When someone thiinks up an innovative product with various new components, and the idea does not exist, then the question comes up, "If there is no manufacturer yet, to whom do you turn to have it made?" Well, once upon a time there was no such thing as a kiteboard, which is a blend of sailboard and parachute. The first models were made by sailboard makers, because the technical changes were concentrated on the board, not the parachute. These are largely made overseas becuase the management cost of bring all the parts together is chaper there than in USA.
AS the idea for the bicycle developed at the time of the French revolution, it was umbrella makers and corset makers who began producing the original versions. The key technological innovation in a bicycle is the spoke wheel, and who had the technology to develop this part? Corset and umbrella makers.
Of course the bicycle was expensive at first, so it was the rich who first bought them. Peopl who used bucycles to push the limits for speed began racing them and making design change demands. AS the bikes got better, and prices fell, more people could buy them. In France the Farman brothers began racing and making bicycles, and then began making and racing cars, with many of the same parts as bicycles. After cars, the need for speed and pushing the envelope got them into making and racing airplanes as well. The Farmans became at one point France's #1 airplane maker.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Finding the Best Source
Posted in design, product development by John Wiley Spiers
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