing resources. Maybe some help to determine if a more sleek prototype is necessary.

Connie,

In a situation like this, your FIL needs to determine his path that he’s going to walk. Then stay on it! If it’s just an idea (especially if it’s a good idea), is he going to get IP to protect it? Does he have the resources to manufacture himself? Does he know anything about fabrication? Does he want to take it to market himself? The list goes on and on.

He needs to determine what he’s willing to risk to see his idea become a reality.