What You Must Have in Place Before Contacting a Manufacturer

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As a new business owner, it’s going to be on you to ensure that you build good relationships with suppliers and vendors. Anybody who’s bringing something to your business has to be negotiated with and a contract has to be drawn up. And the same can be said before you contact a manufacturer if you have a product that you want to be created and distributed at a large scale. 

Then you might need a long conversation with a range of manufacturers to find out if you can get what you want. Finding the right manufacturer for your products can be a daunting thing to do, but before you even get started looking for the right ones, there are a few things that you need to have in place. You can visit Excitech Australia to book a chat with a friendly team member to discuss your manufacturing needs, but what should you prepare before the meeting? Below, we’ve put together some of the things that you have to have in place before you even start contacting manufacturers so that you can be an authority in what you do. And you look like you know what you’re talking about.

Outline Production Input

Be clear about your product concept. Before you reach out and speak to any manufacturers, you should have an idea of what you want to produce in the first place. This concept should include all details such as the size, the shape, the materials, and the use of the product itself. A clear product concept is going to make it so much easier to communicate what you’ve envisioned and whether you need anything done automatically on a large scale. Automation is going to be a big conversation, so if you are clear about the concept of your product, you can convey that and get the manufacturers excited too. 

Show Descriptive Planning

It’s good to have a design file. You need to have something to show the manufacturers to give them an idea of what they could be creating for you. You can put together a design file using CAD software tools and this is used by engineers, manufacturers and designers to communicate design intent. The pack should include 2D or 3D drawings of the product and you should use measurements and material specifications and tolerances in there too. 

Visualize Financial Outlook

You need to have a budget in mind before you start contacting manufacturers. Understanding what budget you can afford is important. Not only will this help you to narrow down your search in general, because you can then work with people within your financial constraint. You’ll be able to factor in any additional costs that might pop up during the conversation, such as customs fees, taxes, and shipping. 

Schedule Arrangements

It would be good to have a timeline. Do you have an idea of when you would like your products to be created and when you’d like to launch? Discussing this with the manufacturers that you meet up with is a good plan because then they can have an idea of what their time frames should be for production. Some manufacturers may have longer lead times than others and you need to know this on the first conversation.