FCS3

Section 2 Methodology

There are five levels required to develop a commercial product including: 1) Idea generation (customers and users, marketing research, competitors, other markets); 2) Idea screening (strengths and weakness, market trends and return on investment; 3) Idea evaluation (concept testing, reactions from customers, rough estimates of costs, sales and profits); 4) Product Development (R&D, develop model, test market mix, revise plans as needed, ROI); and 5) Commercialization (finalize product and marketing plan, start production roll-out, final ROI). Through years of experience of finding and securing manufacturers to utilize crumb rubber, our team knows firsthand that it will take an average of 30 - 40 hours to receive a commitment from a new manufacturer that has not used tire rubber before. Fortunately, we do have experience in qualifying companies through a list of questions and specific criteria that would be a part of the deliverables. The company themselves will usually perform their own due diligence, including addressing the economics of altering the design, equipment requirements, additional testing, satisfying regulatory requirements, impact on production, and comparison of the feedstock benefits and cost. With approval of the Contract Manager, we are recommending our team focus on securing 5 – 7 manufacturers (as they will not be previous users of tire rubber in most cases) and provide a higher dollar incentive for technical, testing and certification (if required). The new manufacturers will have 24 months to design, develop, test, certify and certify a new commercial product that could cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars for this effort. It usually takes 24 – 42 months to develop a commercial product. Our intent will be made to find manufacturers that may use higher volumes of crumb rubber because in most cases of feedstock conversion products, use lower volumes of crumb rubber especially in plastics and calendared rubber. • Draft and final marketing materials in the form of a two-to-four-page digital brochure announcement for use in emailing to prospective candidates; • A Candidate Questionnaire; • A spreadsheet detailing the phone contacts made, level of interest by firms contacted, and identifying which firms have made a verbal commitment, and details on their products and potential crumb use; and • A list of firms for whom we propose to develop action plans upon the approval of the list of the Contract Manager. Task 2B Deliverables: Objective: The Project Team will first seek CalRecycle approval of the firms for whom we will develop Activity Plans. As discussed above under Task2B. Our team is recommending we select 5 - 7 qualified and committed manufacturers that agree to replace the raw material in their existing product(s) with a minimum of five percent crumb rubber. The Activity Plans will be based on information requested and received from the candidate manufacturer. We will set up in-person meetings, if possible, with the manufacturers to review the Activity Plans. The manufacturers will be asked to sign the Activity Plan documenting measurable objectives, responsibilities and details needed to guide timely completion. Developing Activity Plans requires close collaboration between the FCS team and the participating manufacturers, the TDM suppliers and the service providers. We need total commitment and investment on the part of the manufacturer, and it is essential that we know what the manufacturer expects from FCS to ensure the manufacturer will make every effort to produce a product. The 2C. Prepare Activity Plans

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