New reviews for the week: ?

Heather Shaw blogged, check it out:? http://hermashaw.blogspot.com/2008/08/grill-charm-review.html?

As well as Jay Brewer with Kitchen Contraption: http://www.kitchencontraptions.com/?

Today’s topic always brings about such passionate discussion.? I’m not writing on the subject to start a debate or get into the politics of it all, I just thought I’d let you all know where I stand, why I do what I do and what I came away with after going through the process.? Where to have your product manufactured is a fundamental decision on the journey of bringing a product to market.? There are pros and cons to both domestic and overseas options.? I’m going to give you a VERY simplified run-down from an inventor’s stand-point.?

Domestic Pros: smaller runs, more accessibility and control, shorter lead time, less transportation hasslesCons: more expensive?

Overseas Cons: high minimums, not as much control or “hands on” opportunity, longer lead time, transportation issuesPros: much less expensive.?

It is no secret that my product is manufactured overseas,
Taiwan to be exact.? And while I would have loved to, and tried very hard to have that “made in the
USA” on my label, it just wasn’t an option if I wanted to have a viable business.? I called many stainless steel manufacturers who did the particular process that I needed and not a single one said it was possible for the price.? More then one was even kind enough to flat out give me the advice I was learning I needed and said “you are going to have to go overseas for that”.?

To come up with my cost I worked backwards from what I knew people would pay.? After doing a good bit of market research, I knew that $20-$25.00 retail was all I was going to get for my product.? With the prices I was quoted from US stainless steel manufacturers my retail cost to sustain a company with a “made in the
USA” product would have been between $50-$60.00 and I knew people just weren’t going to pay that.? My choice was to either pack up my marbles and go home or look off shore.? While a good bit of my American money is going the people of
Taiwan, a substantial amount is staying right here and going to people like my friendly neighborhood patent and trademark attorney, graphic designer, web designer, fulfillment center and warehouses, customs broker and the list of US companies I am a customer of goes on and on.? None of them would be getting my monthly check if I manufactured domestically.? So the lesson I have learned through this is, as a consumer, the label I look at is not so much the country it is made in, but the manufacturer it was made by.? I try to look for smaller companies who are based here in the
USA (Like Charmed Life Products LLC) and I try to by from fellow moms, small businesses and entrepreneurs, regardless of where the widget is made.?

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Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charmsâ„¢? www.grillcharms.com?