Businesses that rely on global manufacturing face various challenges, including supply chain disruptions, quality control issues, and geopolitical instability, which can have a significant impact. That’s on top of the standard problems of product development, design for manufacture, and ensuring global compliance. A prudent approach to contract manufacturing must address all these complexities if the company is to achieve sustainable, long-term success.
1. Diversify Supply Chains for Stability
Relying on a single supplier or region can be risky, especially in today’s volatile global market. Fortunately, reliable suppliers from India to the Southeast Asia region allow savvy corporations to diversify their supply chains. The ASEAN region should be fascinating to companies contracting in China due to its strategic location and cost competitiveness. This region includes the emerging economies of:
- Vietnam—In recent years, the country’s competitive labor costs, strong work ethic, and favorable trade agreements have attracted global brands and suppliers. Product manufacturing includes electronics, textiles, metalwork, plastics, and footwear.
- Thailand — The country boasts a skilled workforce, developed supply chain networks, and supportive government policies. Already an established automotive manufacturing hub, Thailand is growing its electronics sector.
- Malaysia—The country’s robust intellectual property protections, advanced infrastructure, and skilled workforce have attracted global technology, aerospace, and medical device companies.
- Indonesia — Abundant natural resources and competitive labor costs have made Indonesia an attractive destination for automotive and heavy industry manufacturers. Its vast population also provides a vibrant domestic market for manufactured goods.
- Philippines — The country’s skilled workforce, English proficiency, and competitive costs have attracted global electronics companies.
- Singapore — The city-state known for its stability and business savvy has captured high-value manufacturing sectors such as biomedical sciences, aerospace, and precision engineering. Companies can rely on Singapore’s advanced infrastructure, strong intellectual property protections, and highly skilled workforce.
The ASEAN states have created a single market with a combined GDP of over $3.6 trillion. They provide global companies with the viable alternatives necessary for reliable diversification.
By reducing dependence on any single source, companies can enhance operational resilience. A proactive approach to supply chain optimization ensures that a company’s manufacturing processes are more efficient and better prepared for potential disruptions. Of course, locating suppliers and separating the state-of-the-art facilities from the fly-by-night operations is another challenge the companies must overcome.
One more challenge companies must consider is the tariff risks associated with trade partners. Companies must mitigate risks by evaluating the likelihood of a tariff being imposed and their ability to pivot when a threat becomes reality.
2. Maintain On-Site Presence for Consistent Quality Control
Where quality control matters, it’s always best to have “boots on the ground” and eyes focused on every phase of the manufacturing process. Effective QC requires frequent inspections to ensure the process and products meet standards at every step. This on-the-ground involvement ensures that your manufacturing stays on course, avoiding costly mistakes that could arise when you try to manage from a distance.
3. Set Clear Specifications and Test Products Before Market Launch
A successful product launch requires more than just an idea—it needs thorough testing and validation. During the “design for manufacture” stage, engineers must scrutinize a proposed product as a candidate for mass production. Testing and retesting the design seeks to eliminate flaws that detract from quality and esthetics, lower per-unit production costs, hasten the time to market, get the product into production more quickly, and simplify assembly to reduce labor costs.
Companies must invest the time upfront to set precise product specifications and test protocols for prototype development, saving time and money during manufacturing. When you want consistent quality, you must refine your product to meet stringent standards, ensuring it’s ready for success when it hits the market.
4. Implement Robust Quality Assurance and Control
Quality assurance is like an insurance policy, guarding you against the crushing liability when you market an unsafe product. Your product must be safe for its intended use and for reasonably foreseeable misuses. You must test your product and processes to meet international safety standards.
However, a complete commitment to quality assurance goes even further, encompassing all preparatory steps necessary to ensure that facilities and processes are ready and can mass produce the product according to specifications. To ensure the process meets standards set by the client, the market, and all pertinent regulators, QA demands:
- Processes designed and implemented with a holistic approach that considers market factors, regulatory requirements, experiences of similar products, cost constraints, manufacturability, and real-world use by actual consumers.
- Strong communication that elicits pertinent information from a wide range of stakeholders, including the client, suppliers, manufacturing partners, marketing professionals, and consumers.
- Verification and improvements through multiple rounds of testing for prototypes, first article parts, pre-production, and production.
QA involves comprehensive preparation designed to eliminate any chance of a mistake entering the process. The result is the mass production of uniform goods that meet the company’s expectations, perform as intended, comply with stringent environmental standards, and achieve social benchmarks.
5. Contingency Planning for Business Continuity
Business leaders know they must expect the unexpected. This means building contingency strategies into your production plans, such as flexible production plans with backup suppliers and alternative methods. When a company is nimble enough to pivot in its processes, it is ready to adapt to real-world disruptions. This allows leadership to focus on growth without worrying about unexpected roadblocks.
Building a Resilient Future with Genimex
Companies are looking to become more resilient with outsourced manufacturing risks spreading too thin. Your people cannot be everywhere at once. For this reason, it makes sense to partner with a turnkey manufacturer with an established presence in those areas that can deliver an advantage.
For example, Polder, a housewares company offering “Life. Style. Solutions.” had contracted its manufacturing in China for much of its history. Concerns over potential tariffs and supply chain reliability during COVID-19 prompted the company to search for alternatives. Genimex was able to offer solutions and implement a streamlined transition to ASEAN suppliers. Polder kept its large-scale commitments to major retailers like Costco while maintaining its trademark quality.
By partnering with a company like Genimex, you can tap into a wealth of technical knowledge and regional manufacturing experience. You also gain a hands-on, on-site advocate determined to help your business overcome every challenge and sustain success. Genimex makes supply-chain diversification painless and cost-effective, building resiliency without overextending company resources.
