Go to manufacturers, designers with ideas

If you get a good idea for an invention, by all means scribble some plans on a napkin. Remember, though, that napkins were meant for wiping your face, not for making blueprints for precision manufacturing.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Links  • Building a Business: About this series

Have a thought? Go to the Forums or Chat.

Subscribe  E-mail this story  Write a letter to the Editor  Printer-friendly version  Get news on your PDA  Get e-mail headlines

When the partners at Everthere Carriers LLC decided to take a prototype cargo carrier to Metcam Inc., an Atlanta-area metal fabricator, company officials wouldn't even give an estimate on production costs, Everthere President Steve Threet said. So, they took their rough sketches and ideas to John Evans, a mechanical engineer at the Robert Evans Co. of Atlanta, who drew up intricate design plans that could be programmed into Metcam's machines.

"My advantage is that I know manufacturing techniques and I've been around the block a bit, and I've worked with Metcam for over 20 years," Mr. Evans said.

Mr. Evans knew the capabilities of Metcam's machinery, equipment and processes, so he was able to tailor design elements such as the size of punched holes and the angles that could be achieved in the bent metal.

"There's just simple facts like knowing what the machinery can do," he said.

Most laypeople don't have the design experience or the industry knowledge to draw such plans, Mr. Evans said.

Those wanting to have an idea mass-produced should seek out manufacturers first, because they often have ties with skilled designers, the mechanical engineer said.

"It's garbage in, garbage out," Mr. Evans said. "If you want a good product manufactured correctly, then give them good drawings."

Staying focused is also critical to the design process, he said, adding that many entrepreneurs have a tendency to forge ahead with improvements before the initial product is created.

"Often when people come up with a design ... they want the next design and don't want to get the first finished," Mr. Evans said.

Reach Adrian Burns at (706) 823-3352 or adrian.burns@augustachronicle.com.

Building a Business

Building a Business is a new, yearlong series in which The Augusta Chronicle follows the progress of a local start-up company, Everthere Carriers LLC, as it attempts to take its fledgling product to a national market. The following is the first story. Updates will be made monthly.

 • Series will follow company's journey
 • Area men get education in business as they mass-produce novel carrier
 • Go to manufacturers, designers with ideas
 • Trade show marketing is success for local business
 • Patent process is easier with help
 • As sales grow, Everthere is turning into full-time job
 • Product's success is dependent on testing
 • Local business picks up by latching onto Internet
 • Company revamps Web site to draw business
 • Everthere settles into new offices
 • Negotiating lease can be challenging
 • Family support is important to fulfilling dream
 • Work-life balance is one key to success
 • Licensing lets buyers tote interest
 • Logo-product partnership is beneficial to both sides
 • Everthere Carriers staff works together for success
 • New hires ease burden of increased workload
 • Everthere Carriers takes new product to health exposition
 • Preparation is important at trade event
 • Firm wrestles with issue of foreign labor
 • Cheap overseas work has its drawbacks
 • Everthere Carriers bids farewell to productive 2005
 • Everthere Carriers has come a long way
 • Q&A with Everthere's Steve Threet

--From the Sunday, January 23, 2005 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle