A drop-in replacement rainfly for any 2-person tent that pulls drinking water out of morning fog. Sized for hikers, refugee shelters, and high-altitude research camps where every litre of water matters.
Feasibility at a glance
PT localization
9/10
Full
The whole build can be sourced in Portugal.
Per unit
€85–€140 per fly
at 1500-unit volume
Starter batch
1,500units
minimum viable run
To first batch
6 phases, design to ship
Budget
€128K–€294K
all-in estimate
Bottom line
Picked based on the localization score (9/10) plus the dominant process (laser cutting). For an early build at this batch size, this gives you the best balance of cost, risk, and speed of iteration.
4 capabilities
Catches microscopic fog droplets on a hybrid wet/dry mesh pattern.
Lets gravity walk those droplets along silicone channels into a bag at the foot of the tent.
Self-cleans during the first minute of contact rain — no maintenance needed.
Doubles as a normal rainfly when the weather is dry — no compromise on shelter.
3 stations · build route
Pattern the mesh
Roll-to-roll laser texturing creates the alternating wet/dry zones.
Stitch the canopy
Industrial sewing with welded silicone channels — no leaks where there shouldn't be.
Test on a fog wall
Each batch sampled in a humidity chamber until the yield curve looks right.
Pattern the mesh
Roll-to-roll laser texturing creates the alternating wet/dry zones.
Stitch the canopy
Industrial sewing with welded silicone channels — no leaks where there shouldn't be.
Test on a fog wall
Each batch sampled in a humidity chamber until the yield curve looks right.
3 identified · 1 blocking
High
Tooling amortisation locks the design
Cast / moulded parts demand tooling that is hard to revise once cut.
Mitigation — Run one full design review with a tooling shop before steel is touched.
Medium
Specialty material lead times slip
If the primary material (Hydrophilic-hydrophobic patterned polyester mesh) source delays, the whole line idles.
Mitigation — Qualify a second-source supplier in week 1 and keep a 4-week safety stock.
Medium
Building / safety regulation drift
Construction-adjacent products attract new EU-level fire and load standards every 18 months.
Mitigation — Subscribe to the relevant EN/ISO bulletins and budget annual recertification.
12 weeks to first batch
Laser cutting
wk 1–2Sewing
wk 3Welding
wk 4Final assembly
wk 5Test & inspect
wk 6Functional QA & batch sign-off
wk 7Laser cutting
Sewing
wk 1–2 is the longest stretch — Laser cutting takes 2 weeks of the 7 weeks on this build.
5 materials · 6 processes
Materials
Processes
472 Portuguese manufacturers matched
None cover the whole build — it splits across steps.
9 tasks · 22 weeks to first batch
Week 1
2 tasks
Lock the pilot scope to one variant
One material set, one feature set, one user persona. Anything else is roadmap, not pilot.
Shortlist three vendors per critical step
Use GETMILK Match to pull a ranked list across the top three processes — laser_cutting, sewing, welding. Send the same RFQ to all three; do not customise per vendor yet.
Weeks 2–3
2 tasks
Freeze the design for the first 10 units
Move the active CAD set to a tagged release; any change after the freeze gets logged in the change-board.
Place first-article orders with two of the three vendors
waits on Vendor shortlist signed off
Order one of each critical part at full spec. Do not buy 100 — buy 1, inspect, learn, then buy 100.
Weeks 4–7
2 tasks
Run the integration pilot
waits on First articles delivered
Ten complete units assembled in-house. Track yield, defect modes, and cycle time on a shared dashboard.
Kick off compliance + certification
Engage a notified body for the relevant standards. Booking a slot now beats discovering a 12-week wait later.
Weeks 8–16
2 tasks
Put 25 units in the hands of lighthouse users
waits on Integration pilot complete
These users help refine the product, but they also become your first paid customers. Charge a symbolic price so the data is real.
Scale-readiness review with the chosen primary vendor
waits on Lighthouse trial telemetry
Before you tool up for 1000 units, walk the line together and agree on capacity, payment terms, and the failure-mode plan.
Ongoing
1 task
Stand up a customer support loop
Every defect that reaches a user becomes a ticket, a root cause, a fix, and a regression test on the line.
3 roles to fill before month one
EU funding officer
EU Built4People
Match-fund up to 50% of the first pilot line.
Academic partner
Materials Lab @ U.Porto
Free third-party validation for novel composites.
Compliance lawyer
Lisbon CMVM compliance counsel
Owns the CE / fire regs path for buildings.
3 things to avoid in this plan
watch-out
Founder time leaks into vendor management instead of customer development
certification
Compliance booked too late and blocks shipping for 8+ weeks
quality
Demand exceeds the chosen vendor's small-batch capacity right when momentum matters
2 tasks in week 1
Lock the pilot scope to one variant
Welding
Final assembly
Test & inspect
Functional QA & batch sign-off
472 matched · 8 shown, ranked by coverage
Covers, left to right: Laser Cutting · Welding · Final Assembly · Testing & Inspection · Packaging
Manufacturer
Location
Covers
Certifications
People
Portuguese producers per required step
Final Assembly
369
Testing & Inspection
178
Welding
92
Laser Cutting
13
sewing
not tracked
Packaging
0
sewing has no capability rows in the registry — those steps are unmatched, not absent from Portugal.
How many cover more than one step
The gap
Picked based on the localization score (9/10) plus the dominant process (laser cutting). For an early build at this batch size, this gives you the best balance of cost, risk, and speed of iteration.
Send one RFQ to the top 4
DIB4T, V Laser On, Compometal, Lacovale — same package, one click.