So you have designed a product; something you feel is unique and marketable. Or perhaps you have a product or products you would like to see put into production. Where can you have a prototype built? The answer to that question for some may be China.
The website Global Sources (
www.globalsources.com
) posted an article entitled, “Six Tips to Design Products To Be Made In China”, written by Renuad Anjoran, on their website January 13, 2013.
Renaud Anjoran is the founder of
Sofeast Ltd
, an agency that provides importers with quality assurance services, operations improvement consulting, and software to manage orders. He has been involved in China trade since 2005. Given Mr. Renaud’s experience h
is article should provide some inventors with the answers to the above questions and more. With so much of the global business community seeking opportunities in China, it comes as no surprise to me that China has something to offer inventors as well.
Mr. Renaud writes in part:
1. Spend time looking for the right manufacturer
You will face several tradeoffs:
- Big factory with good engineering team or smaller factory will better pricing and some attention from top management?
- Good factory that currently works for potential competitors in my country, or average factory that does not sell in my country?
- Factory on the coast, close to component suppliers and easy to visit, or cheaper and less experienced factory in the interior?
-
This won’t be easy. I wrote
a few articles
that can help in the process.
2. Don’t necessarily look for a manufacturer that can make all the parts in-house
Usually, exporting factories source nearly all the components. Then they do some machining (if they have the right equipment), they do the final assembly, they pack, and they ship.
Don’t count on them to show you their sub-suppliers. That’s considered a business secret in most cases. And don’t try to identify and qualify all the sub-suppliers yourself, unless you have the manpower to do so — and to keep coordinating the whole supply chain once production is under way.
3. Try to use materials that can easily be found on the local market
In some cases, insisting on a certain type of material means the supplier will need to import it, or at least to source it from an untested supplier. It is critical for your product concept?
For example, if you need stainless steel, consider the lower-grade material that is commonly used in China. It is not necessarily unfit for your needs, as long as it respects your market’s
safety standards
.
4. Complexity is your enemy
Some importers think “this is taking a long time to develop… at least it will be quite hard to copy!” It makes sense conceptually, but I see no evidence behind this reasoning. Most of the time, the original manufacturer is the one who sells the “copies” to competitors!
Make sure the product is easy to machine and to assemble. If you insist on keeping a certain feature that makes the process difficult, you will pay for it — with a higher price, but also with shipment delays and/or quality issues.
It is called Design for Manufacture (
DFM
) and it is not a new concept. As Henry Ford wrote, back in 1922: “As we cut out useless parts and simplify necessary ones, we also cut down the cost of making.”
5. Take the manufacturer’s capabilities and habits into account
For example, if existing molds exist for certain parts, try to use them rather than opening new molds. Not only will you save the cost of the new mold, but you will also keep the switching costs (from one manufacturer to another) low.
I also mention “habits”, in addition to “capabilities”. A factory might be capable of doing a certain operation in a certain way, but the Chinese can be very stubborn in believing that their way is better. Not only do the managers believe it, but the operators will perceive the new way as slower, and may ask for a higher pay per piece. You will have to compose with these obstacles.
Naturally, all this is easier if
designers are located close to production
.
6. Don’t forget to check production and to give feedback to the supplier
There will be surprises. Maybe not in the first order, but sometime down the road. Make sure you don’t receive a shipment of defective products that you can’t sell.
Do your due diligence before you jump into bed with a company in China, and get legal advice from a law firm that knows how to do business in China. Doing any kind of business in China can present you with complex legal problems. Be wise don’t try to go it alone.
Hawkeye in China
– Lex Smith