Engineering is the most crucial part of any product
because if it is not designed correctly initially, it jeopardizes
everything else about the products function, price point, everything.
Our Engineers are very skilled, and the greatest advantage you have
by using our firm is that we have a team of engineers, not just one
opinion. We use all of our skills as a combination and joint effort
to ensure that your product is creatively designed to be the best
thing on the market.
Do I Get a Patent?
This can be a major investment of around $3-$12,000
if done through a registered patent attorney. The charges here are
for doing a full- fledged Non-Provisional Utility Patent Application.
I never recommend doing this initially because it is premature for
a product in the concept stage. It will be needed when you have proven
product sales in the market. I only recommend doing a Provisional
Patent Application ($110 filing fee with the patent office) and you
can do it with all of our Engineering reports and 3D Drawings after
engineering and prototyping is complete. It's
basically a copy and
paste with the detailed information you receive in our Concept Design
Report. I recommend the provisional after engineering because you
can call the product patent pending. This makes the most sense, and
buys you 12 months of time before you need to file for the non-provisional
mentioned above, of which you can do with money received on the product.
We can offer an affordable Patent Search once the engineering is
done, and if our designs aren't patentable, then we will make Engineering
changes at our expense! Will my prototype be as good as a finished product?
There are various levels of prototype development,
and a first run prototype will not be a finished product, although
with a full Engineering and design proposal, our team can get you
ready for production affordably. We do find it very valuable to build
1 prototype and then evaluate and test it. Most of the time, this
evaluation will lead us to make more changes and provide design refinement
on some of the components. Then a 2nd prototype is built. After 2
or 3 prototype versions, we are generally about 90-95% ready for
production, and in some cases, the product is 100% ready for production.
We can explain much more about this process, but the short answer
is that 1 prototype will not allow the product to be 100% ready for
manufacturing.
Am I an Entrepreneur or Licensing my Product?
If you become an Entrepreneur, we need to know
this, because our Engineering services will be geared towards getting
your product ready for the production setting. In production, we
will work with your manufacturer and provide them with all of the
engineering files and working prototypes they need to further produce
the product. Becoming an Entrepreneur is typically the most lucrative
way to recoup your investment, but requires the most investment up
front as well. If you choose to license your product for royalties,
then you may only need a proof of concept prototype and full engineering
specifications with reports and product documentation. Our Concept
Design Engineering Reports, Material Selection Reports, and final
Virtual Renderings as well as physical prototypes will make a huge
difference when presenting your product to existing manufacturers.
They key here is to give the manufacturer enough information to make
an informed decision so they can evaluate the opportunity to invest
in your product.
Is PRG, Inc. Limited to Plastics?
No! When we started this company in 2004, we provided
just plastic consulting services. Since then, we have added Plastics,
Mechanical, Manufacturing, Electronics and Industrial Design Engineers.
We are very skilled to handle any type of plastic, metal, electronic,
wood, and textile fabric project. If you would like us to evaluate
and quote your project, we provide free quotes to everyone with no
commitment up front.
Does PRG, Inc. provide Manufacturing Solutions?
This depends on the product. We can provide some
light manufacturing in our facility of around 100-500 units. We are
primarily a product development firm, but are always willing to see
if we can help. We do work with over 20 different manufacturers in
a variety of industries that we can put you in contact with. We will
then assist those manufacturers in any way we can by providing them
with all of the file information, engineering reports, material selection,
and a variety of other things. We are here to ensure your product
goes to market; otherwise there would be no point in investing in
our services.
Does PRG, Inc. provide Package Design?
Our engineering team and graphic designers can
create virtual realistic renderings of what your product packaging
will look like with the product in it! We can also provide you with
all of the necessary logo design, website design, UPC code placement,
and if needed, we will gladly build you a prototype of the package
to represent your product in.
What is the typical Time Frame for Development?
It depends on what the product is, and if our
clients are willing to dedicate the time to spend reviewing our information.
Our standard time frame is around 4-12 weeks for Full Engineering
and Functional prototyping. More time may be needed if the technology
is more difficult, but 4-12 weeks is standard.
Does PRG, Inc. provide Marketing Services?
