We are living a world that has numerous choices but everyone wants it “their own way” That’s where the new age “Customization” weapon has come into play for businesses. Every Customer is unique with their set of demands or needs. To identify that uniqueness and cater to them is the recipe to win over today’s customers.

As a manufacturer for IoT hardware, We can get a various of inquiries about OEM/ODM service every day either from the new contacts or the regular clients. most of our clients are the start ups but they own the mature technology and want to find a reliable manufacturer to go from an idea to a mass produced and profitable product, how to find a professional manufacturer who can make the good product with low cost and short lead time is becoming the foremost concerns for them, I would like to share some guides how to go with a ODM/OEM product in China.

How to choose a professional OEM manufacturer in China?

1.Use the website and do some research about the vendors. You can go with the website like Alibaba or Globalsources and find the most 1-10 potential vendors , if you are really looking for the original manufacturer , you may need to take more time to study the company or even fly to China to visit the factory, because those websites are full of traders or resellers now even though the information from the internet website shows that they are the manufacturers. If you are working on the electronic products, you may be familiar with the place in China called Shenzhen, In this place you can easily find EMS (Electronic manufacturing services ) companies that do PCB assembly for the wireless scale and where also gather many IOT companies, our company is also based in Shenzhen, ,most of clients would rather have a face to face discussion for this project.

2.How to select the most 2-3 professional vendors that you want to go with your OEM/ODM products. first, you can review the website if they focus on the one industry not just like the traders who sell everything. And then check if all products that they are selling are developed by themselves and got some patents for the hardware or the technology, secondly, check if they have the own R&D team and understand their capabilities for OEM service, For example, most of the appearance designs from the clients look perfect, but they usually can’t be taken directly for the molding, If you know the manufacturer has the capabilities to do the mechanical design
you can leave these jobs to the factory to save the time and cost because it takes much time to modify and confirm it back and forth ,and time is money.

After you decide the manufacturer to move forward the OEM/ODM products, So the next question coming up that you really concern is how soon they develop this product at low cost and how fast they can start the mass production and make the products go to market successfully . It is very essential to have a good understanding of the normal process for a OEM/ODM project as well as the regular lead time for each process.

1.Firstly, sign the NDA/agreement with manufacturer to protect your IP before release the confidential design file.

2.Set out exactly what you want and get the quotation. The more specific information that you offer to manufacturer, the more accurate price that you can get.  Words like “blue” or “good quality”or “typical in the industry” are meaningless. There is a wide range of blues and unless you specify the exact blue that you want. If you OEM/ODM products involved in both hardware and software customization, you can list all the custom requirements in a file and send it to the manufacturer to evaluate the technical questions and the cost, which will help to convince the manufacturer to believe that you have the real projects not just the” sample look around ”. More than 90% successful OEM/ODM projects is because they have very explicit requirements.

3.Ask the manufacture to work out the time frame for the each process of the project. As a manufacturer when we do the ODM/OEM. the most questions from our clients are that how soon they can get the prototypes because this mostly likely determine when can start the mass production. The time frame for the OEM Projects should include the design time, prototype time, mold time if required, samples approval time , mass production ect. Supposed that you handed over Stp file, BOM, gerbers, and Hex files to the manufacturer,to customize the PCB board, 2-3 weeks is enough including the testing. If new mold and plastic injection is also required, then 4-5 week is the necessary, some factories also accept to pay the additional fast service cost to expedite the process. And according to the lead time of the mass production for the components, assemble time as well as the shipping ,Knowing the time frame for each process will be of help to control the whole schedule of this project in case of any delays.

4.Have a pilot run before mass production after the samples are approved. Even though the prototypes works perfect, but some issues only happen in production. It will reduce the risk to solve the issue in pilot run instead of in mass production.

Above information is what I would to share with you , I hope this information is helpful to you. Feel free to reach out if you have any more questions. Summer.tang@minew.com