Start An Alarm Manufacturer

[PeterJames]

Features:

Nobody makes an alarm with a decent chime noise anymore (I liked the 9100 chime and the DA chime) 

Variable EOL settings, making panel changeovers a doddle

Onboard intelligent analytics, a panel that can make decisions based on environmental detection inputs.

[MrHappy]

41 minutes ago, Gabs said:

I agree and even harder getting the money to do it in the first place, only thing I can think is a bank loan?.

 

to set up manufacturing you'd go to a venture captial co. 

 

However I'd assume CSL have made lots more £ than any panel maker ever has & there a "marketing co." ?

[Gabs]

14 minutes ago, PeterJames said:

Features:

Nobody makes an alarm with a decent chime noise anymore (I liked the 9100 chime and the DA chime) 

Variable EOL settings, making panel changeovers a doddle

Onboard intelligent analytics, a panel that can make decisions based on environmental detection inputs.

 

If I do go into the panel ,manufacture further, ill take note of these. The chime one is good. Environmental detection inputs?

2 minutes ago, MrHappy said:

 

to set up manufacturing you'd go to a venture captial co. 

 

However I'd assume CSL have made lots more £ than any panel maker ever has & there a "marketing co." ?

 

I will look into this too, CSL?

[PeterJames]

If the panel that will adjust detection based on the environment, ambient temperature, draughts, sunlight, all the things that cause false alarms can be avoided with some logic.

[james.wilson]

that's a hard one to achieve and meet component standard. Once an input hits the panel it has to do things as prescribed not make a decision 

[GalaxyGuy]

Having designed compatible modules, my thoughts for panel / module / sensor design would be to leverage other modules/sensors that are out there already. If you have no experience in firmware and electronic design, then the more complex parts of the system will be a huge undertaking.

 

I would expect a control panel alone (enclosure / electronics / firmware / software / compliance / packaging) at current market level product expectations to take at least 100 man months of effort to go through concept, alpha, beta, release and ramp to volume.

 

To release a product within a couple of years would mean recruiting skilled engineers and probably cost in excess of 500k.  The volume sales required to recover the development costs are huge, so risk is very high. There's also ongoing support costs, as nobody wants to buy a product that has no long term support. Any investor willing to back such a venture would be looking at your own track record, your own investment and ability to bring it all together.

 

As others have commented, it's probably best to start very small before even thinking about something complex. The internal speaker is a good example. Take all current offerings, perform teardown analysis, voice of customer analysis and so on. Design something new. Send out free samples. Get feedback and iterate until you have an ace product that your customers want.

 

That said, it's still very difficult to produce something simple and make money. You may be able to design with a small team (ie.yourself) in the UK, but would find it very difficult to make profit manufacturing here. It's all a very nice thought of being able to create local jobs for people, but very difficult to justify if skilled/unskilled labour is available at 1/5 of the cost elsewhere.

 

[PeterJames]

10 hours ago, james.wilson said:

that's a hard one to achieve and meet component standard. Once an input hits the panel it has to do things as prescribed not make a decision 

Yeah but a panel that understands its environment would be beneficial for us all

[al-yeti]

2 minutes ago, PeterJames said:

Yeah but a panel that understands its environment would be beneficial for us all

So it would be the detector capability aswell

[PeterJames]

Just now, al-yeti said:

So it would be the detector capability aswell

Not necessarily there are temperature and humidity detectors available separately, there is no panel that could collate that info and adjust to the environment   

[al-yeti]

1 minute ago, PeterJames said:

Not necessarily there are temperature and humidity detectors available separately, there is no panel that could collate that info and adjust to the environment   

How will panel deal with you?