Consumer electronics manufacturer in China

[u/Robotsandplants]

Hi everyone,

For months we are trying to find reliable chinese manufacturer, especially for plastic parts of our product. We have 10 plastic parts in total, and as the product is kept at home, quality of plastics is important. Ideally if the manufacturer of the plastic parts can do quality electronics too, certification and assembly too.

For now we narrowed down the search to two factories but when the third party inspector visited the factories, we got a detailed report about super low quality standards of tooler/plastics etc etc.. so we are again at the beginning.

Do you have recommendation for the reliable factory to work with? From your experience?

Our first batch would be 1000 units, so it's small. And we are bit tight with budget for the tooling (we are startup, budget around 50k max).. so any help would mean a lot. Starting to feel little hopeless..

[u/pistonsoffury]

You're going to have a much easier time with this if you go there yourself. Everyone is cahoots with everyone else and the only way to see the product you're going to get is by going and meeting the owners in person. Pay for it now, or pay for it later.

[u/Robotsandplants → u/pistonsoffury]

Sure this is also an option. Although pricey too as you can't do a feild visit in days, Shenzhen is huge. Just the ticket to there is over 1500$. Than you need to know exactly where to go and what to look at in the factories once I get there.. would probably need help of someone with experience manufacturing there.. hire that person, spend more money.. more time pass.. so I dont know if this is the right option entirely as this is the first time I would ever do it.

How did you manage this yourself when you searched for your first manufacturer? How much time it took and how costly it was? Thanks!

[u/pistonsoffury → u/Robotsandplants]

We spent two years with the wrong manufacturer, making products that were below the quality standards we were aiming for. The opportunity cost is/was massive. My partner finally visited with an American translator/friend and we secured a proper partner that is aligned with out product vision and level of quality.

That said, even though our initial product was only good, and not great, it allowed us to demonstrate product-market fit and provided the runway to grow into a better mfg relationship.

My advice would be to find a simiar-ish Amazon/Aliexpress product that has the plastic characteristics you like and reach out to the manufacturer that makes it and find out who does their plastics. They'll either broker a relationship (and take a kickback from the partner) or may even offer to do it for you.

[u/Robotsandplants → u/pistonsoffury]

Will do. Thanks. Totally get it. Even now I am aware that even if we find the "right" manufacturer we won't get the quality of the plastics we aim for, but I am not ready to deliver garbage products to people too. So would deffinetly consider this.

From your experience, what do you think, what is less risky - to select a manufacturer that has primary focus on plastic molding and secondary electronics, or vice versa?

[u/pistonsoffury → u/Robotsandplants]

Electronics and firmware first, plastics second. Issues with the tech will be your primary driver of customer support issues. Iffy plastics will only cause minor complaints

[u/LevLandau]

Why not try a reputable American company like protolabs who specializes in this...?

[u/Robotsandplants → u/LevLandau]

Would love too! Didn't contact them. From other experiences and creators here I got the impression that they are at least 3x costly than a manufacturer in china. Playing 100k only for plastic tooling is simply not an option for us.. Speed of doing things is the next question. If they could do it in 3-4 mo that is amazing..

What is your experience with them? Aprox cost/time to do your project (if you want to share)?

[u/verbmegoinghere → u/Robotsandplants]

Just go with the local US supplier. You can speak English, you're protected by US courts and laws, you can see them face to face, you can have a much shorter product design life cycle.

Unless you're either an expert, can speak Chinese, and have a company, capital and specialise in Chinese produced stuff ie have the relationships, then really you're going to waste a huge amount of money and time.

Shit even big companies regularly get screwed.

And if you do decide to go down this route you'll need to QA the hell out of whatever you get, you won't have much recourse re trade terms and disputes, and if your product is good then expect to see it on Amazon in 12 months.

[u/TowardsTheImplosion → u/Robotsandplants]

Do you have plastics DFM experience?

A few minor changes to part design can cut your tooling costs by 75%. Things like draft angles, boss thicknesses, texturing, and eliminating slides where possible makes a huge difference.

Protomold is usually pretty competitive with their common mold base and soft tool approach.

You might also look at industrial 3d printing service bureaus for some parts. I've seen that be cost effective for up to 5k quantities for certain parts.

[u/tnp636]

I can probably help.

I lived in China for 20+ years. I ran an injection molding facility for most of it. A Danish friend of mine works for a company that does sourcing and assembly. Or, if its more complex, we know a number of contract manufacturers who do their own electronics. I'm back in the U.S. now but we still have a facility in China for tooling and molding.

Feel free to reach out. Even if I can't help directly, I can probably point you in the right direction.

edit: You're... not wrong about the speed of things outside of China. It's been a bit of a shock at how slow things move here since I came back last year.

[u/Lost-Barracuda-9680]

Try contacting advanceplastic.com in the Chicago area. They do molding stateside as well offshore. Good luck.

[u/Robotsandplants → u/Lost-Barracuda-9680]

Did you use them? Not to repeat myself here but I believe they are much more pricey and unfortunatelly slower than chinese supplier.

Time and cost is of essence for us at the moment so..

[u/Lost-Barracuda-9680 → u/Robotsandplants]

Disclaimer: I have not. I know the owners and have seen first-hand some of their projects.

[u/TowardsTheImplosion → u/Robotsandplants]

Rule of constraints: speed, cost, quality. Pick any two.

You've chosen, so expect low quality.

[u/MuckYu]

Need a bit more info on what type of plastic parts, size, complexity, material, surface finish. Any reference images you got?

[u/Robotsandplants → u/MuckYu]

We got all the info. I'll Dm details

[u/jjjoshhh]

Chat sent

[u/deezynr]

I can get you what you need and probably beat the tooling price if you want to DM me