10 Business Manufacturing Ideas For The Real Goal-Getters

What are your chances and how can somebody start profitable business manufacturing ideas in today’s society without…

• A connection with the multinationals.
• Higher education.
• Access to a gigantic pile of cash.
• Fighting your way through a saturated market.

Well, the truth is, there are a lot of both old and new manufacturing business ideas out there. Unfortunately, the majority of them are either or together DEMANDING and COMPETITIVE. 

Luckily, to set you on the right path, I have handpicked and highlighted 10 easy-start small scale most profitable manufacturing businesses to start, on this page. The complete guide for each is also provided so you can start making money immediately after you are done reading this content.

Top Business Manufacturing Ideas

1.Starting A Profitable 3D Printing Business

3D printing is one of the new business manufacturing ideas, a two-sided blue ocean model with vast opportunities. On a side, you have the manufacturers of the 3D products, then there’s the services side of it.

As a local service provider, you’re delivering solutions to businesses who outsource the 3D printing side of their productions, students who need 3D models for school projects, artists, architects, and so on.

On the flip side, a 3D product manufacturer designs, produces, and sells 3D products in industries like; jewelry/ornaments, cosmetics, children/sex toys, shoes, mobile products, video games characters, etc.

To start either, you need;

1. A Capital Size Of $1, 000-$10, 000; this depends on your focus niche, the size/capability of the 3D printer you need, whether you need a facility or not, and materials costs. To get your 3D startup funded, your best bets are AutoDesk Spark (venture funding), Stratasys (growth funding), and iMakr.VC (seed funding).
2. Profound 3D Printer Operation Know-how + Model Design; take a free or paid course on Udemy, RAISE3D, or SkillShare. Paid courses on these sites offer certifications that position you above the lowballs.
3. Creative Ideas For A 3D Printing Business That Stands Out; this transcends learning post finishes or filaments (techniques for smoothing out and adding color to your 3Ds to stand out). The point is to study and understand your competitors, discover and upgrade what’s working.
4. A Visible Location Either or Both Offline And Online; with everything in place, secure a visible location where your potential clients can find you easily and faster. Finally, set up a shipping process.
5. The Ability To Sell; sell your brand and your products/services. Invest in marketing, brand awareness, customer relations, and campaigns.

2.Building A Bicycle Manufacturing Business

Bicycle making is one of the major scalable business manufacturing ideas. There are 30+ niches in the bicycle industry yet only 4 of them fall into the manufacturing category. Now, not all of them are small-scale manufacturing business ideas but here’s how you can start small and work your way up and expand over the 4.

Start As A Bicycle Spare Parts Manufacturer;

1. First off, perform a market analysis; of your business location for insight into your competitors’ offerings and operations, the needs of your potential customers, and then create a business plan from that.
2. Locate a reliable supplier for your materials, and determine the prices of the essential machines. Basically, you need welding machines, cutters, measurement tools, and finishers.
3. Get trained to use your machines, and determine where your facility will be. If you have enough funds and wouldn’t want to handle machines, employ experienced labor.
4. Work on your finances: according to your business plan and expenses above. If you’re not using cash on hand, then see if you can get a credit line from a credible bicycle parts wholesale rep around you.
5. Obtain Insurance And License; reach out to an insurance rep to get business liability policies protecting your business. Also, get a business occupational license from your state or community.
6. Flesh everything out and start working on marketing; secure your facility plus the pieces of equipment, and start building your inventory. Finally, for marketing, use online to reach out to your potential customers.
7. Depending on your location, competition, and marketing, you should start seeing profits in 2 months. So, go ahead, expand to double as a bicycle tire manufacturer, a bicycle powder coating shop, and a complete bicycle manufacturer.

3.Growing A Bakery Business

If making people happy through baked food is your thing, this is one of the most profitable home manufacturing business ideas you need. Do you know that the global bakery market was estimated at 203.8 billion USD in 2018 and is projected to rise by 3.2% by 2025? But how do you start even if you’ve never baked before?

1. Take A Bakery Course; surprisingly, there are free and helpful YouTube videos available to get you trained. But, sure, if you have the money, buy a course on BakeryTrainingUnitausb or ShawAcademy to become a certified baker.
2. Make A Business Plan & Get Funded; because you’re looking for a low investment manufacturing business ideas, I suggest starting from home. If you already have an oven in your kitchen, then you won’t need more than $2000 to purchase every other thing.
3. Create A Website & Start Reaching Out; if you can’t afford a website, for now, Instagram is a good place to put your foot in. Display your hot cake images across all social media, join relevant groups/pages to get closer to your audience.

