Making Prototypes in China

Making prototypes in China is a cost-effective way to test your product idea before selling it to consumers, but it is a detailed process that takes a lot of work to initially set up. In order to get a prototype made in China, you need to have an idea of the steps needed to follow before getting your product in mass production.

In this article, we will explore what these steps are and how to go about them with extended insight from members of the Startups.com community.

What Is A Prototype?

A prototype is a preliminary model of a product which is used to demonstrate the product's form, fit, and function. Prototypes are made with the intent of testing out different aspects of a design to see how they work.

Prototypes help you make decisions about your design before you commit time and money into making it. They also help you decide what features need more attention during development or refinement.

Why should you consider China prototyping?

Prototyping is a critical part of the design process. It helps designers and developers to understand how their product will work in practice and what the final user experience will be like.

China prototyping is a cost-effective way for companies to test out their ideas for a new product or service before they go into production. China prototyping can be done quickly, cheaply, and with high quality.

Companies are now turning to China prototyping because it allows them to save time, money, and other resources that would otherwise go into making an expensive prototype from scratch, but the prototyping process has its ups and downs.

Pros & Cons 

Community member, Keesjan Case, shares their very detailed insight on manufacturing costs, low volume manufacturing services, and rapid prototyping:

"My first question would really be: Why China? What appeals to you about developing / manufacturing in China over the country where you live? Is it just cost?

There are a few general things to note:

1) Manufacturing (note: manufacturing) in China CAN be cheaper than first world countries like the USA or UK, but this is not always the case.

For one thing, Chinese manufacturers will produce EXACTLY what you ask them to make. If something is wrong with YOUR design, it'll be included in the final product. Few will make adjustments to correct anything that's wrong (I'm not sure if they just don't care, or it's a general philosophy, but it's what I've seen). Western manufacturers are much more vocal about identifying any issues for rectification before proceeding.

Not all, but more than in China. Basically this means that if your design isn't perfect the first time around, you are going to end up with wastage in the manufacturing process. Hardware is something you don't want to be doing through 'trial and error', so make sure your manufacturing processes are spot on before going to China.

From a design perspective, product development is a highly interactive experience, especially if you are engaging with an external team (such as a Chinese one). Therefore whoever you engage with need to have EXCEPTIONAL communication skills, both in language and general ability to communicate with you. If they don't, the process is going to take months, if not years longer than it needs to, and cost a lot more as well (even if labour rates are much lower in China for equivalent talent).

I realize I haven't put a concrete value around how much it will cost, but as anyone in product development will tell you: It depends. Without having an understanding of what exactly your electronic device is, there is no way to put a number to it. I've seen simple developments start at $20k for a prototype, all the way through to $500k for a fully-fledged intrinsically safe camera system.

That's in US dollars, but China won't necessarily be that much cheaper, ESPECIALLY if you have to fly over there for meetings with designers, and manufacturers, do multiple re-spins of everything due to communication errors, etc.

2) In terms of IP, China is definitely getting better than what it was, but it's worth noting that you have to be very very clear about IP with manufacturers. You have to explicitly state in contracts that they are not allowed to make copies for their own use or sale. What is being manufactured on their line is yours, and yours alone. As the advice always is when it comes to stuff like this, talk to a lawyer.

It's also worth finding companies who have engaged with Chinese manufacturing before, to see who they've used and how they found the experience. We've been involved with In-Tech Electronics (HQ in Hong Kong, factory in Shenzhen, and speak a lot of English, which helps), and they've been very good. Some of our larger clients have also used them previously. (Alan Povall)

1. China is the best place to manufacture electronic products. If only because they have the most complete supply chain in the world. https://techpinions.com/why-cant-the-us-build-consumer-electronic-products/41950 China has many thousands of factories making any kind of part imaginable. They are especially unmatched in any part which needs to be custom-made: housings, batteries, PCB’s, motors, LCD’s, cables….

2. One of the keys to reducing cost, time, and risk in product development is to use existing parts as much as possible. Quite a few firms for some reason still regularly have LCD’s custom-made. Why pay $250,000 in set-up, and months in mold production and sampling, if you can design around an LCD which is already being manufactured in huge quantities?

