I have received wonderful advice from this forum and now I am back asking for more trusted advice.
My husband and I had started a business making twin or triplet rocking horses - it was a lot of work on my husband, to the point that we looked for a machining shop to do all the cutting of the wood.
Through that process we basically got taken for a ride. I will say we improved the product greatly, but then it became too expensive to make. Then they wouldn't give us the rights to the CAD drawings obviously because they didn't want us to be able to shop around for a cheaper shop. We where surprised by this, since part of the selling point in working with them in the first place was that they would give us a copy of all our drawings in a binder along with a CD (NOT).
So now we sit with a very hi-end well made rocking horse but with no way to really produce it. If we use them (not a good business partner in our opinion) we wouldn't be able to charge enough for the item to make any real money and that doesn't even include shipping costs for such a large item.
So do we quit and face the fact that maybe this wasn't meant to be or are there other ways of possibly getting this to market?
We live in an area where there are lots of high-end child furniture stores that we could work with or consign with, and some of the top doctors in fertility are here, thus lots of families having multiple-babies, not to mention we have triplets ourselves and are members of the higher-multiples groups locally. We have also looked into having our product included in the "celebrity baby bags"(although I find that they are the ones with the money - yet they get so much for free). We also have a couple of local daycare centers interested in having our product.
With all the laws and requirements changing as it relates to 3rd-party testing for child related products (not cheap), and the semi-stalled economy we really bounce back and forth as to whether or not we should push through or cut bait. Plus, we really feel even stronger now that we want our product to be made in the USA (no the cheapest avenue).
Based on preliminary research, families still purchase all varieties of rocking horses (many that are wooden) and we find that families having twins, triplets, etc. get very caught up in the uniqueness of it and love everything that caters to them. They also tend to be affluent.
I welcome all CANDID advice as I have had about all I can stand of people saying what they think we want to hear.

Thank you - Sj

>Then they wouldn't give us the rights to
>the CAD drawings obviously because they didn't want us to be
>able to shop around for a cheaper shop. We where surprised by
>this, since part of the selling point in working with them in
>the first place was that they would give us a copy of all our
>drawings in a binder along with a CD (NOT).
>

So this company is willing to give you copies of the drawings but not the rights to the drawings? You had the original concept or design didn't you? They worked from your original design? Your original designs would be automatically copyrighted. I'd speak with an attorney about your rights so you can proceed with your business.

Sylvia
http://businessplanmentor.com
Business plan and start up resources

What they did give us was a printed copy of the layout showing all the parts to the product laid out on one sheet. That is it.
We went to them with a working horse - prototype if you will which we made chages on along the way in working with this shop so that it was in a format that worked best for a machining company and mass production.
They refuse to hand over the CAD version on a disc as previously mentioned. I spoke with other drafting shops which cannot believe the situation, and suggest that we go somewhere else and basically start over on the drawings (which isn't all that cheap).

What is the latest news on your CAD drawing situation? I am the founder of a small Engineering Support Services company and I think I can help you get the drawings in the format you need. You mentioned that they gave you a simple layout drawing. If you still have that, along with a few dimensions, we can reproduce the drawings for you in AutoCAD format so that other machining shops can easily quote you for the work. Contact me and we can discuss a solution to your blueprint dilemma. You can contact me at my personal email address, ruhlandc@gmail.com, or you can visit our website and contact us through that.

www.ChicagoUpgrade.com

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Looks like I have some work to do.
It is support like this that makes Idea Cafe so great!

Sandie