How much money can be saved?

Production cost are far lower than in the west. However, the exact total saving depends greatly on the products and services you require. Our customers have realized substantial saving across-the-board working with us. Compared to manufacturing in Europe, savings of 20-50% of total cost would normally be expected. Please contact us to find out how much savings you can make through us.

How to get started?

If you are interested in having your product(s) sourced in China, you would do best in collecting the following information as a basis to start a product search request with us.

• Samples (if available)
• Drawings/blueprints
• Technical specification including materials details
• Volume in units
• Lead time requirement and term of shipments
• Quality inspection requirements
• Packaging requirements
• Current product price (make sure you consider total costs)
• Target cost (optional)

The more accurate your information, the better armed we are to negotiate the lowest price possible. Remember we're working directly for you as your company representative in China, and hope to do so for a long time to come. Our price quotations are designed to foster long-term relationships with each and every one of our clients. Start your product search here.

Can you ensure confidentiality?

All information provided by our clients will be treated in strictest confidence and used for no other purpose than to provide the services that have been requested.
In any event, please inform us about especially sensitive information that we can take sufficient precaution. Should the project require it, we can work out a Non Disclosure Agreement.

What minimum quantities are required?

Quantity depends on the product. However, higher quantities evoke enormous economies of scales and experience. We normally advice to be thinking of sourcing values of at least USD 50,000 per year. Smaller one-off projects can be undertaken but supplier factories are less enthusiastic about smaller orders and this is reflected in the price offers. If you cannot provide order numbers yet, please still give us two or three scale estimates for which you would like to have the quotes.

How long does the process take?

For a product search, it greatly depends on how complex your product is and whether we have already a good supplier relationship to build upon.

• For items that are already produced with one of our partners, lead times can be quite short; we can normally produce a quote for you within 2-3 weeks.
• For simple products where a sample and/or comprehensive drawings are available we would hope to be able to provide a quote within 4-6 weeks.
• Complex sourcing projects can take several months to come to completion.

The completion of the production process also depends on the product complexity and the capacity of the suppliers. The latter is sometimes a matter of cost, for instance to choose the number cavities or multiple moulds. On average production may take 1-2 months.

The shipping of the goods from China to Europe takes about a month by sea and is a matter of days by air.

Also taking unexpected delaying factors into account, you can see that the whole process can be a fairly lengthy procedure. Therefore, China sourcing is typically considered as long-term strategic decisions rather than a quick operative win.

Are there any up-front fees?

If you get to us with a concrete product request and an order contract, we can offer you a product sourcing project with an all-inclusive FOB/CIF price, where you don’t have to pay up-front fees.

However, if your product search is more of an explorative kind, for instance to search quotes for your own benchmarking or to set-up a new product with unknown demand, we would offer you consulting services fees for time and effort, according to a proposal.

Samples are often provided for free by the supplier. In case of substantial up-front cost (e.g. for moulds, raw material purchase, or transportation), we would make you a concrete offer.

We also charge for extra services, such as design services, accompanied site visits, quality inspection, customs clearance, or shipping; which are always agreed with the client beforehand.

What and how do I pay for a purchase?

We mostly quote in CIF to the required delivery port (e.g. Hamburg). Therefore, the offer includes all manufacturing cost, shipping cost, customs clearance and taxes in China, as well as our charges.

However depending on the country of origin and of final destination there will be handling, tariff and/or tax charges for which the purchaser will be responsible for.

Depending on your organisation’s facilities you may prefer organising the shipping or even the customs declaration in China by yourself – in this case we can offer FOB or EXW terms as well.

The payment methods we work out together based on business relationship with the supplier and client. We typically work with (advance partial) T/T payments or Irrevocable Letter of Credits (L/C).

Can quality standards be reached?

Chinese manufacturers are making great strives in improving their product and service quality – and in many fields they are already capable of meeting world-class quality standards. However, like in the West too, there are always issues that arise, from raw material sourcing to fabrication concerns. Furthermore, one may face problems that are endemic to the situation in China (facilities). Important is that such issues are managed as soon and as effectively as possible. Therefore, it’s very important to have quality assured from sampling to the final product by someone who can be on site and understands the clients’ quality requirements. For Aibix, product and service quality maintenance is the predominant objective.

Where in China do you source from?

We mainly operate out of the two cities, Shanghai and Xiamen:

• Shanghai with access to Jiangsu and Zhejiang province
  Even though Shanghai itself is already a somewhat expensive place, it is an ideal platform to access all the factories in the two neighboring provinces Zhejiang and Jiangsu. In fact, many of these factories maintain offices in Shanghai, thus allowing for more efficient dealing. Shanghai has significant advantages for export logistics since it holds China’s major port allowing for easy container shipping, while local transport from factories in the area is relatively cheap. Furthermore, Shanghai is China’s major hub for air freight. For us as well as for our suppliers it gives access to a high-quality Human Resources markets.
• Xiamen with access to Fujian and Guangdong province
  The South of China has long been the region were entrepreneurship has been given free reign. As a consequence the region started its privatisation drive much earlier than the more bureaucratic North, and hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized private enterprises were set up in the 90s. Many of these companies were quite successful, and have been at the centre of what the world media calls 'the factory of the world'. We operate in Fujian province and far into Guangdong province and the Pearl River Delta to reach OEM manufacturers. In Xiamen we also have access to a major and un-bureaucratic port infrastructure.
• Other areas: Of course we can also organize sourcing from other areas, but this may only make sense for major bulk quantities justifying additional transportation cost.