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Jack's Plastic Welding Inc Prototype Production Policy We encourabe you to read our prototype philosophy page also PLEASE NOTE: We do not allow customers to work in our shop on product development. All hourly rates in this document are stipulated as man hours.
Fees may be assessed if we determine we need to have an attorney look at your documents. We reserve the right to charge for time spent reading and understanding legal documents like Non Disclosure agreements. We will require a deposit of funds to start a design on any complicated project, and we will make that deposit part of the initial contract for your product development. Please see item 4B under DETERMINING IF JPW IS THE RIGHT COMPANY, for more information on how deposits may be required. INTRODUCTION This Document characterizes the way we like to do business at JPW inc. This policy has evolved because of our need to organize and document the way a product is produced. We are confident that you will agree that this product management policy helps our company produce products in a quality conscious efficient manner. Customer needs are of primary importance. For this reason, we welcome any written comments on this policy. CUSTOMER CLASSIFICATIONS Customers come in three types. Standard product customers want a standard product. Customized standard product customers, want standard products with slight modifications. New (prototype) product customers want an entirely new and unique design. We are familiar with our products. What may seem like a small modification could be a major design issue. JPW reserves the right to determine which category a customer’s project will fit into. STANDARD PRODUCT CUSTOMERS Standard products customers can see the price on the price list and purchase form that list at that price. Our price levels are Distributor, Rep, Dealer, Outfitter, and Retail. Customers are qualified, and then purchase at one of those price levels. We have a standard price list, a list of prices for culebra models and different modifications, catarafts of different models and modifications and self-bailing rafts that are standard, but not on the standard price list. CUSTOMIZED STANDARD PRODUCT CUSTOMERS Customized standard product customers pay a premium for customized products. This depends on the quantity and the amount of customization. Customized products must be tracked for the individual customer, so there is an associated administrative cost involved. Customized standard products that can not be run inside a standard production run, carry a further premium price. A typical custom charge may include the cost for 1 item that can not be placed in a production run because of the size or the extent of the modifications. As the quantity of these items goes up, the cost of custom work goes down per unit, because the item becomes a production run in itself. This leaves only design changes and administrative costs to produce those design changes. We call this a customized production run. When a standardized product is highly customized, or unfamiliar materials are requested, we require our customer to sign off on the design changes. We may require a limited production run to smooth out the processes before a firm price can be set. The price of a limited production run will be determined through our prototype pricing policy. NEW PRODUCT (PROTOTYPE) CUSTOMERS This type of customer is establishing new markets for products that we build. Our product may be a whole unit, or simply a component of the entire product. New product customers have a great potential for income off of a product that we help develop with our technology. In the initial phase, we simply function as the developer of the product. New product customers are the focus of this document New product (prototype) customers will be required to make a down payment to start the process. Depending on the complexity of the project, we may require other agreements. The down payment will be based on complexity, materials needed, and our previous relationship. These projects require research, and engineering time to design and complete. The deposit is intended to help with the engineering and design cost, and that is why it is paid up front. PROTO TYPE DEVELOPMENT PHILOSOPHY During proto type development there may or may not be an established market for the project that we are working on. This is not important to us. We do not own the idea, and we only wish to produce a proto type that can be tested before moving to the next step. Often there is no next step. Therefore we do not produce proto types because it will provide us with a new product line. We do not own this product. The potential for profit from this product is based on these issues: 1 the relative cost of the product in the market (perceived value), 2 efficient production of the product, 3 Control of the quality of the product through the design, production and materials selection process. We intend to maximize the potential of a product through effective administration of the last two ideas. It is fair to assume that the quality of a prototype may not be the same as a production model. Machine settings and techniques often need to be adjusted. Customers are required to pay for design cost and prototypes regardless of the quality produced. After the prototype is produced, we will have a serious discussion about the quality that the customer can expect from a production run to effectively sell the product in his market. This is a decision that can be made after the prototype is evaluated by the customer and by Jack's Plastic Welding inc. together. We will provide the customer with computer models that are extremely close to the actual product, before we start any work. Customers are required to sign off on the design. Often this means downloading a free program that allows the customer to see minute details, and comment on the product. With the technology we have today, this can only be done on a computer. Smart phones are inadequate for this kind of customer involvement. This