Do I have to know all about manufacturing to make a product?

I know nothing about how things are made, do I really need to know that in order to invent a product?

Beth

The quick answer is NO. But, the more you know the better your chances are of success. It also broadens your creative base to know as much as possible of what is available out there to make your product. This gives you more to draw from as you consider new creations. It also gives you more possiblities on how your idea might work or be constructed. I had an idea for a toy that I though would need 12 parts to function. After discussing this with the interested company we decided it could be contructed using 7 parts and maintain the same function. Learning that process from them has allowed me to see other things I thought would be very complicated can be achieved simplier that I would have thought before.
Any additional knowledge you can bring to the table always helps. It also helps you understand terms they may use in that industry and assume you know what it means so they keep talking and in the back of your mind you are saying "What the heck does that mean and do I agree with it?" A good example of this is a job I had in the nuclear industry working for the government was titled Critique Investigator, the private sector calls it FF Investigator (Fact Finder) the commercail nuclear industry calls it CAPO (Corrective Action Program Official).
So, when I was writing my resume I had to make sure I included those terms so search engines for job sites would find me based on the three titles not just the one.

Hi Beth,
Well its a journey and mine is based on shifting the risk onto manufactures and distributors, this way I receive both royalties (Manufacture) and commissions (Importer) from each for the same unit of the product.

My first shipment of the Stair Square is about to leave Taiwan for Holland for my Stair Square, I organised the whole lot, original License deal (brokerage and Development Agreement) with the manufacture they pay for all tooling and patents (I supplied the 3D CAD tooling files made by www.jamb.com.au ), the deal between the Manufacture and distributor Importer supply agreement did that also.

Business is all about relationships, consider better working with a manufacture who has been doing it for 30 years and a experienced importer, great way to learn.

Issue's like MOQ, FOB, CE Mark for Europe, 30% upfront payment for the order, Packaging Branding, 4 different versions in the instructions English,German,French and Dutch and new website working with the importer.

I think it isn't a must, but it will be a big help. Knowing about what goes on during the manufacturing process will enable you to tweak the design or concept of the product. It also help design engineers when coming up with design ideas that would be easy to manufacture. So, both stages of product development can work seamlessly together.

The more you know about any process can only help you as you move forward. It can also help you know if the manufacturer you are using is being fair with you or using more expensive processes that aren't needed just to bill you more.