3. 60% of the unit cost of a product is decided in the architecture stage, and 20% during the design. As they say at Toyota: ‘‘Skillful improvements at the planning and design stage are ten times more effective than at the manufacturing stage.’’ http://www.design4manufacturability.com/DFM_article.htm

4. Doing your design without close interaction with the China vendors means you’re missing a lot of information, which leads to sub-optimal design decisions. The further you advance in the design process, the more expensive it gets to change anything. So if 98% of a product’s design is already done and validated in testing, you can hire a really smart China manufacturing consultant, but there is only so much they can do because most aspects are frozen already.

5. Another important tenet of Design For Manufacturing (DFM) is early supplier involvement. If you need custom parts better make sure that the factory that will make them actually feels comfortable manufacturing them. This requires a lot of communication in the design stage.

6. If you’re in the US the 13 hours time difference and language barriers make a smooth & fast collaboration with Chinese engineers very difficult. Plus if you have never worked with the factory before they’re not going to put much time into optimizing a design they may never get to make. Only for established clients does a factory see a very real chance that they will be responsible to make the part efficiently and reliably, and so they will be very keen to help optimize your design for their processes and capabilities. The flip side is that you are optimizing your design for this particular factory, so you’d better be sure that they can indeed deliver.

7. Picking a factory is not easy, the proof is always in the pudding: how responsive are they, how do they react when there is a problem? Are they going to say: “Oooh you do not want the batteries to explode, you never specified that, well that actually costs a lot more.” You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your princess. Except that in manufacturing kissing is not good enough, you actually have to get into bed with them, only after you have wired your deposit and have been working with them for 6 months do you really know your bedfellow. This goes not just for the factory doing the final assembly, but for every factory making custom components for you. Building a reliable roster of suppliers takes many years, and a lot of “tuition”. In China going for the lowest bidder in the end invariably ends up being the most expensive option.

8. The more complex your product, the more inter-dependencies between parts, the bigger the mess trying to get a product manufactured in China when it has been designed in a vacuum somewhere else (and it’s not just Kickstarters who run into this problem).

9. The first samples for most any custom made part in most cases need some improvements. Some companies work will send their “China manufacturing guy” but it takes a lot for 1 person to master all the intricate considerations which went into the design of the cosmetic appearance, the construction of the injection mold, the layout of the circuit allowing it to pass FCC certifications, the adjustments needed in the calibration software… So at IBM for example knowledge transfer in manufacturing is considered a dirty word, the original designer of an aspect of the design has to see his design through all the way into manufacturing. Flying each of the 12 different functional experts over to China quickly becomes expensive, and not every engineer wants to camp out in a China factory dorm for months.

10. So doing electronic product design as close as possible to the factories making the parts and doing the final assembly will significantly lower your development costs, your unit costs, your time to market and overall risk.

11. The knee-jerk reaction to get this done is to asking a China ODM factory to adapt one of their products to your wishes. This can work well if your changes are minor. But if you want them to do more there are some serious risk with this approach: you don’t have any ownership of the design IP, and it more likely than not it will take ages. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/china-factory-designs-7-pitfalls-avoid-keesjan-engelen

12. If you're ready to camp out in China for a good 6 months then https://hax.co/ would be a great place to be mentored. https://www.hwtrek.com/ provides a lot of China & Taiwan resources for HW start-ups. You could also give the job to a consultancy such as www.detekt.com which specializes in helping start-ups.

13. Setting up your own design team in Asia can be tricky, the success hinges heavily on picking the right CTO to manage and build out the team. And in China, this kind of talent tends to switch jobs very often, especially after they have obtained a foreign “stamp of approval” on their resume.

14. It is true that hardware can get copied very quickly, but copycats are unlikely to invest their efforts in an unproven product. So this risk comes up only after your product starts being successful in the market. By that time everybody can copy it, no matter whether you manufacture it in the US or in China. In fact, products manufactured in the US likely have to sell at a higher price, making them a more attractive target for copycats.

15. Furthermore, the painful truth is that excellence in hardware no longer gives your company a lasting competitive advantage, to build barriers to entry hardware companies these days need to work not just on brand and distribution, but also on Community, DataBase, and Software. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/toasters-roller-coasters-how-hardware-startups-can-john-melas-kyriazi Doing this well is no mean feat, so I would focus most of your effort there, most of my clients are companies that realize that hardware no longer is their core activity."