is a point where the project is accepted or rejected. We expect to be paid for this engineering and design cost even when the project does not move forward. That is the main reason for the deposit mentioned above. JPW inc does not assume to have any knowledge about the market potential of the product. Proto types are often built to test market potential. The Crew at JPW strives for information that will lead to the efficient production of the product. However focusing on efficient production of a product in this stage of the process is not productive to the long term efficiency of a product production run. In other words, we strive to document the process so we can produce the product more efficiently in the future should it go to a production run. Proto types may have minor flaws, may be over built, or there may be materials or processes that are better suited for the first production run. Therefore there can be design changes. During prototype development JPW documents the process, time, and the materials that are used. We may suggest changes to be incorporated in a second proto type, or a production run. The cost of these design changes will be added to the overall cost, if the changes make sense to the customer and it is decided to move forward with them. In summary, we expect our prototype customers to pay us for the first prototype and the associated administration costs we have in developing the procedures and any redesign for this prototype. DETERMINING IF JPW IS THE RIGHT COMPANY Here are the steps we take to determine if we can produce your product. 1 We qualify the customer. We are not interested in marketing you product. We are not interested in purchasing your patent. We are interested in producing quality components for new markets. If the company fits with our business plan, we will move to the next step. 2 We talk briefly about the product purpose so that we can get a feel for what it is about, and if it is the kind of product that our technology can produce efficiently, or if we can develop a prototype. Potential customers often feel uneasy about this step. Rest assured. We have many projects that we wish to complete, and we are not interested in stealing any ideas. We want to be open, so that the process can quickly move forward. 3 Often potential customers require that we sign a non disclosure agreement. We resist doing this. Most of the techniques that we use are in the public domain. They are processes that apply to other products. If we develop a new technique for welding, we want to be able to use it on products not related to your product. We need to have information about your project before we can effectively design it. We are not interested in marketing your product. We reserve the right to use techniques derived on your project to construct other products in the future. Signing Non-Disclosure Agreements can be done. They Take time to read and even more time and cost if we have to take a complicated on to an attorney. We will be happy to send ours to you. We know what is in it, and it may work well for your project. If you want us to sign a NDA, we are assuming that there will be design and engineering time, and we will require a deposit. 4 Give a budgetary estimate of the cost of a project to see if it fits into the customers expectations and market plans. A typical budgetary estimate for this phase of a project is the estimated production and administrative cost multiplied by 4B We often work from a bench mark perspective. Proto type customers understand that there are problems to be overcome at different phases of product development. What we prefer to do, is to identify these problems and try to resolve them before moving to the next step. We call these bench Marks. We may ask for a down payment to do design work, then another payment to do a proof of concept model. Or a component of a proof of concept model. But if we ask for the entire project deposit, it does not serve our customer well. We may not be able to get the project completed. This is especially true if we do not understand the project in it’s entirety. (a borderline reality project) This happens often. So it is better to get paid for part, check in, and move forward. for more information about what we mean by Bench Mark see this link. For more information about what we mean by borderline reality, see this link. 5 On the acceptance of the budgetary estimate, the customer will decide if the project is to be built on an hourly rate, or from a firm estimate. 6 A plan for payment of services will be arranged, and the first deposit will be made. PROTO TYPE PRICING HOURLY BILLING Hourly billing includes all administrative cost, and all production costs at a $100.00 per hour rate. There will be company employees who will work on the job specifically until it is complete. If it is a rush job, our employees may be willing to work overtime. Our staff works a 40 hour normal work week. Overtime is billed at a rate of $150.00 for up to 10 hours per week extra, $200.00 for 10 to 20 hours extra, and $200.00 for work on Sunday and holidays. Our customers with standing orders for products always have priority for standard production time. Our standard product line is very seasonal. Prototype customers can be charged at overtime rates during our busy season. ESTIMATED BILLING Estimated billing is a firm bid. It includes all administrative cost and production costs estimated at a $ 100.00 per hour rate. The nature of estimation leads us to estimate high for our service and it is often less costly to produce at an hourly rate. It is extremely difficult to estimate the time that it takes to revise production plans. The more complex a project is, the more difficult it becomes to give a firm estimate. To arrive at a firm estimate we will establish a preliminary production procedure, estimate the labor cost for each step of the procedure, estimate the labor cost to cover administrative costs (design, patterning,estimating, and documentation), and add time based on issues like material handling, procedural