Multi-Purpose Bottle Lock paired with Password-Protected IoT Mobile Application
(Product Development Lifecycle Project for B2C Retail Product)
Initial Specifications​
Price Performance Chart​
Product Attributes​
Program Risk and Mitigation:
The key risks for SafeLid include failure modes and a high break-even number. The most critical failure risks involve battery failure (which could ignite flammable alcohol in the bottle) and notification-related accidents (such as distracted driving). While these risks could lead to serious injury or loss of life, mitigation strategies have been implemented.
Failure Mode Mitigations:
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Battery Failure & Fire Risk:
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The battery is encased in nonflammable materials, preventing direct exposure to alcohol.
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A low-risk battery is used, reducing the chances of ignition even in case of failure.
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The app monitors battery health, sending alerts if failure is detected, allowing users to replace it proactively.
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Notification-Related Accidents:
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Users can disable notifications entirely.
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Custom settings allow users to make notifications silent or time-restricted, minimizing distractions.
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While user-dependent, these measures significantly lower accident probability.
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Break-Even Analysis:
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SafeLid’s break-even sales volume is 28,000 units, which is relatively high.
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However, its competitive price ($30) and unmet market need for premium bottle security make achieving this feasible.
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The product's value proposition (protecting expensive wine and scotch) justifies its cost, encouraging purchases.
Bill of Materials
Work Breakdown Structure
Other Costs
FMECA ( Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis)
KEY FINANCIALS
Capital
Necessary capital: molds for SafeLid components. Estimated cost: $50K.
Non-recurring Engineering Cost
The NRE for the SafeLid is the cost of tooling and industrial design. Together, these totaled approximately $25K. Total cost = NRE + development cost
Risk Inventory (MOQ)
Lastly, the risk inventory was taken into account. This was the minimum order quantity mentioned previously in the BOM. The cost per unit and the minimum order were multiplied to obtain the risk per each item. Cost per unit * MOQ = $910.
Break-Even Calculation
Per the BOM, the unit cost is $6.40. The unit price is $30, approximately 4.7x the unit cost, with a profit margin of $23.60. Summing each component of the development cost yields a total development cost of approximately $666.5K. The break-even number was then calculated as the total development cost divided by the profit margin, as shown below. As a result, 28,240 units of SafeLid must be sold to break even.
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Break-even number = 666,46830 / 23.60 = 28,240 units
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DELIVERY DATE & MILESTONES
Hardware Components
The main body hardware of the SafeLid will take 13 weeks to construct, with work done by the mechanical engineers at all levels, and some assistance for subcomponents will be provided by Senior/Mid-level software engineers and Senior electrical engineers. The locking mechanism, band materials, button design, gyroscope selection, and motor selection will take up to 4 weeks, while battery selection and charger port selection will take 3 weeks. In particular, the circuitry will take up to 6 weeks due to cross functional assembly by electrical engineers.
Software Components
Total work time to deployment for the software component of SafeLid, the mobile app, will be 22 weeks. The UI design frontend implementation will take 5 weeks, and the core IoT functionalities, will be built primarily by software engineers of all levels in a maximum of 6 weeks, including assistance by electrical engineers of all levels. Cross-functional work such as IoT and battery communication with SafeLid hardware will take the majority of the time required to complete this deliverable. Bluetooth implementations will take up to 4 weeks of work by software engineers of all levels. Other critical functionalities for low battery life, non-functionality warnings, and emergency warnings will also be implemented over 4-5 weeks. Functions such as databases for contacts will be implemented to the beta product in 7 weeks.
Delivery Date
The SafeLid will take a total of 22 weeks for a projected target delivery date, in which hardware and software components will be assembled at intervals of 2-7 weeks during which, at each checkpoint, cross-functional work must be done to design, implement, and test the product at each iteration. Due to this, many key milestones are expected to overlap.
Key Milestones
