China has always been an excellent source for low-cost electronic components and manufactured products. Suppliers that value customer relationships work very hard to protect their customers. The court system now fairly settles international contractual disputes. And the quality of Chinese products has improved dramatically and leap-frogging many other countries. Those eletrconic manufacturers now can offer higher quality components, provide better customer service and have a streamlined manufacturing process.
The goal of every purchaser is to find a high-quality supplier. This article will help you find quality electronics supplier, tell you how to import OEM&Custom Label Electronic and how to decide who provides your prototype.
How to Find High-Quality Chinese Electronics Suppliers
Finding a quality Chinese supplier when you’re halfway around the world can seem like an insurmountable hurdle, but with the right strategies, it isn’t as difficult as you think. There are a number of resources you can use to begin your search.
The simplest way to begin is to search on Google. You can find hundreds of suppliers this way. All that’s left to do is contact them and begin a conversation. You can pursue their websites for pricing and other information. However, if you don’t speak Mandarin you may find it a bit difficult to thoroughly research the topic. While many Chinese suppliers have employees with a serviceable grasp of English, not all do. For this reason, among others, it can be helpful to pair Google with a few other resources.
Chinese marketplaces like Made-in-China.com are excellent sources for supplier information. They bring thousands of Chinese businesses together onto a single platform, facilitating both research and trade. You can quickly compare Chinese electronics suppliers with standardized information. The sites also audit and pre-qualify suppliers so that you can be certain you’re dealing with a reputable business.
These sites help take the guesswork out of the process. You won’t find questionable vendors as you might with a basic web search. The portals take care of vetting the suppliers so that you don’t have to. They also make it very easy to contact each supplier with full contact information, hours, and links to leave a message on the portal or through email.
Another way to find Chinese suppliers is to use a sourcing agency. These are companies in China that can recommend suppliers, and speak with them on your behalf. This can be a helpful way to work around the language barrier.
However, caution is required. The sourcing industry isn’t regulated in China, which means anyone can hang out a sign saying they’re a sourcing agency. They may or may not be exactly what they’re representing themselves to be. If you opt for a sourcing agency, make sure to get recommendations from trusted advisors. Don’t simply sign on with the first agency you find. Search around, do your homework and be careful.
How to Import OEM and Custom Label Electronics
Whether you’re importing OEM products or custom label (ODM) electronics, you need to make certain that they are in compliance with the relevant safety standards in your country, as we’ll describe later.
OEM products are built to the customer’s specifications. If you’re purchasing OEM from a Chinese electronics supplier, you would need to provide all of the technical drawings and guidelines. Because you’re supplying the specifications, you can be certain that, as long as your supplier follows your designs to the letter, they will be compliant with all regulatory requirements, assuming you pre-vet your designs.
Still, it’s wise to have an independent laboratory test some of the products that roll off the assembly line. This will confirm that the supplier has properly followed your instructions. The last thing you want is for a product you sell to catch fire or injure someone. This is good advice no matter where you do business. Dealing with a new supplier can be a leap of faith, so it’s better to test.
ODM, or custom label electronics, are designed and manufactured by the supplier, with the understanding that the buyer will place their own brand name and resell the products as their own. In this case, it’s important that you deal with reputable suppliers. Because you won’t have control over the product’s specifications, it’s doubly important that you have products tested for safety and quality. You’ll be putting your name on the product and any failures will be your responsibility.
This isn’t meant to scare you. Just to make you aware of the importance of finding a quality Chinese electronics supplier. There are many excellent firms with quality merchandise for custom label import. They can work with you to surmount any hurdles you might meet in the process.
How to Decide Who Provides Your Prototype
There are essentially three ways you can work with Chinese electronics suppliers. You can either produce a prototype yourself and send it to your Chinese supplier for replication, have it produced by another outfit in another country and then transfer it to your Chinese supplier, or you can have the prototype created by the Chinese firm you’ve selected to do your final manufacturing.
Certainly, if you have the required materials and tooling to create a serviceable prototype yourself that will likely be the most cost-effective solution. However, this isn’t frequently the case. More often than not you’ll be looking for an external firm to create your prototype.
Barring self-production, having the prototype created by your supplier will save you money and headaches. There are a number of reasons for this.
No Retooling Is Needed
If your prototype, and by extension your final product, requires custom tooling that’s an expense you’ll have to bear twice if you have a secondary firm produce your initial prototype. The tooling would have to be created by your prototyping producer and then recreated by your Chinese supplier. This is an unnecessary expense that is easily avoided by having your chosen Chinese company fulfill both services.
Chinese Suppliers Are More Flexible
Chinese suppliers will work with you on your prototyping price, particularly if they know they’ll be fulfilling your final product orders as well. This can save you a considerable amount of money. Having a secondary firm produce your prototype will likely cost you a premium, as they can’t defray set up costs across the entire product manufacturing run.
