Anyone outsourcing product to China or India?

[MJ1225]

Hello,

Hey, are any of you having your product manufactured in China or India? If so, how difficult is this process? Any advice?

Thanks!

[Esoteric1]

I'm in the same boat right now. I'm worried about the communication barrier and whatnot, but you need to get your product into a universal "format" that everyone can understand (CAD drawing, or detailed JPEG, precise recipe, etc). If what you're trying to do is universal, you should be able to communicate using minimal dialog.

[MJ1225]

The product I am trying to outsource is fabric covered boxes.

[Sven]

I think the only way to get good quality for something that is not normalised (Is that English?) like your boxes, the only way is to go there, and supervise yourself untill they know what you want. Negotiate well but pay well. And make sure you enjoy your stay ;-)

[kamakiri]

You can have just about anything done in south east Asia, and there is no reason to go all the way there.

The flip side is how many cloth covered books are you going to sell? Outsourcing to Taiwan/China is really only going to be cost effective if you are ordering containers (or at lease 1/4 container) of product. The product testing and development stage pretty much needs to be done locally until you have something you can use to say, "this is what I want, I need 2,000 of them how much?"

For something like that I would be happy to get you all the samples you need from Taiwan, but they are going to cost you $500 each. You could do something locally far cheaper. Now if you needed 2-3,000, I bet you could find any number of OEM manufacturers who will bid cheaper than an an American company could.

Just food for though.

[MJ1225]

Thanks for the advice, Kumakiri!

I have prototypes of the boxes. I had the boxes custom made and I personally covered them with fabrics. I am having a difficult time finding anyone here in the USA to make them. I can make the boxes. But what will happen when I can keep up with production? I need a plan B.

As for shipping from other countries, muddling through all of the government trade laws scare me. Any information on that?

Thanks again!