Finding a manufacturer (abroad) to build your design
 

Chaps

Always wondered this - people design something, say a bed, and then want to sell it or get it built in numbers, so they generally say 'it's now being built in China etc' - how do these people find out where to get it built in China, the costs, the comparisons etc? Do they jump on a plane and tour the plant, is it recommendations etc. Just wondered as given the price of labour etc is cheaper, it's obvious why people would get a product built over there and then shipped. But how do you go about it in the first place?

Many thanks to those who answer and have done it...

Andy

Well in the old days i used to have huge books that i had to sift through, now of course you have the internet. Some buyers will actually fly out if you are looking at 100's of millions of dollars (the accepted currency over there)

i've never flown out there yet but luckily have never fallen foul.

You initially start by finding a company that you think could do your design and then send drawings over. You normally have to pay tooling costs the first time around but the savings more than make up for this.

Ideally you'd get a sample sent to you which you'd then approve and they would then do a production run.

I've been using China for years and the quality now adays is superb and as a result i've saved the company 100's of thousands

If its anything electromechanical i may be able to point you in the right direction. PM me if you are interested