Let me share a quick story
Early in my career, on one of my first projects, I designed a plastic part for molding. I finalized the design and chose a material called Polyamide 6/6, or Nylon. I sent all the finished files and drawings to a mold maker and waited for his response. Surprisingly, after a while, he said he couldn’t use Nylon and suggested I pick another material.
I knew Nylon was important for this design for several reasons and we went back and forth over email for days—it was frustrating. Finally, something told me to just call him. “Why can’t you use PA6/6?” I asked. He explained that a narrow rib in the design was too thin for Nylon.
This rib—a small internal wall to block LED light—wasn’t critical. it could have been thicker or even removed entirely and solved in another way. Once I explained that, we adjusted the rib, and I got my Nylon part molded.
Lesson learned:
Your subcontractors are more than just vendors. They should be thought of as partners. If you’re in product development, your team is bigger than you think. Don’t just tell your suppliers what you need—explain the intent behind your request. Ask for their input and listen carefully. Make room for their recommendations and suggestions to design changes.
This experience shaped my approach to product development. The idea of designing internally (lots of CAD work) right to the finish line and then sending your parts out for production should be abandoned.
The correct path for best results both in quality and as a least resource approach should be an iterative approach.
Design in a more crude and fast way → send draft drawings and files to your trusted, collaborative suppliers and intentionally request a response and comments. Explicitly ask for design inputs and suggestions. Crucially, try to meet face to face with the supplier or at the very least video-meet with them.
After their inputs, make changes accordingly and resend the files and drawings.
This can be an iterative process since your supplier might have further comments and thus another round of changes might happen. Iterate until you perfect your design together with your supplier-partner.
This is especially true if your design has interacting parts that require multiple suppliers.
Systemizing this process, here are four steps to work correctly with your suppliers.
