Starting manufacturing business in Shanghai / China

So I’m also in this manufacturing/starting a business boat. I moved from NY to Shanghai several months ago. A thought in the back of my mind was that I would start a business when I moved to Shanghai. I went to a couple manufacturers to get quotes and find out how much it would cost, their prices were all too high. So the product is relatively simple, I was basically able to hack the product together on my own ordering some parts on taobao, but it’s just ugly looking. So the quotes I got were 160k RMB, and another quote in the same ballpark. Since I work for a manufacturer, I just had one of the engineers at my company moonlight with me and help design the product, we started about a month ago. They are mostly done, and at a very very low fraction of cost compared to what these two other companies offered me. Basically all the core components are decided, I’ve sourced suppliers and have many of the pieces in place. I’ve incorporated in the states (delaware, S corp, and I’ll go the dividend payments route to get 15% capital gains and not pay myself a salary). We’ve done extensive testing, and the functionality of the product is basically 95% functionally complete. We weren’t able to source the right motor we need, though we’re working on that now. We have 3D and 2D CAD drawings all complete, full specifications, assembly instructions, QA procedure instructions, we’ve had a metal mold made (which I decided is too expensive, so I am having the engineer make a plastic mold CAD file[this will be expensive, but if my volume is high enough it will make sense]). So things are going well, I can trust the two engineers since they work for my company.. they’re doing a relatively good job. Two things they’re not good at, are sourcing the right parts, and making the product aesthetically pleasing. So we made our first prototype in the lab last weekend (in the metal casing), and functionally it worked, it was just ugly. I’ve done my research and I think my product can do relatively well (though I won’t retire on it).. but the numbers look good, My product should end up costing 1/3 of the best competitor… I think it will sell well. The plastic molding CAD files are being developed now.. so I’m going to pay out for an injection molding. I’ve talked to the FCC, I’m able to self certify and I found a lab in Shanghai to do this testing. I’ve started talking to CSA and a European company in Shanghai that helps with CE marking and European regulations. I don’t have any corporate structure in Shanghai. I naively thought I could just assemble several hundred units myself and ship them myself, then bootstrap capital on my own. Though then I realized I need an export license of which I don’ have. So I’ll have to meet the MOQ of the manufacturer, which I’m hoping isn’t too high.. as I want to test the market before risking too much capital. Regardless of the export restrictions, I don’t currently have the capacity to make the product ‘pretty’ which is a prerequisite for selling anything to an American or European consumer. So to my question… does anyone know a manufacturer that can help me and won’t try to rip me off? I think the problem is I searched on Google for Shanghai manufacturers, and there are a handful of company who throw SEO money to rank up and they tend to not be reasonably priced manufacturers. I need someone who is more familiar with reasonably priced manufacturers in China and can recommend some to me. Since most of my core functionality design work is done, and my core components are chosen.. does anyone know a manufacturer that can take over where my engineers have left off. Make my product pretty, then ship it to America for me (and avoid me setting up any corporate structure in China). Then they can just send me an invoice to my American corporate structure, and we can pay the bill on whatever the costs for the rest of the design are, the costs of the first MOQ batch, and shipping. I’m hoping they can do box designing also put the UPC I bought on there, wrap it nice and load them on a pallet, etc. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I’ve written on this very subject before here before but to give you a quick re-cap: 1) Break your product into component pieces that can be manufactured by different companies in different locales; have them assembled at yet another location. However, do not have the component pieces sent to the assembly point because then the assembler can buy everything direct themselves and screw you. Have the pieces sent to your location and you feed the assembler as needed. 2) Source your packaging separately as I can guaranty that if left to any of the manufacturers you will end up with boxes which will be made from so much over-recycled fibers it will absorb moisture from the air like a sponge and warp and fall apart. Sadly most people slough off the importance of packaging yet it is the first thing their customer interacts with. Packaging is of extreme importance. If you need help with either of the above, please send me a PM and I can introduce you to reputable people.

I am sourcing the parts from different manufacturers currently. An intelligent person can find all the parts for my product, there is no way around this. I can feed the assembly manufacturer myself, this merely mitigates my risk of a copy cat, not eliminating the risk. I will take any boxing company information you have if you think they’re reputable. I have contacted a few company that do assembly, I found a couple that don’t have anything to do with my market. I think they wouldn’t understand my market and this might mitigate risk, since what they do is machinery side, and not consumer side. One thing I need quite a bit, is an engineer who is good a cost controls/sourcing parts and aesthetics. It is hard to find good work, and I haven’t been able to find someone like this. If anyone has a contact for someone like this, I’m quite interested.