Many companies benefit from outsourcing their manufacture to China but this is not necessarily the case for all manufactured products. TriVista will therefore initially evaluate the client’s product and their requirements to assist the client in determining whether manufacturing in China is feasible and also beneficial to their company.
Outsourcing of manufacture to China provides the best benefits on high volume products that are labour intensive in either the manufacture or assembly process. In many cases, product material costs will essentially be the same as the global commodity prices for materials (aluminium, steel, plastic etc.) tends to be fairly uniform and therefore the better items for outsourcing tend to be those that can make best advantage of the low local labour costs. Product items must also be compatible with being efficiently containerised to avoid high shipping costs for the transport of ‘half empty’ containers. TriVista can provide feedback on all the above as part of an initial evaluation.
The key to setting up a successful manufacture outsourcing process is to ensure that products achieving the quality requirements are supplied and that any production transition is as smooth as possible in minimising the risks to the client.
TriVista recommends that the following stages be followed in establishing the efficient and successful manufacture of our client’s products in China:
| 1. |
The client needs to send TriVista details of the product required. This information should include details such as: product engineering drawings and technical details, component material specifications, estimate of the batch and annual component / product quantities required, quality requirements and/or samples of the product to basically enable us to explain to the Chinese manufacturers exactly the product and quality standards required by the customer. |
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| 2. |
TriVista will then translate the product information, where required, into Chinese to enable us to contact a wider range of Chinese companies where English fluency is either limited or for companies where all the engineers and technical staff may not be necessarily be fluent in English. We find this step enables us to obtain quotes relatively quickly and removes any misunderstandings at an early stage in the process. |
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We will then contact suitable manufacturers based on the client’s product requirements from our established network of manufacturers in China to get accurate manufacturing costs. If required, TriVista will at this stage also calculate estimates of the associated shipping costs and customs duties to enable us to provide a complete outsourcing cost overview for the product delivered to the client’s premises. |
| 4. |
Once TriVista has supplied the quotation, our clients can then evaluate the potential cost savings and decide whether they wish to proceed further. If the client does, we then recommend getting the Chinese manufacturer to produce samples of the client’s product based on the supplied design and quality requirements. Depending on the product, this may also involve making the associated tooling. The manufactured components/product can then be inspected against the quality requirements. This also enables any errors to be corrected if requirements have been interpreted incorrectly before any significant quantities are manufactured. |
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The experienced engineers of TriVista can also assist by accompanying the client to the premises of Chinese manufacturer if the client needs to visit the Chinese factory to assess manufacturing capability, quality control practices and audit the company first hand. Our engineers can assist by helping with the audit process and can also help to improve the relationship through better communication and understanding between the client and the selected manufacturer. |
| 6. |
Once the client has approved the samples, they may choose to proceed with batch production. However, depending on the product, TriVista may recommend an additional more cautious step of an initial small pre-production batch so that the batch production quality can be assessed and any packaging or logistic issues can be ironed out before larger production quantities are ordered. |
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If the client is satisfied with this manufacturing outsourcing process, the quantity of subsequent production runs can then be increased to the required level to maximise the cost benefit. |
By using this manufacturing outsourcing process, the client minimises risk and their production is not disturbed if they start by only sourcing a portion of their product.
Should product quality problems arise in future production we are also able to assist.
If you think that outsourcing manufacturing will possibly help your business to reduce costs and improve competitiveness, we will be glad to help. TriVista can help you obtain the highest quality at the best price by outsourcing your manufacturing to China. Let us help you start your international contract manufacturing program today. To find out more, please contact us. |
mail@trivista.co.uk
