Business Requirements

1) Initial capital outlay

The no.1 question – are there any capital costs that are needed to start this venture?

There are no upfront tooling costs, the design enables the product to be fully assembled using only relatively basic manufacturing processes, so in terms of product costs, then the costs would be tied up in component stock holding.

2) Premises

There would be a requirement for premises to manufacture, assemble and test product along with storage.

Dependant on the processes that are carried out in-house will define the major premises requirements, but to enable the best quality control then at least final assembly and testing should be carried out in-house, which will require electrical power with basic test jigs.

3) Staffing

As with 2) above this will wholly depend on which processes are carried out in-house, but as a minimum there should be at least one trained electronic engineer (technical support will be available for this) for programming & test.
Procurement, logistics and sales will need to be managed by the investor/entrepreneur.

4) Return on investment

The typical retail price for a solar powered light would be between $15-$20 and maybe an extra $5 for the USB charging facility, this would therefore suggest a manufacturing cost (including profit) of less than $7 (dependant on mark-up %), which could be achievable, again dependant on the local market conditions.

If sales are of the order 100 rising to 500 product per month then there is a sustainable business here.

Note: the key market for Solapodz are people with very limited disposable income, so a funding model will need to be established to ensure the product is affordable to those that need it.

5) Technical knowledge for the entrepreneur/procurement lead

There are 5 main areas of technical knowledge within the Solapodz range that need to be understood from a procurement and quality perspective:

  1. The mechanical processing which includes wood cutting & routing and metal cutting, drilling & bending.
  2. Solar cell parameters, including cell voltages, IV characteristics and fill factor.
  3. Battery cell parameters, including cell voltages and capacity specifically for the ‘18650’ cell.
  4. Basic electronics with respect to component identification of resistors, diodes, capacitors, transistors and microcontrollers.
  5. Appreciation of  USB voltages and the need for a DC/DC converter.

6) Technical knowledge for the programmer/test engineer

Ideally the individual should have a minimum of level 4/HND standard of education in Electronic Engineering, with specific knowledge in the following:

  1. Solar cell parameters, including cell voltages, IV characteristics, fill factor and temperature effects.
  2. Battery cell parameters (‘18650’), including cell voltages, capacity, temperature effects and charge & discharge characteristics.
  3. Ohm’s law, the power law, mosfet, diode, capacitor, DC/DC converter and PIC (or similar) microcontroller characteristics.
  4. Experience in PCB design, measurement & test and PIC (or similar) microcontroller  programming.

There has never been a better time to be part of the solar revolution

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