Creating the Prototype

Develop a Sketch 

Get your idea down on paper. This is an important first step towards turning an idea into reality. As founders, your head is mostly likely filled with so many thoughts — it may be very prudent sketching out your ideas on paper before using a digital drawing program.

Design a Virtual & Physical Prototype

Virtual Prototype

The technical planning includes a digital record of the prototype. For the product, a technical design is necessary before a prototype can be created and tested to ensure that it is efficient and meets regulations. Developing a digital drawing of your idea into 2D or 3D (or both) for the production is the first step.

If you are unfamiliar with this, a graphic designer or a professional prototype designer may assist here.

Physical Prototype

A physical prototype is needed by the manufacturer for the production of the parts as well as for  marketing. Your very first prototype could be a scaled down design of your product made by hand or 3D printed. Make sure your prototype is functional and has no flaws before seeking a patent or going further to production. If time is an issue, consider rapid injection molding.

Rapid injection molding refers to the process of making injection molds for the prototype, bridging, and short production run parts in less time and a reduced cost than full production molds.

Update as many times as possible! If any changes are made to the product, everything must also be updated to reflect the latest version of the prototype. It's okay to have multiple "final prototypes" emerge before you show potential customers the recently updated version.

Patents & NDAs

Please heed our warning here and protect your design! Your prototype should be the quality you want and true to your original design, or at least up to your standards (and within regulation limits). Conduct a patent or trademark search or contact a patent attorney to avoid any trademark infringements and verify available patent rights.

Importing products with either of those could lead to the possibility that your country's Patent Customs Authorities seize the delivery.

Do Your Market Research 

Assuming by now that you’ve tested a working prototype that meets expectations, the next step is to conduct market research. Market research is meant to discover the desires and wishes of your potential customers. Showing your prototype to as many customers as possible will allow them to give honest feedback on the quality, function, potential sales price, design, and packaging of your product.

This market research should give you insight on how the product will be manufactured, packaged, and what the cost will be. Knowing your target audience is essential.

Package Design

Designing the package of your product is a very important step and should also be conducted as a part of your market research. Customers need to have the chance to weigh in on design appeal so you can start with your best foot forward. Custom packaging of your products in China is not a problem either.

However, we recommend that you have the design made by a local graphic designer in your own country.

Develop a Business Plan

A business plan helps you to understand many details of your business, including the total cost. The two main reasons startups fail are poor planning and insufficient capital — and that's what makes the business plan so important. Plan ahead, think ahead, and take advice from those that have done it before.

Certifications

Community member, Aaron Jason, shares information on prototype certifications:

"One other thing to think about is certifications for an electronics product. You will have to test the product for electronic interference, etc. at an approved lab and then apply for the FCC or EU certs.

This is a whole lot easier when your engineer knows local, competent labs and how the process works.

After going through this process you are ready to move into manufacturing. Having all of your ducks in a row before contacting manufacturers will save a TON of time and money."

Choose the Right Manufacturer for Your Product

Kirsty Wu from our community shares this helpful input: "In China, Alibaba is a good resource. However, it is almost impossible to distinguish good and bad contract manufacturers. Sometimes, companies on Alibaba sell your products to other companies, even though you may have some patents.

Find an experienced person to introduce. If someone introduces you to some companies, one of the first things you have to do is to confirm that the person who introduced you actually worked with the company introduced you to do business.

If that person is currently doing business with a manufacturer in a related field (for example, when you want to make a Wi-Fi sensor, the introducer is a Wi-Fi router), then the company he introduces should be the most effective.

When you evaluate a production partner, the size of the manufacturer's company should match the size of your company. Of course, everyone feels that a large manufacturer like Foxconn may be a good partner as they are able to provide high-quality products. However, as a new customer with an annual sales volume of fewer than 10,000 units, the service they give to your customers may be very different compared to a large customer with an annual sales volume of more than 100,000 units.

Participate in various consumer electronics exhibitions. Participation in various consumer electronics exhibitions can help you meet potential manufacturers. You can set up a booth and display products, which can help you to play a role in the filter. You can introduce the manufacturer according to the degree of success. Many times, they are also looking for new business. If the show is in your country, then you don't need to jump on a plane to go to China.