We do not market your product for a percentage
of royalties, although marketing is very important to us, because
if you can't sell your product, then there is no point in doing any
Engineering or Prototyping. Our President has licensed 8 products,
and has extensive experience in marketing, advertising and other
areas of selling a product. Our Goal is to assist you with Engineering,
Prototyping, Manufacturing, and then if you need a marketing plan,
we will send you an example to fill out your information in. If you
need a sales letter, we will write it for free. If you want us to
review your marketing campaign, we review it and make changes for
free! There is no reason you can't sell your product on your own,
and we will help you get the contacts you need free of charge. Again,
we want you to tell everyone that PRG is the place to go when inventing
a new product! Our President has also written a Mini E-Book called
Marketing Made Easy, and has everything in it to successfully license
your product to a company. The E-Book also includes 3 sales letters
that have been successful for us in the past. The E-Book can be e-mailed
to you immediately for $150.
How do I advertise my new product?
Advertising online with google, yahoo, and msn
is easy to do on a budget. With Google Adwords, you can set a daily
budget for whatever you want to spend, $10, $100, $1,000, sky's
the
limit, and we have been doing keyword advertising for a long time.
As for websites, you can create these on your own with new services
from companies like Godaddy.com that are very little cost. Most graphic
designers also offer website design services, and we can also provide
web design services for you.
What does PRG, Inc. charge for Services?
We provide all of our Services on a Fixed Price
Agreement. We do offer Free Quotes to everyone. We operate on a fixed
price so we allow for the necessary revisions and engineering changes
that a product will go through in the development cycle. We believe
that it is best to quote a price, provide a high quality service,
and do not go back and charge the client unless they require additional
services or additional prototypes. This value driven approach allows
our clients to collaborate with our Engineering team without the
fear of being charged high hourly rates and billable hours. This
approach has worked well for several years, and the vast majority
of our clients are very pleased with the fixed price approach. We
know that when we go buy almost anything, we want to know the cost
so we can comfortably budget for that expense. Generally, depending
on the services you need, the pricing ranges from $2,500 - $10,000
for full-scale development and prototyping services. Some more simple
projects can be purchased for less money, and more complex projects
can be more expensive.
Is PRG Prototyping Reputable?
We are very proud Premium Pro Certified Members
of the United Inventors Association, and we advertise extensively
in Inventors Digest. These 2 organizations do a very good job of
ensuring that all of their service providers are fully reputable
and to not take advantage of Inventors / Entrepreneurs. We also have
several references that we typically provide up-front to our clients
in an e-mail. There are many other clients that are willing to give
a positive reference that you can call. Just ask us for more. We
have designed and developed many products that are currently on the
market, and we are proud to share those with you as well. We have
a perfect record with the Better Business Bureau and have never received
a complaint with them or the Attorney General's
Office. To our knowledge,
we have only had 1 unhappy client that complained online with Rip
off Report, and Consumer Complaints. This can be found by searching
our name on Google. It is a very frustrating complaint because we
were not going to make this person happy, so we decided to refund
her money to her. After we provided her with a refund, she then went
out and complained online. We feel it is best to be up-front with
you rather than have you go find it and choose not to do business
with us. If you would like to know more about this complaint, please
call and speak to our President Tyler Harrell.
How long has PRG Prototyping been in Business?
Tyler Harrell graduated from Pittsburg State University
in 2001, and started this business in 2004 as a part-time plastic
consulting company, and after 2 years of success, hired the first
Design Engineer to turn the company into a full service Product Development
Firm. Tyler was previously the Vice President of a Product Development
firm in Kansas City for 4 years before starting the company, and
has extensive experience in Product Development, Engineering, and
Marketing. After operating 4 years as a Sole Proprietor, Tyler formed
an S-Corp on January 1, 2008. The business has experienced great
success over the past 5 years, and we are proud to have now become
a leader in product development and we now have Engineering and Support
staff consisting of 6 in-house employees. Although we are not a huge
firm, our clients have grown to appreciate our very fair prices,
and the fact that you can still call and speak to our President personally,
and our High Level of Customer Service and Weekly updates have been
a smashing success to keep our clients highly involved in our Engineering
and Prototyping Collaboration. Although we can always learn more
every day, we invest in our employees and technology to keep us at
the forefront of creative innovation and excellent product development.
We have developed hundreds of products, and are even now focusing
on developing some of our own In-House Products that will hit the
market the beginning of 2010.
