Egg Breaker Design Team

by Jim Brake

As reported in the last issue, the Egg Breaking Team was engaged in running a series of tests with a variety of cutting devises to determine which candidate would be best suited for prototype design. After evaluating the data we had accumulated, we decided in the interest of time to have Dynamic Devices finalize the testing and put together a proposal for a prototype. This would free up the team to develop concepts for the final configuration of the devise. After we have brainstormed the concepts for final configuration, we will solicit Dynamic Devices to turn the concepts into a working model. It will truly be exciting to have a working model to finalize our evaluation.

There are many phases to a design project. One of utmost importance is the business plan and marketing strategy. While we have addressed some of the marketing aspects of the program we clearly have a great deal more that needs to be done. We invited Pete Morton from Target Marketing to come speak to us about establishing a business plan and a marketing strategy. Pete has a wealth of experience in this area from his many years of experience with the DuPont Company's marketing and business planning. Pete is willing to work with the group on a contract basis or simply as a resource to use when we need his expertise. We are also fortunate to have the University of Delaware Small Business Center available as a resource for this phase of the project. Our goal is to take advantage of the free consulting service that the Small Business Center offers to develop our business plan. Pete Morton will be contacted as needed to help us refine the process.

Once we have our business plan and marketing strategy worked out for the Egg Breaker we should be able to transition this knowledge to the other projects within the Consumer Innovation Laboratory.

While working on the business plan, we hope to identify a company that can handle both the manufacture and promotion of our product. We want to market this product to serve the needs of the physically challenged community. At the same time we will offer it as a convenience item that will attract a large enough market to keep the unit cost low.

We would like to hear from anyone that has a recommendation on who we can talk to about taking over the manufacturing and promotion of the product. Please contact Bob Piech or Jane Fee if you have any suggestion.

For more information, check out the Egg Breaker Design Team Home Page.