In today’s challenging economic environment, businesses are exploring all of their options regarding production costs. DeviceLab Inc., a contract medical device design and product development firm has extensive experience in dealing with overseas molding companies and offers some useful advice. Dac Vu, general manager at DeviceLab Inc., offers these comments: “We receive solicitations from oversea molders and tool makers, primarily from China, almost every day. These companies are seeking to develop business relationships with medical device firms such as DeviceLab Inc. At first glance, their offers appear to be legitimate and a good way to save money on production costs. Some of the companies have websites and have staff with ISO certification. But, there are risks involved in hiring overseas molding companies.
“The advantages of overseas production are twofold. First, the cost of small tool molds can be as low as 1/3 to ¼ the cost of tools molded in the United States. Second, the promised completion time at overseas tooling and molds can be much shorter (4 to 6 weeks) than that of U.S. companies (6 to 8 weeks). A decrease in production time can also lower the overall production cost to 1/5 the cost of a product made in the U.S. But the fact is, some of these offers are scams or simply not legitimate. Just recently, one of our engineers flew to China and called on one of the overseas molders who had given us what appeared to be an attractive bid. The engineer discovered that the company existed only as a store front, and was not a qualified, legitimate production facility. If we had not researched this, and had hired this company to make a mold for our client, we could certainly have wasted time and money, and more importantly lost client trust.
“Do your homework. Thoroughly research the companies you conduct business with, whether they are overseas or in the U.S. If you still have questions, or would like our assistance, contact DeviceLab. We have engineers who are fluent in Mandarin and frequently travel to China for on-site work with suppliers. We can help you with your outsourcing, molding and tooling needs.
About DeviceLab (www.devicelab.com) – DeviceLab is a contract medical device design and product development firm. They are a full service company for mechanical engineering, electronics, software, industrial design, prototyping, manufacturing, FDA regulatory consulting and product testing services. Experience includes User Interface (UI) Design, custom and cart development, medical device, industrial design, hospital equipment and lab instrument development. Since its inception in 1998, DeviceLab has successfully helped medical device manufacturers bring over 100 products from the concept phase to market. Based in Orange County, CA, they serve Southern California (San Diego, Orange, and Los Angeles Counties) and medical device firms nationwide.
