When the decision’s made, we build it.
A unique, IP-owned, FBA-ready product, engineered to outsell white-label.
Is the Development engagement right for you?
It is built for sellers who have already decided to move off white-label and want the engineering done properly.
The Sprint said proceed. The product is viable, the IP read is clear enough, and the manufacturing path stands up. You want the engineering that turns that recommendation into a buildable product.
Your current product, tooling, or both sit with a manufacturer you want to leave. You need a similar-but-better product you actually own, and you need it engineered without stalling the business funding you.
You run a real Amazon business on a proven white-label line and have the capital to commission engineering. You want a unique replacement before competitors on the same factory product erode the category further.
This is not for pre-launch inventors with no trading Amazon business behind them. And it is not for sellers unwilling to commission an Edge Sprint or equivalent scoping work first. Without that read, there is nothing solid to engineer against, and the engagement starts on guesswork.
What do the two phases actually cover?
Development runs in two phases. The Design Phase engineers the product. The Manufacture Phase, opt-in, builds and ships it.
Brief to portable spec. At the end of this phase you hold a complete product specification you could take to any manufacturer.
We lock scope against the Sprint findings: the target product, the margin and unit-cost bands, the FBA constraints it has to live inside. Nothing gets engineered against a moving target.
CAD and design-for-manufacture work, led by Dave on Cast Iron CAD’s bench. The product is engineered for unit cost, manufacturability, and the differentiation that moves it off the white-label baseline.
Physical or representative prototypes to prove the design decisions before tooling money is committed. You see the product resolve from a model into something you can hold and assess.
A first-pass freedom-to-operate read in-house, with formal opinions coordinated through patent attorneys where the product warrants it. We coordinate IP and compliance via partners — we do not provide legal advice.
The output: drawings, documentation, and a manufacturing approach packaged as a spec you own outright. Independently useful, whether or not you go further with us.
The boundary is deliberate. Design Phase output is a portable spec the seller could take to any manufacturer. Manufacture Phase is opt-in, taken up once the spec exists and trust is built, rather than committed to up front.
Taken up after Design Phase, when the spec exists and you want Cast Iron CAD to manage manufacturing through to FBA-ready stock.
The portable spec goes out to quote against vetted manufacturing partners. Real numbers on tooling, unit cost, and lead time, scoped to the FBA economics the product has to hit.
Supplier selection through Cast Iron CAD’s vetted network, not a chain of strangers. The choice is driven by fit to your product and category, rather than by whoever quotes lowest on day one.
Tooling commissioned and managed against the spec. You hold the tooling positions, so the supplier relationship stays yours rather than the factory’s.
Quality control against the engineered spec, rather than a loose sample the factory chose. Defined checks at the points where consumer products tend to fail on Amazon.
Packaging engineered to FBA rules: dimensions, labelling, and prep that pass inbound without surprises. The product arrives ready to sell, not ready to rework.
Stock routed to FBA-ready fulfilment and handed across cleanly. You move from an engineered spec to sellable inventory under your own brand.
What does it cost, and how is it billed?
Each tier is an independent transaction with its own price. No total project figure, no rollover, no time-limited credit.
Development is phased on purpose. You commit to the engineering first and decide the manufacturing path afterwards, once the spec exists and you can see what you are buying. That keeps the Design Phase a clean, independently useful transaction and removes any pressure to commit to production before you have something real to judge it on.
At the end of the engagement, you own the documentation, drawings, and tooling positions. Unambiguously.
This is the point of the whole approach. The reason sellers get trapped on white-label is that the factory holds the tooling and, often, the IP. We engineer that out. You leave with a product file and tooling positions that are yours, which means the supplier relationship is yours too, held with you rather than the factory. You could change manufacturer later and take the product with you.
On the legal side, we coordinate IP and compliance via partners — we do not provide legal advice. Patent and freedom-to-operate opinions come from qualified attorneys we bring in.
Already running a project? Use Dave by the hour.
Direct expert input on an active project you are running yourself or with another partner. Used for design reviews, supplier sanity-checks, IP triage, DFM reviews, and problem-solving. No deliverable, just your time with Dave. Blocks expire 6 months after purchase.
The Advisor Block suits sellers who want to keep the project in their own hands but pull in an engineer who has done this before at the decision points that matter.
What does engineered, rather than sourced, look like?
CAD render · Bamboo-lidded pill splitter · Cast Iron CAD
A bamboo-lidded pill splitter, taken from concept through CAD to a manufacturable design.
The work was design engineering, not sourcing. CAD development of the splitter body and mechanism, a design-for-manufacture pass to make it viable in injection-moulded plastic, and integration of a bamboo lid insert, which pairs a natural material against a moulded body and brings its own tolerance and fit problems to solve.
The Amazon-relevance is in the discipline, not a metric. Designing a moulded consumer product around DFM, material pairing, and fit is exactly the engineering an FBA seller needs to move off white-label, instead of buying the same catalogue part as everyone else.
What sellers ask before commissioning.
Do I actually own the IP and tooling at the end?
Yes. At the end of the engagement, you own the documentation, drawings, and tooling positions. That is the whole point of moving off white-label: the supplier relationship is yours, not the factory’s. On formal IP matters we coordinate IP and compliance via partners — we do not provide legal advice.
Can I take the spec elsewhere and use my own manufacturer?
Yes. The Design Phase output is a portable product spec, engineered to be useful to any competent manufacturer, with nothing locked to us. You can pay for the Design Phase, take the spec, and run manufacturing yourself. Manufacture Phase is there if you would rather we managed it; it is never a condition of the Design Phase.
How long does it take?
Design Phase typically runs 3 to 6 weeks from scope-lock, milestone-billed as it progresses. Manufacture Phase is a longer commitment, usually 6 or more months from contract to FBA-ready stock, depending on the category, because tooling, production, and quality control take real time.
What if it doesn’t work, or the engineering says the product isn’t viable?
That is what the Edge Sprint exists to catch before you spend Design Phase money. If a viability problem surfaces during the Design Phase itself, we tell you plainly rather than engineering around it. You still own the work done to that point. An honest stop is cheaper than a product that fails on Amazon.
I’m leaving a manufacturer who holds my current tooling. Can you handle that transition?
This is one of the situations the engagement is built for. We engineer a product you own, with tooling positions you hold, so the next supplier relationship is structured around your file rather than the factory’s. We can also coordinate the formal IP side through partners where your existing arrangement needs untangling.
Why not go to a Chinese factory directly?
You can, and for a stock catalogue product it is often the cheapest route. The problem is that you end up selling the same product the factory sells to ten other brands, which is the trap you are trying to leave. The Development engagement engineers a product that is yours, with the manufacturability and ownership worked out before tooling is cut.
Do I have to do an Edge Sprint first?
Most Design Phase clients start with one, because it scopes the product and de-risks the engineering spend. If you are IP-locked on a tight timeline and already certain of the product, the secondary route is to talk to Dave directly. What does not work is commissioning engineering with no scoping behind it.
Design Phase and Manufacture Phase work is delivered by Cast Iron CAD’s engineering bench under Dave Lock’s direction. 40+ product development projects to date; University of Brighton Industrial Advisory Board. Primed.Design is the trading name; the contracting entity is Cast Iron CAD Ltd.
Not ready to commission a Design Phase? Start with an Edge Sprint.
A fixed-price read on whether your product is worth engineering, and how, before you commit to the build. Delivered by Dave.