Pay attention to the culture of the other party. To build a close relationship with your production partners, you must first learn their basic customs and traditions. You also need to understand the holidays of your partners, especially when they are abroad.

Keep close communication. Communication is very important in production because a small detail can either make or break your product. When you choose your partner, make sure their development and project manager speak your native language! The project manager will often contact the manufacturer, and clear communication between the project manager and the project team is essential to manufacturing your product to your specifications.

Keep up with the progress by having a summary email. This will also help keep up with language communication to make sure everyone understands what is being discussed. Pictures and videos are an important part of the communication process and can also be used to report manufacturing defects in a timely manner. Don't worry about over-communication with partners. It's much better than the lack of communication, which can lead to catastrophic consequences.

The second question is how much does it cost to develop a prototype relative to large-scale actual product costs (such as 1,000 pieces)?

What kind of product do you have in mind? What kind of chip will be used? Do you already have plans regarding storage? These key components need to be identified based on your product capabilities.

For small batches of products, what are your testing requirements? You have to know this to know whether it is necessary to perform functional tests, stress tests, performance tests, anti-interference tests, product life tests, high and low-temperature tests, and other reliability and performance tests.

Production after Prototype

After all of these steps, you should be ready to have your products manufactured. There are companies that will provide a free cost estimate for the final, packaged product which includes shipping to your country, but before you contact anyone make sure you have the following information at hand:

• A prototype representing the final version of your product (a final technical drawing of an engineer will also do in most cases).

• Amounts per each product part.

• The largest city in your area to calculate the freight charges of the delivery.

How Much Does it Cost to Get a Prototype Made?

The cost of a prototype depends on the size, complexity, and materials of the prototype. The average cost for typical rapid prototyping services is $2,000-$5,000 for small models that are not very complex. The price range can vary depending on how much time you want to spend on making it perfect or how much you would like to spend on it.

Most Popular Prototype Companies in China

There are a surplus of companies in China that are capable of handling the creation of your prototype manufacturing, but a lot of them specialize in different fields — not all can support silicone molding capabilities, for instance. It's important to do research on the specific types of prototypes you will need for your product prototype before committing to a manufacturer.

Here is a list of some of the most popular prototype companies in China to get you started:

NextProto

Prototech Asia

3ERP 

TeamRAPID

Vowin 

Tencent

Huawei

Alibaba

Xiaomi

Baidu

Summary

Prototypes are used in the design process to test and demonstrate new ideas. Prototypes can also be used to validate a design and identify potential problems before committing to a production line.

Companies are now turning to China prototyping because it allows them to save time, money, and other resources that would otherwise go into making an expensive prototype from scratch.

To get started with the prototyping process in China, follow these steps:

1. Develop a Sketch 

2. Design a Virtual & Physical Prototype

3. Patents & NDAs

4. Market Research 

5. Package Design

6. Develop a Business Plan

7. Certifications

8. Find a Manufacturer for Your Product

What are the best practices for tooling management (specifically for plastic injection molds) in China?

Closely following up on the design & fabrication of molds for your plastic injection molded products is often necessary for a number of reasons:

• It is often a significant investment, and it is not always easy & cheap to fix;

• Delays at this stage will certainly cause delays for your entire project;

• Good tooling that is properly validated goes a long way toward good quality production.

In this post, we’ll outline some of the key risks you face when manufacturing and managing your tooling for plastic injection molds.

Key risks faced when manufacturing and managing tooling

In most cases, the main sequence of actions, and the corresponding risks you face and need to mitigate or avoid, are as follows:

A mechanical engineer works on detailed 2D and 3D drawings of plastic parts

The choice of material & finishing, as well as the geometry of the parts, may lead to issues in the production

Conduct a

Design For Manufacturing (DFM) review

; warn of potential issues and suggest changes if needed

The part drawings are sent to potential suppliers for quotations

Insufficient specifications (e.g. how many shots, tolerances…), and potential leakage of valuable intellectual property

Probing until there are sufficient specifications; quotation requests to proven suppliers that have signed an

Quotations & lead times are compared for screening uncompetitive suppliers off

Misunderstandings, such as unrealistic lead times (since tooling always has to be modified)

A written agreement that spells out key clauses (IP ownership, return of tooling…) and is enforceable

Visit of the top 1 or 2 potential suppliers for final selection

Buyers pay excessive attention to ease of communication, to automation, etc.