4.Become A Countertop Manufacturer

Are you a DIY enthusiast or a hobbyist? How about creating a low-cost manufacturing business out of what you love doing? Follow these 5 steps to become one of the countertop manufacturers making $13.2mil/year;

1. Create A Business Plan; to define your startup and ongoing costs, your target market, the brand name of your small-scale manufacturing business, and how much you want to charge your customers.
2. Form A Legal Entity And Register For Taxes.
3. Open A Business Account And Obtain The Necessary Licenses & Permits.
4. Get Business Insurance & Define Your brand.
5. Set Up Your Business Phones System + Your Business Website.

5.Explore Several Window & Door Business Manufacturing Ideas

Get paid to design, build, install, and repair windows. This is another great low investment manufacturing business for DIYers. It’s even better if you already have a small space of your own where you have your previous weekend projects stored and your tools.

To tap into the $235.2 billion industry using a startup cost of $8000-$50, 000, do this;

1. Know Your Machines; bench grinders, drilling machines, anodizing plant, heavy-duty cut-off machine, saws, and a portable driller.
2. Get A Supplier; quality materials are the stronghold of quality windows and doors. So, choose your supplier wisely.
3. Invest in knowledge; your basic DIY knowledge may not be enough to create pro-level windows and doors.
4. Find Your Facility; while this is one of the home business manufacturing ideas you can start at home, if you don’t have a shop yet, then renting one is a must.
5. Do A Roundup And Secure Your Capital; this roundup should give you the net startup and running capital.
6. Purchase Registration & Licensing.
7. Start Designing + Display Samples + Market = Sales.

6.Kickstart A Locksmith Business

As a locksmith, you make money by installing + designing lock systems while also offering other locksmithing services. On average, you get paid $500-$1000 per lock system designed, $35-$150 mobile fee before a mobile service, $100-$150 per installation, plus $100-$200 for key designing.

Though this is not the most profitable manufacturing business idea to start, locksmithing is a low-cost manufacturing business that can make you $40, 000-$60, 000 per year. See the startup process below;

1. Get Educated; most online certification locksmithing courses cost $200-$3000 while college degrees and vocation degrees cost $3, 400/semester and $33, 000/degree respectively.
2. Choose A Niche; do you see yourself more of a vehicle locksmith, a commercial building, or a residential home locksmith?
3. Write Your Business Plan & Plan Your Income Goals; your business plan should highlight company description, execution summary, management, sales/marketing, services/products, and funding. Likewise, your income goals should highlight yearly income, expenses, and pricing.
4. Become Legally Established; this includes registering your name, getting licensed/permitted, and obtaining insurance.
5. Purchase Tools/Equipment + Market + Advertise; if you’re not financially buoyant to spend heavily on marketing just yet, Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor are 2 marketplaces to connect with clients for a low fee.

7.Purchasing Or Starting A Clothing Manufacturing Business

The global apparel industry has been steadily generating over $658billions since 2013. Now, you don’t really need to start from scratch if you have massive capital to purchase one and possess the needed managerial experience to run it. Meanwhile, below is a quick guide if you’d rather build and grow;

1. Research Your Market & Create Your Customer Persona; your customer persona is the complete profile of your target. Their location, the types of clothing they like, and their income for a start. A well-detailed customer persona leads you straight to your market to do your findings of every other thing.
2. Know What To Produce + Choose A Production Method; lingerie? Male or female outfits? Official dresses? Sportswear? With that out of the way, decide the method for each process of production based on your funds and resources.
3. Do The Paperwork And Start Production.
4. Create A Pricing Policy And Work On Promotion.

8.Start A Snowboard Manufacturing Business

Contrary to popular belief, snowboard manufacturing and sales is an all-season business, though Winter is a boom season. But how profitable can you be outside of Winter and is this business for anyone whose credit score is mildly higher than their SAT?

