Final Thoughts

As we wrap up this text on product design and manufacturing there are a few important items to cover in terms of “taking the next steps.”

First, the goal of this text is to cover concepts and tools to develop product concepts to the point where they are mature enough to explore developing manufacturing prototypes. That is, this book covers content from opportunity identification, concept development, and building and testing prototypes of designs that can be manufactured. However, there is still a long way to go for a product to appear online or on a store shelf. Manufacturing engineering, tooling design, production and industrial management, sales, distribution, etc. No book or course can cover all of these. Instead, it is helpful to consider what is next for the product concept and design you have been working on and what is next for you in your education and professional development.

This last part covers the wrap up of the conceptual design process with documentation and some starting information on preliminary patent applications. Additionally, if product design is something that interests you, we have a few resources that can help define what you might want to pursue to give you an advantage in this area of engineering.