I've been working in 3D product visualization for a few years now, mostly working in 3dsmax with Vray and HDR Light Studio. Over this time I've developed and refined a template studio scene file that has cameras, lights, and standard render settings all setup in an effort to minimize the number of mouse clicks and keystrokes I need to get the end result. I import the 3D CAD file of the product, add textures, tweak the camera positions, create the image files for the lights, and hit render to get all the image layers I'll need to finish the project in Photoshop.
If you're a 3dsMax & Vray user you're welcome to download it and try it yourself. Let me know what you think and how it could be improved. Download it here: StudioGGG.zip
The scene includes 6 cameras, each with a similar named HDR dome light used for that camera. these get updated with HDR Light Studio per project (a stand-in HDR file is provided for those without HDR Light Studio). There is a ground plane that is tied to specific render elements that separate the product from its ground shadow and reflection.
The state-sets feature is configured to render all camera/light combinations into corresponding files with a couple clicks.