There may be plenty of 3D printing and design services out there for novices who need parts made, but Light Switch Ideas is focused on those who are constantly plagued by little light switches going on in their heads. They bill themselves as “inventors supporting inventors,” bringing their ingenious clients’ ideas to life through CAD, prototyping and manufacturing. Light Switch Ideas doesn’t just stop at getting a prototype made, they’ll get it mass manufactured too.
The company was founded by Patrick Kinnamon, an engineering student who started his own CPG company selling to retailers like Target and Walmart. After being recruited by WalMart’s corporate office as a packaging engineer, Kinnamon decided to bring his own ideas to market. If you’re into scrapbooking, you may have seen his Swaggerdoodle line of easy open collage frames at Michaels or on Amazon. With his engineering expertise and experience in mass retail, connecting with manufacturers and large retail stores, he realized that he had all of the know-how and contacts to help others get their ideas to market, too.
Rather than offer a point-and-click service, as a site like Shapeways might, the Light Switch Ideas team personally analyzes any item they’re going to print “from the standpoints of engineering, cost-saving, user-friendliness and aesthetics.” Their site boasts a staff that includes “experts of the prototyping industry” with CAD professionals and certified quality management systems (ISO 9001:2008). Kinnamon and his team have experience in bringing actual ideas into production, which suggests that they have the experience to help their customers to do the same. When submitting an idea to LSI, you also have the option of having them sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement, so that they’re legally obligated not to get drunk and blabber about it at a bar.
LSI’s design and 3D printing capabilities aren’t in-house. Rather, they rely on “an advanced global supply chain [that] allows LSI to leverage the world’s top tier prototyping firms at the lowest possible costs, and pass the savings onto you.” In addition to the rapid prototyping and CAD modeling, with pricing beginning at $90 and $80 respectively, LSI offers a variety of other services that can help you get your prototype into full production, such as: production mould tooling, factory sourcing, production pricing and quantities, on-the-ground quality control, factory liaison and negotiation. It’s at this point, I believe, that the company sets itself apart from other prototyping and design services we’ve covered in the past.
Instead of simply promising to take your design all the way “from a napkin sketch to an actual product” (which they also promise), LSI can get it off the ground and running. Kinnamon explained to me that, relying on partners at Hammersourcing, he’s able to source factories throughout China that will suit a given production need. Hammersourcing, with its feet on the ground, can even provide quality control inspections for about $350 through LSI. Depending on your production needs, whether they meet the stringent standards of WalMart or require more flexible capabilities with a smaller output, LSI can find a factory for your operation.
The added services of finding a factory, ensuring quality control, and producing the moulds to mass manufacture an idea makes me feel like I can, literally, draw one of my stupid ideas on the back of an envelope and, if I have the capital, ask LSI to make it happen. And, if I’ve got enough money to produce my prototype, LightSwitch is currently cultivating means of fundraising, as well. They may help start-ups procure investment or parties willing to license your invention and grow a whole new business out of it themselves. I do have one idea that I’ve been kicking around for awhile, so if I can convince someone to lend me a couple of thousand bucks or so for the CAD work, the prototype, the fundraising, and the factory sourcing, then mass-produced frisbee throwing robot, here we come!
Source: Light Switch Ideas