One of our engineers can conduct a process audit that highlights the risks for your production

Mold 3D design

That design is considered proprietary by the mold fabricator

Make it clear that the buyer must get that drawing’s final version

Tooling fabrication

Delays in case of larger projects’ tooling being made at the same time

Typically no involvement, or visits to “push” gently if needed

T1 (first articles off tooling, trial 1)

Issues are noticed but are not addressed well, leading to too many rounds of fixes

Inspection of first articles, clarification about their cause, planning for proper fixing

Following trials (T2, T3…) after corrections of tooling

Delays in case of larger projects’ tooling being made at the same time

Scheduling of inspections to “push” gently if needed; inspection on-site or in our office

Transfer of mold(s) to the plastic injection molding factory, if not the same company

The molding factory may not sign off on a mold formally and later complain about it as the cause of quality issues (a big risk if different countries)

Management of the formal acceptance process and documentation of setup parameters

Setup for first mass production of plastic parts

Non-respect of the same settings as those in the latest trial

We can help document the settings and check them (and other topics) during the setup

During mass production

Complications due to variations of temperature & humidity; unauthorized use of regrind material

Regular inspections during large production runs, with

tests on the parts’ physical properties

(among others)

Tooling is kept off the press

Tooling may not be maintained; in extreme cases, it may be used to make parts without your authorization

You decide to switch to another supplier, and you pull the tooling from your current supplier

The current supplier may resist; the new supplier may not sign off on a mold formally and later complain about it as the cause of quality issues

We help you check the tooling carefully (a.k.a. ‘tear down’) and we guide you through the

right process for the transfer

.

Replacement of the mold after its useful life

Re-use of the same mold design without much thinking

We review past issues and suggest lessons learned and necessary changes. And, if volumes went up, changes such as more cavities might be worth the extra investment.

We hope this table gave you a good overview of the major risks you need to look out for. We can intervene at every stage, but it only makes sense for expensive molds that are then used in very large productions.

Services related to sourcing and managing tooling that Sofeast provides

Let’s cover a few of the services related to tooling management for plastic injection molds that we perform most often:

Design for Manufacturing Review

Certain part designs cannot be injection-molded. Some designs can be made this way, but they are likely to lead to a number of issues, including difficulty to eject the parts, poor aesthetics, high need for manual rework, and so on.

Changing the design so that it makes good manufacturing easy is usually 10 to 100 times faster and cheaper than reworking a batch of products and making corrections on a mold.

How Sofeast can help…

We can do a DFM review on the plastic part drawings, and if necessary also on the tooling’s design. It usually takes about 5 to 10 hours (to be confirmed based on complexity), at 45 USD per hour.

Picking the Right Supplier

Identifying a reliable manufacturer for your plastic parts and your molds is as critical as finding a great supplier for finished products. (In many projects, it does not matter whether tooling fabrication is done by the injection molding factory or subcontracted to a specialized tooling shop, as long as the right expectations are laid out and accepted. In some other projects it matters a lot.)

How Sofeast can help…

One of our project managers who are familiar with tooling management can contact plastic suppliers that are a good fit for the size of the parts, the type of polymer to use, the tolerances on dimensions, etc. We include some tried-and-tested suppliers in that study. And we collect quotations.

We described how we identify factories to supply tooling (or other things) on this page, and the cost is 38 USD per hour. We also help set the right expectations from the start with the supplier about IP ownership, the ability to pull the molds at any time, and other important topics.

Tool Qualification During Fabrication

Steel hardness reports

Hard steel material is more expensive to purchase and harder to machine. There is a temptation for suppliers to quote a certain grade of steel, say H13, and actually use a softer material that will be useful for fewer shots.

(It does not happen often. You, as the buyer, are at higher risk if the tooling fabrication shop is unknown and if they assume injection molding will be done far away from them. But in some projects it is a real risk.)

How Sofeast can help…

We usually test steel hardness by using the tool fabrication shop’s testing equipment.

Close up tooling examination

You may want the assurance that your tooling is provided with the correct parts, spares, etc. and if all the elements function correctly. The objective is to avoid having to send molds back to the fabrication shop for fixes after the final signoff. Those fixes can be quite expensive and are sometimes poorly done, requiring another round of fixes.

