Case Studies
PassageMaker places great emphasis on the security of our client’s designs and branding. Therefore we are grateful to the clients below who have graciously allowed us to disclose their project information on this web site.
The average PassageMaker client is a tier 1 or 2 tier suppliers to major retailers around the world. Many purchase USD 1 million or more in China per year. We also welcome small and even new business as clients if their products demonstrate a high potential for growth and the client can commit to an annual invoice amount of 20,000 USD worth of PassageMaker services. Such services include sourcing feasibility studies, vendor coordination and/or assembly, inspection and packaging.
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Service: Initial Sourcing Feasibility Study then Precision Assembly/Inspection and now Joint Venture
Case Study: Diagnostic Electronics (scroll down for details)
Service: Black Box Assembly and Inspection
Case Study: Sporting Goods (scroll down for details)
Case Study: Small Vehicles for Children (scroll down for details)
Case Study: Custom Furniture (scroll down for details)
Service: General Assembly and Inspection
Case Study: Craft Kits (scroll down for details)
Case Study: Carburetors (scroll down for details)
Case Study: Phone Tower (scroll down for details)
Case Study: Hardware for Mirror and Picture Frames (scroll down for details)
Service: Initial Sourcing Feasibility Study and on-going Vendor Coordination
Case Study: Furniture (scroll down for details)
Case Study: Police and Military Equipment (scroll down for details)
Case Study: Extruded Aluminum (scroll down for details)
Case Study: Classroom Science Models (scroll down for details)
Case Study: Motorcycle Fender (scroll down for details)
For a list of other projects completed by PassageMaker, visit our Product Classifications page.
CASE STUDIES
Diagnostic Electronics
Services Provided: Sourcing Feasibility Study/ Assembly & Inspection/ Joint Venture
What’s Special?
PassageMaker was commissioned by this client to find specialty suppliers of diagnostic devices used in emergency medical situations. A number of suppliers were identified and true pricing points exposed. However research indicated that the most suitable suppliers in China in terms of price and quality had already established partnership agreements with US and EU distributors in direct competition with client.
Realizing significant savings were to be gained by production in China, yet highly cognizant of the risk in doing business with suppliers who were on the road to becoming future competitors, the client turned to PassageMaker to set up a “virtual joint venture” at our assembly center. An agreed amount of floor space, staff (originally 5) and equipment was dedicated solely to the production of the client’s given product.
As quality product made in PassageMaker’s assembly center gained recognition in the marketplace, orders began to grow. In the course of a year, production staff requirements for this project expanded from 5 to 70. At this point it made sense for both parties to form a true equity joint venture and set up an independent production facility. PassageMaker serves as the client’s equity partner, leveraging its existing business infrastructure and proven China track record to facilitate the formation of, and oversee the operations of the factory in China.
Simply put, the client received the benefits of a well run China production facility without the headaches associated with running a factory in China!
Case Study: Black Box Assembly and Inspection
Sporting Goods
Small Vehicles for Children
Custom Furniture
Dozens of other products
Due to sensitive nature of projects, images are not made available online.
Case Study: Craft Kits for Children
Kite Kits
Sandal Decorating Kits
Sidewalk Chalk Art
Flying Discs
Various Material and Production Methods
18 Sub Suppliers
Complex Assembly Requirements (multiple colors and sizes)
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What’s Special?
In this case, PassageMaker serves as the the quality gate and primary assembly partner, performing the following functions:
Identify and manage 3rd party suppliers of specialized components at a national level
Final assembly, inspection (In-bound QC, in-process QC and final QC) packaging and freight consolidation takes place our facility.
Warehousing and stock reporting provided on a daily basis.
100% QC is performed on more than 100,000 units which move through our tightly controlled inventory and QC system order cycle. QC issues are dealt with before goods are shipped out of China, saving time and money. As the finished product is not revealed to the local vendors of the components, sub-suppliers are prevented from turning into future competitors. Shipping costs are reduced through freight consolidation.
Case Study: Carburetors
Client: US-Based Manufacturer of high-end automobile parts
End Users: US Auto manufactures and retailers such as Pep Boys, NAPA & Advanced Auto Parts
Value: 20 different models representing 1.2 million units with an estimated value of $60 million USD to be purchased annually
Background: Client required a supplier in China to provide standard carburetors to supplement higher-end goods already in production at client’s facility in USA. For these auto parts, preferential price was essential while quality could not be compromised.
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What’s Special?
In just a 2 month period, while keeping client identity confidential, PassageMaker sourcing engineers visited 25 potential suppliers across China and narrowed the field down to the three top candidates based on the client’s exact criteria for design, price, service, quality, lead time and security. The interested parties were introduced and PassageMaker provides support ranging from negotiation of contracts to on-going purchase order management.
PassageMaker was selected for the project as the client needed an unbiased review of the actual sourcing situation from a trusted partner on the ground in China. US-based researchers, Chinese factory representatives and other intermediaries with hidden agendas and mark ups were ruled out. PassageMaker received a fixed fee from client to conduct the sourcing feasibility study and engage the suppliers. This clearly aligned the two companies’ interests. All information gathered was provided to the client in a transparent and easy to understand fashion.
Today the carburetors are delivered to PassageMaker’s assembly center where they are inspected and made ready for export to the global market.
Case Study: TeleTower
Phone Mounting Device for Office Use
ABS Plastic w/ Matte Finish
Twin Cavity Injection Mold
180 Ton Injection Mold Machine
Packaged in UV coated multi-color box
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Inserts Include:
Multi-lingual instructions, marketing material, chrome screws and rubber grips.
