Prerequisites:

• Prototyped and debugged design
• Spun up mass-manufacturing process

Tools:

• Design tools (Physical Design, BOM Export)
• ERP system (Aliases & Supplier Parts Data)
• Spreadsheet software

Next Step:

• Feed results back into Mass Manufacturing

Once things are running smoothly with mass manufacturing you should be able to move on to optimizing your margins through Design Manufacturability, Design Testability and BOM Cost Optimization.

TODO

• Failure & root cause analysis
• Layout optimization
• Test flow & efficiency analysis
• Design & layout optimization
• Cost optimize your bill of materials

As soon as you have a new working prototype of your design with an optimized layout or Bill of Materials you can begin to update the process at your mass manufacturers. Expect some pain every time you do this as processes being updated, and tooling be reworked tends to be slow work which is prone to misunderstanding and regression.

Done?

At this point you have traversed an entire product lifecycle from ideation through design, verification and production. You are now ready to begin work on your next product! From all of us here, thanks for trying to build something real and please share your experiences and help other inventors make their dreams into a reality.