Manufacturing in Cambodia?

Hi. I am currently in the process of having a product developed and i am looking into outsourcing the manufacturing. The whole thing is very new to me so i was wandering i could get some general advice. Does anyone have any information about outsourcing to Cambodia?

Also, does anyone have any advice about where to start? Where is the best place to look? What information docs do i need to prepare? Are there any guides or templates that i should obtain in order to assist me with the process? If i am asking the wrong questions please let me know as this is the first time i have considered developing a product and so i am just trying to develop and understanding of the process.

Thanks

Welcome to EE!

I have no idea on how to approach outsouring in Cambodia.. A question to you---> Why are you thinking Cambodia?

Hi. Thanks

Well i was thinking Cambodia because my plan was to move back out there in the near future. I thought it might help if i could have direct communication with the manufacturer. That said it may be better to look into outsourcing the work to China. I guess its not that far from Cambo :-)

Do you have any advice relating to outsourcing to China? I have looked on google and have sent an email to one specialist manufacturer in China. However, is there any particular process or channel which i need to go through?

With regards to product design do i need to put together a certain specification and use CAD drwaings etc? Do i need to specify exact measurements? For example, there are some aspects of my design where i simply don't have the technical expertise to illustrate. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Unfortunately...we get a lot of our parts from Taiwan..a couple of street over from Cambodia. We use a manufacturer rep....someone who handles machine shops etc. There is a bit of legwork....Look for a rep that works overseas and will handle your needs whether it's assy or fabrication.

The idea of the manufacturers rep is someone to simply to be a liason between you and the company overseas....deliver prints etc and deal with the language barrier. If there are problems....you can beat up on the rep. and not the folks overseas...that's his job.

I hope this helps because I hated answering the question....I'm a Made in USA guy.

Good Luck

Well, my first question to ask is, have you checked manufacturing costs locally? Unless you are talking huge quantities local manufacturing may well be cheaper.

You can jump on a plane and be at the manufacturing plant in a couple of hours or less. You have no language barrier. Trust me, I have worked in Asians countries and the mindset is totally different to ours. I am not saying the mindset is wrong, good or bad, just different. Quality control will be a major issue unless you are setting up your own factory. If you need ISO-9xxx then it will probably not be much cheaper than local once you factor in freight, import duties, forwarding and receiving agent fees etc

After that and a whole lot I more I could go on with, then there is this, which I suggest you read thoroughly...
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/12382747[/url]

Thank you both for the advice. Yes that was an interesting article and something i need to think about. My plan was to have the prototype built in England and have it fully tested. If things go well I was going to have another 10 or so built at which point i was going seek funding to invest in the manufacturing. As mentioned a company in Cambodia would work better for me as that i where i plan to be. Even at the moment i live in Peru so having the products manufactured in UK is not really the best option for me. That said the UK is going to be my target market initially so it would be a good place to start. @Marky - I will look into finding a manufacturer rep. Im not sure where the best place to locate such as rep would be. LinkedIn perhaps?

Thanks again.

As reluctant as I am to encourage outsourcing, but since you are not talking about the US, (call me Parochial :) ) I will get you started in a PM from here in a few seconds.

Hi I went to Linkedin just typed in "Outsource" and it gave quite afew listings.