What’s Special?
Set up costs at a 1/4 of the competitor’s rate, and at a 1/3 of the lead-time. This allowed this product to undergo 14 design upgrades between prototype and launch without compromising delivery targets or bankrupting the entrepreneur/ designer. Such affordable flexibility would not have been possible in North America. PassageMaker’s English-speaking support staff and sourcing engineers worked around the clock to turn this customer’s vision into blue prints and blue prints into reality.
Case Study: Hardware for Mirror and Picture Frames
Family of hardware for hanging mirrors and frames consisting of:
Steel stampings with zinc and/or chrome plating
Die cast steel with nickel finish
Injected plastics
Screw machining
Extruded aluminum
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Inserts include:
Multi-lingual instructions, screws and wall anchors. Packed both in bulk for OEM use, or individually packaged for retail display using color cards/ blister packs, plastic boxes, carded bags and bar codes.
What’s Special?
This hanging hardware family requires a wide variety of production methods. Quick tool and die changeovers coupled with PassageMaker’s commitment to service, allow for production runs of any size to be priced competitively. Most production runs are in the 100-300,000-unit range and require as little as one month lead-time for production. PassageMaker’s assembly center is the perfect location to kit the various components together and ensure the quality and packaging is to the exact specifications required by client. These products can be seen at Home Depot and Lowes.
Case Study: Furniture
Client: US Designer and Distributor of high-end wooden furniture
End Users: Retail Outlets and Catalogues in North America
Size: Multiple container loads per month
Background: Client required factory direct relationship with medium-sized factory interested in given order size and willing to offer custom finishing using proprietary client designs.
What’s Special?
The China furniture market is massive with radical variation in pricing and QC, further complicated by a web of middlemen providing little value.� Before hiring PassageMaker, initial supplier assessment conducted by the client focused on a review of websites which proved not representative of actual production ability. Correspondence Dealing with trading companies proved frustrating as actual production capability was often exaggerated and factory direct channel was obstructed.
Realizing that on-the-ground China research was essential, yet faced with budget and time constraints, the client selected PassageMaker to weed out middlemen and find a legitimate factory with the required production ability.
Case Study: Police and Military Equipment
Client: European Procurement Agency
End Users: European Militaries and Police Forces (Mainly Germany and Belgium)
Size: Custom orders of a few hundred units to full container loads
Background: Products range from simple work style gloves to non-UV reflective camouflage. All have very strict quality requirements.
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What’s Special?
Many of the products have “new-to-China” material specifications. One item required a special coating for non-UV reflection (so as not to show up easily using night vision googles). As no single supplier existed that was able to provide both the fabric and coating, PassageMaker was assigned the task of coordinating the entire production from raw material thru processing and final QC. We are proud to be the first and only company in China to have successfully exported this ultra-high end material.
Case Study: Extruded Aluminum
Client: American Manufacturer of Bathroom Enclosures
Size: Multiple 40 ft containers per month
Background: Required PO coordination and tight QC of supplier to identify and fix problems during containerization before being shipped to USA customer.
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What’s Special?
While Chinese extruded aluminum is readily available in the USA, it is of mixed quality and enters the country via a convoluted network of intermediaries complicating QC, lead times and pricing. Going “factory direct” is crucial for not only cost saving but for QC. As for higher end finishes, there can be sizable variance in quality during the course of even a small batch run. This means that a cursory inspection at the end of production is not sufficient. And waiting until the product arrives in USA is futile considering the cost of US labor to do 100% inspection, let alone send a container back to China or wait for a replacement. Finding defects before shipping has already saved clients millions of dollars.
PassageMaker QC engineers spend on average 2 days per shipments conducting both in-process QC as well as a final audit at containerization. Before any shipment is released, a full report including video images is sent directly from the inspection site to the client for approval. Goods may also be delivered to PassageMaker’s assembly center for close inspection before shipping out.
Case Study: Classroom Science Models
Client: National Distributor of School Supplies
End Users: US Elementary, Middle & High Schools
Background: Previous supplier in Europe offered a beautiful product along with high pricing, long lead times and overall poor service.
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What’s Special?
PassageMaker was commissioned $2,000 to analyze the supply chain potential in China in hopes of identifying a suitable supplier. As a direct result of our research, cost of product delivered to client was reduced by over $100 per unit, for a better product with shorter lead times!
Due to the remote location of supplier and lack of English skills, PassageMaker performed all required QC and entire export processing on behalf of American customer.
Case Study: Fender
Motorcycle Fender Extension
Chrome Plated ABS Plastic
Twin Cavity Injection Mold
250 Ton Injection Mold Machine
Finished Product Includes:
Custom made stainless steel mounting fasteners, and a double-walled master carton with crush zones for extra shipping protection.
What’s Special?
Chrome plating plastic is not an easy task. High quality, professional mold design and press set up is essential as any material flow irregularities are clearly visible when the mirror finish is applied. Finish also requires special handling and custom packaging throughout production and shipping, as even the slightest blemish is considered unacceptable. Passagemaker was successful in finding and managing the best mold markers available in S. China to complete the core components, while final assembly, packaging and inspection took place at the PassageMaker assembly center.
China is experimenting with VAT reforms in Shanghai this year. If you are doing business in Shanghai, ignoring the changes could mean missing an opportunity … Continue reading
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