Well, the production costs of a snowboard are around $100-$120 and most snowboards sell for $500. Yes, that’s how profitable you can get but you need a startup capital of around $10, 000 and $50, 000. Here’s a quick guide on how to start;

1.  Learn From The Existing Manufacturers Around You; to reach out to these people, go to the SuperPages website, use the filter tool to dig out their locations and contacts.
2. Understand The Competition & Draw An Outsmarting Business Plan; some of the info you need about the competitors are their best-selling designs, their customer relationships, and their most converting campaign platforms. Now, create a business plan that beats that.
3. Acquire Funds, Establish Yourself, and Start Selling; after making a few sample designs that beat the competition, start connecting with snowboarders online and offline. Marketing is important.

9.Honey Production Business

At this press time, the market cap of the honey production industry is estimated around $8-9billion and is projected to rise up to $11.16billion before 2027. If you’re a go-greener or see yourself as a lover of bees, this may be one of the small manufacturing business from home ideas to invest in. Here’s a brief business plan sample;

1. Understand The Regulations Of Your State; before getting a license/permit, visit your local government to understand the regulations of the hiney business. For instance, in some states, bottling in your home kitchen is not allowed.
2. Learn How To Raise, Grow, And Care For Bees; the other day I found out Lackawanna college offers a beekeeping certificate program. Look them up online or choose other platforms like Udemy.
3. Purchase A Farm + Bee Boxes; also, purchase your bees, mostly queen bees cause they are responsible for laying the eggs (1000 eggs at a time per queen). But you need the drone bees and the worker bees too.
4. Grow, Harvest, Package, And Sell; packaging affects your sales greatly, so choose the package that portrays neatness, health, and nature. Likewise, your marketing platforms should be where the existing businesses are getting most of their sales.

10.Manufacture Nuts & Bolts

It’s almost like the engineering world would fall apart without nuts and bolts. And you know what, engineering is a part of every business, which makes you, a nut/bolt manufacturer, an all-season money-maker. But don’t take my words for it…

If you think this is one of the best business manufacturing ideas you’d love to invest in, follow the general startup guide on how to start your business manufacturing ideas in the next section below.

How To Start A Manufacturing Business; The 5 Steps Startup Guide

Step 1; Do Your Market Research + Determine Your Niche

The purpose of market research is to know exactly what the market needs and how you can meet that. Even when there are other brands already supplying the demands of your target audience, research reveals the missing gaps i.e the missing products/services or setbacks/problems yet to be overcome.

With the data collected, you get to understand;

• What part of the market you’re targeting.
• What you are to make + startup/running capital.
• Your manufacturing and sales location.

And those are the 3 factors that make up your niche.

Step 2; Make A Brand + Write Your Business Plan

When choosing a name for your brand, make sure it is easy to pronounce and identify with your industry/market. For example; the name KiddiesBirthdayCakes defines your industry, what you do, and your target. This applies to your logo, your website design, marketing strategy.

Now, about a business plan, it’s up to you. Nevertheless, it’s always smart to bounce ideas off of the existing business plans online. So, make this a part of your research.

Step 3; Funding + Legal Establishments

Now, how you fund your business manufacturing ideas is up to you. Likewise, the paperwork which includes licensing, permits, insurance, and taxation, all depend on your state of operation. However here are the 10 options available to you when it comes to funding your business manufacturing ideas;

1. Bank loans
2. Family & friends
3. Business angels
4. Crowdfunding
5. Short-term loans
6. Ventures capitalists
7. Research and development grants
8. Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS)
9. Guaranteed loans
10. Incubators and accelerators.

Step 4; Start Production

Your funds have got you a team, a facility, an arsenal of operation tools/equipment, and a legal establishment. Now, it’s time to start developing those ice-breaking products, disrupting the industry, and winning the heart of your targets.

Final Step; Marketing That Break Limits

Marketing is the backbone of every business. It is a must-have tool for reaching your target audience, creating brand awareness, and creating a fanbase. For all business manufacturing ideas, below are the marketing options available to you;

• Email marketing.
• A website/blog.
• Social media.
• SEM (search engine marketing).
• Events.

In Conclusion

There are 10s of 100s of business manufacturing business ideas out there. But your investment is only worth the one you can build, grow, and scale with minimal time, effort, experience, and capital.

So far, in this article, I have highlighted and explained the process of starting and operating 10 business manufacturing ideas in this category. Let me know your opinions, questions, and possibly experience with any or all of these businesses.

Check also: Ultimate Guide To Small Business Ideas