Folks,
Not to stretch the creation metaphor too far, when a new or redesigned product is conceived, is in gestation and is about to spring forth, it pays to have an experienced midwife in the mix. We frequently hear that EastBridge is just that - the midwife who guides the birth of new products.
When you get down to it, we're in the business of landing (birthing) fairly priced and top quality custom products on the docks of our customers. There are many steps (and countless phone calls, meetings, design reviews, BOM development, mold-flow analyses, material testing and email notes) before we arrive at that point and a lot to juggle.
In order for the "baby" to arrive healthy and on time, we follow a process that's tried and true. The checklist that guides each of our projects is summarized below:
STAGE I
Phase I
General Specification Review
Pre-qualification of approximately three (3) contract manufacturers (CMs) and a corps of supporting subcontractors
Execute customer / vendor mutual non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
On-site factory audit of the candidate vendor(s)
Confirmation of the specification and generation of budgetary quotations, FOB term
Estimated Duration: Four Weeks
Phase II
Specification refinement and confirmation
Sample generation / trial run (tooling build, FAI, etc.)
Secondary pricing and commercial terms negotiation
Finalize vendor(s)
Design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) and process optimization
Estimated Duration: Twenty Weeks
STAGE II
Place initial order on behalf of customer by transmitting customer's PO to the vendor(s)
Expedite the order and advise the customer of the delivery schedule
Perform work in process inspection (WIP)
Perform inspection of the finished goods
Supervision of all shipments
Shipment coordination, administration and translation
Estimated Duration: Ten Weeks
Now, while the timing shown for each phase differs from project to project, the overall process and trajectory for complex products is defined by this checklist. With or without us, it's a lot to keep track of. We think that the EastBridge process is helpful, and we hope that you will as well.
Cheers,
Jack Daniels