Ian Peterman explains that while some manufacturers offer free design work, you should create and own your own CAD files and drawings. If the manufacturer owns the documentation, you're locked in and can't move production or make changes. Your own files let you get accurate quotes, enforce quality standards, and switch manufacturers whenever you want.
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Hello, my name is Ian Peterman. I'm CEO and founder of the Peterman Design Firm, and today I'm going to answer the question, do I need a drawing or CAD file in order to get a product manufactured? So the short answer is you don't necessarily need one. Depending on who you're working with. So some manufacturers have small in-home, in-house design teams that are able to put drawings together, do CAD work with you. Sometimes they have full engineering teams. Now, depending on where you're at, if you're really small, if you're just a startup, you're going to find that a lot of companies, they do all that engineering work Because they will end up producing a lot of parts for someone. So they actually have engineers that work with your team, you know, if you're a company. And so a lot of places won't, won't offer those services, or they will, you know, charge for those services just like anybody else. And so you don't need it necessarily if the manufacturer is one, has it, has all the team internally and is able to actually give you the support you need and do the drawings, do the CAD files and things like that. And 2, is able to work with you at your level of where you're coming from. With that said, though, over the years I worked with a lot of people and I've had quite a few come to me after working with a manufacturer and getting, you know, parts made, even in production. And when they go to try to move that production to someone else because of quality or just even quantity, needing to be able to produce more at a time, some not, not so good manufacturers will hold those drawings and all that documentation and either charge for it in order for you to see it and get it and get whatever the final drawings were. Or flat out refuse. And that's because sometimes they may have done that free work because they're producing parts for you. And so if you're especially a short run and a startup, they might do that work, quote unquote, for free, but then they end up owning. So the other part of that is ownership of documentation. And that's an issue that I'll probably dive into at another point, but basically not owning your own documentation is Bad. And if you don't create your own drawings and your own CAD files and have control of it, then you are not going to be in a good position to be able to change. Or if something happens to that company, they'll lose everything. So I highly recommend— I recommend to everybody that I talk to that you get your own drawings done. And even if it's just starting with you sketching it, which you Sort of can you— somebody can manufacture from, but is not ideal. Um, at least start there and make sure that you have somebody do actual drawings for you. Make sure you own the 3D models, they're yours. Make sure you have drawings, manufacturing documentation, because there's a lot of documentation that actually can go into manufacturing. And so while you don't need to have it necessarily, It is the safest and smartest way to do that. And so things that we put together when I work with a client, we put together a packet of information, and it can be very small or large. And things that are included in that are drawings, technical specifications, materials, finishes. We'll create drawings that will basically— they act as a proof of purchase and, and the QC document of, okay, well, I ordered this part right here to these specifications, tolerances, things like that. And you're able to then, when you receive those parts and components, you are able to measure and check against your drawing. And if they don't match, that puts you in a position to be able to say, hey, this part is wrong, and you're able to actually quality control what you're getting. If you don't have that documentation, you can't do it. So, you know, it's something that I definitely— at no point would I ever recommend you go to a manufacturer and not have documentation. Do it first. There's also a lot of problems that you can solve in drawings and CAD that you don't really want to pay for in terms of getting parts made and finding out that product doesn't work quite right. So in my professional experience, get drawings, get CAD, you know, and this varies in the fashion world or soft goods world, they're called tech packs. So there's a lot of different terminology for it, but make sure you have manufacturing documentation of some kind, you know, related to what you're getting made and take it to a manufacturer. It saves a lot of time. It saves a lot of confusion. So time spent with the manufacturer trying to figure out what you want is time that they usually don't charge for. And some places, if you don't come to them with a clear, this is exactly what I want, here's specifications, they're not even going to listen to you. And getting quotes— I've talked about getting quotes for prototyping and how important this is, and part of that is If you don't have everything specced out completely, it's going to be really hard for manufacturer of any kind to give you a really solid number. They can give you an estimate, they can give you a ballpark, but if you want to know exactly how much a part's going to cost, you need to bring drawings to them or pay to have drawings made that they can actually work from. And so, you know, again, just the recap, you don't have to But in all reality, you know, it is the best idea possible for you to get your drawings made, your CAD files, and use those to go get quotes, work with manufacturers. And that's, that's what I do with my clients and have done every single project, even working in corporate, working in startups, and working with my clients in a consulting fashion. That's the way to do it. It saves the most time and money, and it creates the clearest communication between you and the manufacturer.
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