Production of goods in China under your own brand (OEM/ODM): a step-by-step plan without defects, re-sorting and "suddenly pay extra"
You can launch your own product through China quickly and profitably - but only if you treat it as a managed project. In reality, most of the problems do not arise "on the way", but earlier: vague technical specifications, the choice of factory at the lowest price, the lack of a fixed benchmark, weak production control and inspection after the money has been sent.
Below is a practical how-to business plan: how to organize contract production in China under your brand and maintain quality, deadlines and cost. If you want to delegate search, negotiation, production control, QC and logistics to one team in China, check out the China goods manufacturing service under your brand (OEM/ODM).
OEM and ODM - what is the difference in simple terms
- ODM - you provide the design/drawings/technical specifications, the factory produces according to your requirements. You control the product more.
- The OEM factory offers ready-made development, you adapt (branding, packaging, minor changes). Faster, but it's important not to "buy a pig in a poke".
In practice, many projects start as an ODM (to quickly test the market), and then switch to OEM (to enhance differences and margins).
Step 1. Formulate the product as a business objective, not as "I want to be like a competitor"
China is great at "following the picture," but businesses need results: margins, repeatability, low rejection rates, and predictable deadlines. Therefore, fix the project frame before searching for the factory.:
- target sale price and minimum margin;
- volume plan for 1-3 months and forecast for 6 months;
- quality level (economy/medium/premium) and where you are not ready to save;
- packaging/labeling requirements for your sales channel (wholesale, retail, marketplace, distribution).
Step 2. Make a technical specification and "red lines" - what can not be changed without approval
A good technical specification is not 50 pages. These are 1-5 pages that allow factories to be compared fairly. Minimum: materials/composition, dimensions and tolerances, functional parameters, appearance, packaging requirements, package contents, tests (if necessary), labeling requirements.
It is important to specify "red lines" separately: critical parameters that cannot be changed "for the sake of cheapening". It is on them that silent substitution most often occurs if the control is weak.
Step 3. Search and select factories: shortlist 3-5, not correspondence with all
The right factory search for OEM/ODM is the filter. The goal is 3-5 adequate candidates and a comparison based on a single specification.
What to check when selecting
- factory or trading company (who actually produces and is responsible for quality);
- specialization (usually narrow
