The Client
TubShroom® started with a simple idea…develop a better strainer for drains that catch hair and debris, but won’t clog the drain while doing it. Juka Innovations, the inventor and patent holder on this revolutionary product, had great initial success on Kickstarter, but needed help with product refinement and a more consistent and steady supply chain. With huge demand for their product, Juka was looking for a partner to handle the production side of their business, so they could focus on their retail clients.
The Task
Our client needed phase two engineering of their flagship product, along with custom design and development on new ideas they wanted to add to their catalog. They also needed better sourcing capabilities, higher quality production, redundant manufacturing supply, more production capacity, reduced unit costs and a partner to handle import and global logistics faster and more reliably.
- Phase two engineering: Re-design and re-tool flagship product incorporating improvements identified in first round inventory.
- Redundant Manufacturing: Locate and contract consistent factory base partners with the ability to work with us to grow the business.
- Quality Improvements: Improve manufacturing quality with better molding processes and procedures.
- Increase Capacity: Increase capacity through additional production lines and injection molding tools at affordable rates.
- Import Logistics: Improve logistical processes and reliability to prevent orders from shipping and import delays and problems.
Design work and client interface conducted in USA, with factory management, engineering and quality control handled in our Taiwan and China offices. Final production and assembly in China, with shipping globally.
The Process
Once onboard, IPS was able to identify design and tooling flaws that were immediately addressed. With 100% client input and approval, we brought our best manufacturing partners into the project and were able to create custom injection molds for phase two production in record time. Changes and improvements to the product were incorporated with scalable manufacturing and QC plans put into place to allow for nimble reaction times moving forward. Retail packaging was redesigned to meet clients vision, and to meet or exceed retailer compliance standards.
Challenges We Overcame
This project presented a couple of key challenges, including:
- Quick Tooling / Capacity: New tooling needed to be produced quickly and to a level the exceeded capacity requirements.
- Quality Control: Problems with prior suppliers design needed to be addressed and solutions engineered into the part, along with standard design changes.
- Packaging: Retail packaging needed to be designed and developed for various retail clients.
- Unit Costs: All of these challenges needed to be met without additional unit costs per retailer contracts already agreed on by the client.
Results
IPS continues to be a steady and reliable partner to Juka Innovations, with new product ideas and designs coming online each year. We strive to make it as easy as possible for our clients to bring new ideas online, and to manage the product supply chain of their existing catalog of product. This allows our clients to focus more on new product development, distribution chain management and sales and marketing of their business.