development, and changes. Customers are expected to pay for the estimation of a firm bid even if the project stops there. Therefore it is wise to do a budgetary estimate on complex projects before moving to this step. At the completion of the firm bid there is a production plan in place. A firm bid gives a ceiling that can be charged for a project. If that price is grossly over estimated, we will reduce the price, and split the cost savings with the customer. If we underestimated, we will absorb the cost. Change orders There is one big problem with prototyping inflatable products. Often our customers do not understand what it takes to make them work. We are, after all, putting pressure inside of a flexible material, and it will change dimensions under pressure. When other parts are added to these items, processes and sizes can change. New Ideas can be submitted to address these problems, but it is not fair for JPW to absorb these redesign costs. The design people at JPW may not know about these kinds of additions and changes before they need to be made. Often they are discovered in the design process. Because something is a concept, does not mean it is in final dimension form, or that changes will not be necessary to make it work. This is especially true if we are designing so our components fit for other manufacturers. If we need to work with other manufacturers, and we are using our design skills to make parts that work for their processes, there will be design cost associated with that communication process. If your project does not have clear specifications, and many of them do not, you could be assessed for a change order during the design process to make it work. A firm bid may not include these change orders. For this reason, we would like to work in stages, with a deposit due for preliminary design, one for final design, and final payment for the finished project on complicated projects. In the design process we will use the term “change order” to describe changes that need to be made in the design to make it work, we will identify these, and the customer will receive emails detailing these changes and why they need to happen. BUDGETARY ESTIMATES Budgetary estimates can usually be given in a short time, and include the cost of a project inside a ball park. The size of the ball park will also be given. The size of the ball park gets larger with the complexity of the project. For example a project may have a budgetary estimate of $2500.00 Plus or minus $750.00. This estimate usually takes only 10 minutes or less, but because of the work load we may not be able to get it to you the same day. Budgetary estimates are free of charge. Their purpose is to determine if the project is feasible within a development budget. A fast budgetary estimate for a project is the estimated production and administrative cost multiplied by 3. Our experience has shown us that prototype development has a lot of administrative cost. PROCEDURE DEVELOPMENT AND COST If a proto type is not very complex, we can give a production price based on the information that we gathered during the proto type phase of a project. If the proto type is very complex, we will have to perform one or more limited production runs to determine the production cost. In the proto type phase, we develop an initial production procedure. We also develop patterns and working drawings, or we amend working drawings that are supplied to us. These procedures and drawings are often changed to better fit the customers’ needs after the first proto type. When a limited production run is performed, employees are required to scrutinize the production process closely. Production procedures and drawings undergo another phase of development. After the limited production run is performed, a firm price can be set for the product. Changes to a product, by the customer are considered to be a change order. These changes must be documented, and procedures established for those changes. Our customers are expected to sign designs and production documents that indicate those changes. The cost to implement these changes will be billed at our hourly rate. We anticipate changes in procedure and techniques used to produce products more efficiently, and we include the cost of these changes in the firm estimate of the limited production run. At the completion of this process a system for producing a product is in place. These systems are never perfect or final. Jack's Plastic Welding Inc employees strive to improve products with new processes and materials, stimulating the evolution of your product and our industry as a whole. Development of a new product can be a lot of work. However the rewards are substantial. It is our hope that this policy settles some concerns a new customer may have, and provides a blueprint for problem solving. Sincerely, E. Jack Kloepfer Founder - Jack's Plastic Welding Inc. Document acceptance Please read and sign the following form. This will enable us to build your prototype. 1- I have read and understand the information in this document. 2- I authorize a 50% deposit, and I will establish terms of payment for this product before production begins. Deposits are not refundable. Complicated designs or design changes in the middle of this process may require us to ask for more deposit money before continuing. 3- I personally guarantee the balance of payment for this product. 4- I understand that I will be responsible for any attorney, court, or collection fees associated in the collection of any outstanding balances owed to Jack's Plastic Welding Inc. 5- Acceptance of this document does not constitute an offer by Jack's Plastic Welding Inc. to build your prototype. Prototype customer's signature____________________________________ please fax the acceptance form of this letter back to us at 505 334 1901. Thank you TJ Garcia - Design tgarcia.jpwinc@gmail.com Errol Baade -CEO
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Order inquiries: shop.jpwinc@gmail.com © 2011 Jack's Plastic Welding, Inc
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