From this note on, two cooperation models are stated openly. They run in parallel, the customer chooses freely, and neither is bundled with the other:
- Model one: direct purchase of production. We act as the manufacturer, open the tooling and produce in house, and answer for quality, dimensions and lead time. The price covers material, processing and a reasonable manufacturing margin, with no advisory fee added.
- Model two: advisory supply-chain technical service (optional). The part is produced by a manufacturer the customer selects, while we provide material selection justification, process route planning, process risk assessment, supplier background checks and recommendation, sample follow-up, trial production control, first-article coordination, volume order follow-up, and quality issue coordination with delivery follow-up.
1. Why the two models need to be spelled out
One request kept recurring in projects over the past two years: the customer already has suppliers, sometimes several plants, but lacks the ability to judge silicone process and wants someone to read the material, the route and the process risk properly. That is not the same purchase as buying parts, and it should not be priced the same way. Separating the two models lets a customer identify which one they need at the inquiry stage.
2. How advisory fees work
Standard model: technical start-up fee plus a per-batch fee.
- The start-up fee is charged at signing for drawing review, preliminary technical study and supplier screening; the amount is assessed per project and is fully creditable against later advisory fees;
- the advisory fee is 10% of the ex-tax value of each accepted batch;
- the fee base excludes mould cost, freight, third-party testing fees and duties;
- each batch is calculated after acceptance and offsets the start-up balance first; once the balance is used up, batches are invoiced separately;
- if the project does not reach volume, the start-up fee is non-refundable and is treated as preliminary technical input cost.
3. Four points agreed in advance
- The advisory service is optional; a customer may buy product only;
- sourcing traceability: where we issue the process route and recommend a supplier, orders placed directly or indirectly with that supplier within the agreed period carry the advisory fee;
- sample orders carry no advisory fee; the fee applies to accepted volume orders only;
- material and process assessment follow identical standards in both models.
4. Boundary of responsibility
The advisory service covers the technical solution, supplier screening and process coordination only; final product quality and delivery responsibility rest with the manufacturing party. We do not replace the manufacturer's quality responsibility as an adviser and do not guarantee a manufacturer's capacity or lead time. Under direct purchase, we carry quality, dimension and lead-time responsibility as the manufacturer.
The full description, comparison and fee rules are on the services page. If you want to know which model fits a specific project, send the drawing, the duty condition and the expected volume and we will reply with a written assessment first.