Does anyone know anything about manufacturing in China?

[Erik]

I have an invention for which I just submitted a formal provisional patent with the US government. As you may know, once that provisional app is seen and "approved", the clock starts ticking and you have one year to make something happen, pay for a difficult-to-enforce utility patent, or abandon the idea and release it as a public domain item and sell it from the back of a van (with the understanding that your item could be reverse-engineered, improved upon, and resold under other circumstances). I need to work out many, many things prior to that if this is going to work out. Marketing I can do. Making prototypes I can do - and have done. My Father-in-law is a Lawyer and is doing my Non-Disclosure Agreement. He is going to handle the legal portions of this because I keep fixing his computer

But my problem is manufacturing and potentially seed capital. I am pretty confident that I could obtain a business loan if I needed to but I want to have a lot of my research done ahead of time. And tons of units ready.

Is there anyone on this board who has any experience with getting consumer-goods manufactured in China? Just about everyone has said that this is the place to look to for having runs of 500-5000 units of an item produced. If some of the distributors I have in mind bite on this idea, they would be placing orders somewhere around 5000 units (big stores, mostly). I think my wife and I in our spare time could do 100 - but this type of manufacturing process will not scale properly.

Just looking for any similar experiences that people may have had.

Thanks for any input you may have.

-Erik

[8824]

Erik Jernberg, Look into Mexico.

Mexico is starting to build state of the art manu facilities due to nafta and the issues with the docks.


Many companies are starting to build plants in Mexi and dropping the product on a train and you have your products much faster plus you can get to Mexi much easier and supervise production.


If you look into industrial real estate trends, that is the latest progressive play with savvy RE developers.

[Erik]

As usual Muck - great advice. Something I hadn't considered.

Thank you.

[tball]

I know zero about manufacturing in China. Is this gadget metal, plastic, or both? Assembly required or billet/cast? Common parts (nuts/bolts/washers) involved? You may find an economic way to make it stateside in an over-expanded facility in the same industry. Manufacturers (especially subcontractors) in the defense business often have a sine-wave type of tempo...maybe work into a low cycle and pace manufacturing to meet annual demand that way. Dunno....pretty ambitious...good luck. That type of initiative and creativity is what makes this country great...seriously.

[gswake]

Erik, my simple answer is no, I don't know anything about getting goods manufactured in China.

However, I would think that the hurdles in working with a company in another country would be more than you are ready for, yet. In fact, I would imagine that anyone running the sort of business you'd need over there, would want to see that you are a more-established business before working with you. (Or else they'd be the sort of slap-dash, fly-by-night outfit that you're likely to have a nightmare experience with. The communications issues alone (language and time-zones) could be rough with a low-end firm.)

Why don't you look for a custom machine shop or other "small" scale producer (in whatever material(s) you need) that is relatively local to you? I'm thinking there's someplace that could handle your volume until your sales get big enough to need to "outsource." They should also be able to help you develop an efficient manufacturing method for larger runs when you get to that.

(Part of what I'm thinking is that a Chinese firm will expect to just make them for you - and that you can fully specify what you want and how you want it, in terms common for that specific business. If you're asking here, I assume this isn't a business you're in. You're the idea man, not the guy figuring out the best way to manufacture it.)

Edit - great idea, muck. I'd expect that would be close enough, and they're probably pretty used to working with the "gringos" at this point.
Erik, I'd still try to find someone that can help you develop your manufacturing process. Building prototypes and production are two different things (or should be, if you want to make money.)

[J-Ro]

Erik-
PM me, my buddy has set up a few factories in China. He can answer some ?'s for you.

[goofyboy]

Erik - my father in law has construction machine parts made in China and Japan. I might be able to get you some help as well.

[Wakebrad]

I have a friend who has experience with fabric manufacturing in China. If that falls along the same lines and you would like his contact info let me know.

Oh, and contact the SBA. The people down there should be able to point you in the right direction.

[Erik]

Wakebrad, goofyboy, J-Ro, gswake, tball, muckmeister, thanks so much for your support about this. I really appreciate the advice. All of it is helpful.

Wakebrad, funny enough, this actually does have a fabric component to it. My wife has a room in our house dedicated to sewing although I've yet to see her sew. The fabric component is a thicker canvas or even leather pattern so I can only assume that her dainty sewing machine won't be able to handle this. I helped a buddy reupholster his boat many years ago so I was going to look into buying an industrial strength sewing machine on eBay. Thats what we used and thats what I think I will need to pound out the first hundred or so of these. Thanks for the tip on the SBA. My non-disclosure agreement should be arriving within the hour.

[ty540]

It took me about 10 seconds to find the following site:
http://www.thomasnet.com/products/consulting-services-manufacturing-outsourcing-95947735-1.html
It may have some helpful information. There are a number of US-based consulting companies out there that specialize in outsourcing.

[Shawn Madison]

Erik Jernberg, I have alot of experience in this matter. One of my close friends imports more boating parts from China than any other supplier of the big 4.

Give me your idea and it will quickly be copied and made cheaply in China.

Erik, The non-disclosures are super simple and you have to mail it in to take affect. All they do is send you a letter back stating that they have recieved at on this date. It basically gives you establishment rights, but nothing else.

Ofcourse I know nothing!

33 design patents
5 utility patents
55 Non Disclosures

Also, have a friend who is a top administrator at the patent office.

[Erik]

So - you yourself are responsible for 38 patents, or your name appears on patents that were completed by a team and funded by whatever company you work for? I assume the latter based on what you've said to me in the past. So your name is on some patents for that company? Interesting. I work with someone who is on the Dyson patent.

If you, yourself alone are responsible for 38 patents and the creation of 55 NDA's you are not only a moderator and prolific inventor but also a laywer apparently! Amazing

I read my NDA today. Holy canolie thats some thick legaleese...

[Shawn Madison]

Erik Jernberg,
Yes! I have designs for boat companies, vendors, and personal ideas.

I would save most of the legaleese for the Patent.
The NDA is just a disclosure, unless your idea involves 20 pages to explain.
Because, it will be rejected if there is something similiar found in the search. However, they usually approve the NDA, since it is just a disclosure and pretty much has not legal value.

[churchy]

[J-Ro]

Erik Jernberg, I forgot my sister-in-law does the design and fabric buying for Macy's. She'll be in town next weekend if you want to shoot me some specific questions.