How Sofeast can help…

We have engineers on our staff with deep experience in tool making and injection molding who will perform the examination and report back their findings and recommendations.
We typically look at 50+ points to confirm, for example: Spare parts/inserts included per P.O., Cooling circuit circulation tested with air, or Are all heaters and nozzles heating well?

Such an examination starts from 500 USD in South China or Vietnam, and costs vary for other locations.

Tool Qualification at End of Fabrication

The most basic approach to confirm a mold is acceptable is to check the first shots coming out of it — typically about 5 to 10 parts to be inspected very closely. There is virtually always the need to do another trial, but very clear feedback has to be given to the fabrication technicians. The toolmaker should do this, but for extra peace of mind, we can also send an engineer to oversee their testing and provide feedback to assure the tooling is ready to be used in mass production.

How Sofeast can help…

Mold capability validation supervision

This is quite an in-depth check on the finished tooling before it leaves the toolmaker’s facility. When they’re testing it our engineer does the following:

• Checks the mold based on our standard checklist
• Records the setup parameters (time, pressure, temperature…)
• Records how many shots are necessary before the parts off the mold are good
• Records the information on the machine
• Records the effective cycle time
• Checks if the factory checks the parts periodically (every 1 hour), especially for CTQ points
• Checks whether the factory records their QC findings and use them to calculate the Cpk index
• Checks if there are quality issues on the parts that are made

Mold Capability Validation Supervision (in China) provides the maximum assurance that tooling will not reach your or your supplier’s factory from the toolmaker unless it’s working completely as you expect.

First article inspection

We often do a First Article Inspection (FAI) on the first parts out of tooling. We go to the factory and check the following points:

• Part structure

• Visual aspect (looking for common defects)

• How the runner separated from the part

• Dimension check

• Assembly test, if needed

In case of issues, we try and give visual explanations to the supplier so there is little room for misunderstanding.

Other clients simply ask us to receive the first-off samples and inspect them in our facility.

Before/During Plastic Injection Molding

Process management audit

For large-scale productions and/or cases where quality absolutely has to be consistent, you need to be sure that your injection molding manufacturer has mature systems & processes.

How Sofeast can help…

We have auditors who are experts in plastic injection molding and can audit and assess your supplier’s technical ability and in-house processes on-site by performing a PMA (Process Management Audit).
They will report back to you on numerous points, such as: Production Capacity, Technical Capability, Process Controls, Preventative Maintenance and its Effectiveness, Tool/Die Storage, General Housekeeping, and many more.

A PMA starts from 650 USD in South China or Vietnam, and costs vary for other locations.

Here’s an example of a real PMA we performed on plastic injection molding tooling:

Product Inspections on the finished parts/products

This is a very standard and very common service that aims at confirming quality and quantity before the parts or products are shipped out of the injection molding factory. You want to keep the costs of fixing issues at the factory, rather than having to manage that on your side.

How Sofeast can help…

Our QA technicians go to the factory, pick a representative set of samples based on the ISO 2859-1 standard, and carry out a visual & dimensional inspection. Other on-site tests are performed as needed – for example, burning a part to confirm the type of polymer used, or testing physical properties as a way to detect if too much regrind material was used.

The cost for a product inspection involving 1 technician for 1 day is 299 USD in most manufacturing areas in China, Vietnam, and India.

After production has finished

Tooling Custody & Management

Leaving your tooling with your Asian plastic injection molding supplier is risky. They might use it to manufacture your parts or products without your permission or store it insecurely leading to damage.

How Sofeast can help…

We help you by storing your tooling safely in our Chinese warehouse. We pick it up or receive it after a production run (noting what condition the tooling is in), store it securely, and then return it back to your supplier before the next one.
This maintains its condition, reduces the risk of IP theft, and allows you to switch suppliers without extra stress of negotiating the release of your expensive tooling from your old supplier (who may be tempted to hold onto it if they know they’re losing your business). Learn more about our tooling custody and management service.

*****

Do you have any other questions about tooling management for plastic injection molds? We’re here to help. Contact us or leave a comment.

P.S.

Listen to this episode of our podcast

7 Common Plastic Injection Mold Tooling Development, Approval, & Maintenance Pitfalls

Read even more about plastic injection molding and tooling management