A technical specification package, also known as a tech pack, is primarily used in the fashion and soft goods industries, but no matter what area of product you specialize in (electronics, personal care, household, outdoor, luxury, etc.), you may be working with tech packs on a regular basis. Tech packs can be thought of as a contract between the product developer and product manufacturer. Whether your manufacturing is in-house, down the street or overseas, tech packs cut across language, cultural and other barriers to clearly communicate your products design aspects.

The details of your product need to be communicated, and clearly understood by a team of people who have not had daily involvment since product concept. If overseas, this manufacturing team will be from a different culture and speak different languages. The most universally preferred way to prevent misunderstandings and to know who is responsible if mistakes happen is to use tech packs. By putting all the design details on paper in line drawings, numbers and color images, you have bridged most of the communication gaps.

Tech packs list details like the products dimension, materials, finishes, colors, artwork placement, dielines, packaging instructions and any other information needed to produce a sample. Some tech packs contain a bill of material (BOM) so the landed cost can be recalculated as variables are changed through the development process. The BOM shows the actual cost of producing the product, and if your hitting the target margin.

Manufacturers like to work with product teams who know exactly what they want and can communicate it clearly the first time. Properly put together tech packs save time and money when bidding, making samples and get products into production faster. Tech packs are critical to avoiding the time and money drain of making a sample, finding out that the factories guess was wrong and then making another sample. A well-done tech pack shows the factory that the product team knows what they want, and that instills confidence that there should be few changes other than some final adjustments.  

When a mature product needs refining, reconfiguring or you plan a line extension, dust off your existing tech packs as they will be invaluable and get you through the development process quicker and with fewer pain points. The responsibility for developing, updating and sending the tech pack to manufacturing is usually the product developers, but many product managers prefer to handle the tech pack because of the strategic and costing or financial aspects. Tech packs are usually made using Adobe Illustrator. This image below is an example of a product with its tech pack. To view an example page of my tech pack template, click here