Looking to Develop our Production Package

Looks to me like you haven't tested or trialed your product.

DFMA... design for manufacture and assembly?

How about design for test, how about some test?
You don't seem to have sheduled production of any prototypes of anything e.g packaging.

Maybe you think CAD can give you RFT, you are better aiming for WAQAP it gives you time to have a cycle of adjustment/modification/redesign. That even applies to simple things like test instructions.
How many instructions have you seen that couldn't be improved?

wassa CM?

Del

(BTW
WAQAP = Wrong As Quick As Possible...
Vastly better than throwing a load of cad simulations at it then finding when you get the product in your hand it has some basic flaw.
OK they call it rapid prototyping and try to tell you it's part of RFT... but no... it's WAQAP which is a KrisDel acronym (training courses are available at a pub near near for whatever you can afford, or a pint of beer))

Two things.

If you have no one on staff with the required product development experience, you are doomed to fail.

You have not adequately defined the product. It sounds like a circuit board. Is this all there is to the product?

I've done this with a complete hand held electronic noise cancellation headset product. Contract manufacturing of housing/wiring/headsets/battery mount/surface mount board/burn-in/bed of nails test of each board/UR certification/environmental testing/marketing, the list goes on and on.....................

Have you forgotten anything? Of course you've forgotten something. We are always forgetting things because we don't value them until they are missing. The most important thing I see that you've forgotten is your customer base. How many of these widgets do you think you can sell in a week, month or year? What does the market actually want/need?

Obviously your process does not make sense. You've ignored the market. You have no contingency plans. You do not even identify if this is a project or an operations business plan.

Before you even successfully build a functioning prototype, let alone sell one, you are wondering about streamlining a poorly defined process.

No wonder your anonymous.

Absolutely correct. Something is always forgotten, even by the most fastidious person or team, and, as usual, "more information please!!" Difficult to offer opinions when you don't have all the details or in this case any of the details.

What's the product?

Your testing and packaging and even production will depend on what you are selling and how many you plan on selling!

It's no use designing for lowest cost SMD manufacture in bulk quantities of 100,000 to keep the costs as low as possible if you only expect to sell 100. Same goes for an extensive test program that takes so long and costs so much that you miss your market completely and your product is obsolete before it gets to the market (this happens more often than you may realise).

What's the product and what's the market? How many do you expect to sell per year?

Which part of the world are you from? What is your own experience and back ground? What is the product?Who is teh customer? How old is the company? What is the background of the company? Too many unanswered question? Is the company entering electronic assembly first time or product line first time? Lot of clarity is needed.

Being Anonymousis not good in certain circumstances.You need to mention size of your project, what is the short term and long term strategy? What kind of a vision you / company have? How much are you planning to invest in capital and what kind of returns and pay back period are you looking for? What is the market size, share, competition, profit margin etc etc?

Have you established a business plan?

Good point.

1) Do you have a business plan?

2) Do you have a Quality Management Plan?

3) Do you have a Configuration Management Plan?

4) Have you built and tested a proto-type?

5) Do you have a source selection plan? Are you going to choose based on cost? On technical performance?

6) Do you know what kind of contract you will let? Firm Fixed Price? Price plus some development costs?

My wife works for the SBA east coast. I have been to her lectures, even at home(grimace), many times. One of the methods for the SBA is to study failed business, especially the ones that they back for loans. I have seen many hi tech business fail simply due to not following a set path or knowing business. There are free advisors who have been in a succesful business and all that is required is to contact the SBA.

I remember Industrial Engineering grad school when I was told that most businesses which failed did so because they 1) did not have a business plan or, if they did have a plan, 2) underestimated the amount of liquid assets that would be needed to buffer for uncertainties.

SBA was the source I used to help me develop plans required for my coursework.

Delete at least five of those steps, or the bureaucratic obstacles will eat your project alive.