One of the beauties of running a business from home is that you can start out at a very small scale. Where you may run into trouble, though, is in ramping up production. Here are four steps you can take to increase your at-home production when you’re ready to scale your business up.
Look Into 3D Printing for Plastic Parts
If the product you’re making includes plastic parts, 3D printing may be the perfect way for you to make the parts you need. A 3D printer can run largely unsupervised while you do other work, allowing you to create parts from digital files with very little time input. If you have a large enough 3D printer, you can even make multiple parts at once. Because of its largely passive nature, 3D printing is great for home-based business owners who want to manufacture more efficiently.
Outsource Electronic Components
For products with electrical components, outsourcing is usually the best approach to scaling your production. Having a third-party business create your PCBs and attach the basic circuit components to them will save you huge amounts of time and labor on your end. While you’ll probably have to buy the finished circuit boards in bulk, you’ll find it’s much more convenient than having to solder each one individually.
Get Into Resin Casting
Contrary to popular belief, resins are an incredibly versatile class of materials that can be used in just about any product category. Casting resins is a fairly easy way for you to create parts, and the number of parts you can create at once is limited only by the space and number of molds you have. Find a good polyurethane casting material supplier to work with, and you’ll be able to increase your production fairly rapidly with the casting process.
Consider Investing in a CNC Machine
For more complex parts, a CNC machine is often the most efficient way to speed up manufacturing. CNC machines represent a fairly large initial investment, but the time they can save you more than makes up for the expense. With the right CNC machine, you can create digital models in a CAD program and have the machine do almost all of the physical work.
While the right technologies for you will depend on the types of products you’re creating, these are four of the most universally applicable ideas for scaling up your home manufacturing. With these ideas, you can create more of your products and increase your sales volume.