Chinese Suppliers Follow Directions With Precision
Once you’ve perfected your initial designs, you want a firm that will produce your prototype to your exacting standards. That is a strength of Chinese electronics suppliers. They will methodically build your prototype exactly as requested, with exceptionally low variances. This guarantees that you get exactly what you were looking for so that you can begin your testing phase.
Having your prototypes built by the same reputable Chinese firm that’s manufacturing your final products allows you to take advantage of economies of scale. They can charge you less across the entire process because they’ll be able to amortize their costs more effectively. You’ll end up spending more in nearly any other prototyping/manufacturing arrangement you might propose.
Satisfying CE and Other Safety Standards
CE compliance is normally the responsibility of the manufacturer when products are built within the EU. The same is the case with American product certification standards. However, when you import electronics from Chinese electronics suppliers, the responsibility for getting standards certified falls to the importer.
The reason is simple. EU and U.S. certification bodies don’t have the resources to enforce standards compliance everywhere in the world where products can be manufactured. So they leave it to the European or the U.S. importer to ensure that all relevance certifications are met.
Therefore it’s important to work with reputable Chinese firms that place a high value on customer service. These are firms that will help you ensure certification even though it’s not legally theirs or any other foreign manufacturer’s responsibility.
This is one of the biggest pitfalls for small businesses looking to have electronics manufactured internationally. They’re often unfamiliar with the relevant standards and therefore must rely on their manufacturer for help. If the foreign manufacturer chosen also isn’t familiar with the standards, because legally they don’t need to be, there’s a strong possibility that the final imported products will fail certification.
Many years in the past Chinese electronics suppliers were unlikely to help with safety certifications, but that has changed. As these producers have taken their place at the international manufacturing table, they’ve elevated their standards and are eager to work with small to mid-sized European and U.S. businesses. They’ve recognized that they can win more business by taking on standards certification even though it isn’t technically their responsibility.
This has created a class of Chinese suppliers that place a premium on high-quality customer service and will work with you to make sure your products are compliant with CE and other international standards.
Leveraging Online Trade Shows
Trade shows are a great way to connect with Chinese electronics suppliers. Classically these trade shows have been held in person, but there are also a number of online trade shows that make it much easier for international customers to find suppliers and speak with manufacturers in person to begin building trust.
You can find a wide range of online trade shows covering electronics and many other product categories here. When preparing to attend one of these events, it’s important to be prepared. The sheer number of vendors and suppliers can be overwhelming. Make certain you’re ready to take notes, including names, contact information, pricing, minimum order quantities, regulatory help and more.
Trade shows can dramatically speed up your ability to find a quality supplier because they bring them all together under one virtual roof. Instead of hunting down individual suppliers manually, you can speak to hundreds of them on one platform. You’ll rapidly discover Chinese electronics suppliers that you feel comfortable moving forward with. One trade show could replace months of research, phone calls, emails and more.
Dealing With Technology Licensing and Patents
This can be a difficult area for the inexperienced importer. We would definitely recommend speaking with an attorney before signing an agreement with any supplier, whether Chinese or not. Any advice read here should not be taken as legal advice.
China’s government imposes certain restrictions on licensing arrangements that apply to all contracts, whether or not the parties involved require or desire them. There are indemnification requirements that mandate that if patents or licenses are disputed, the Chinese firm can’t be held liable. There are also mandated restrictions on technology improvements, and marketing rights.
These may or may not affect every contractual arrangement, but they can certainly add difficulty to the process. It shouldn’t be worrisome, however. In the last decade or so, Chinese licensing and patent laws have strengthened quite a bit. It’s now routine for Chinese courts to uphold contracts between Chinese suppliers and international customers even if the results are unfavorable for the Chinese company.
Also, it’s uncommon for Chinese electronics suppliers and others to use these TIER restrictions to avoid important contractual language or avoid responsibility. The reason is that if they did, they would quickly find themselves blacklisted by foreign customers, negatively-affecting their business in a dramatic way.
What’s important is that you select an upstanding supplier that focuses heavily on maintaining strong customer relationships. The government may require the inclusion of TIER language, but that doesn’t mean the company has to avail themselves of it, and in the lion’s share of cases, they won’t.
Additionally, it is the buyer’s responsibility to make certain that any external technology licensing rights are procured. You cannot expect a Chinese electronics supplier, or any supplier for that matter to do your due diligence for you. External patent and licensing must be handled externally to your supplier arrangement.
Buying Electronics From China is a Great Business Decision
Whether you’re looking to have your own designs produced or you’re interested in placing your brand name on existing products, Chinese electronics suppliers should be at the top of your list. The economics work in your favor and the vast number of companies ensure that there will always be a firm ready to meet your requirements.
And the legal situation for technology products has improved tremendously in recent years. It’s simply not true anymore that China is a dangerous place to do business. As long as you find a reputable supplier, you can do quite well importing Chinese-built electronics.
