Manufacturers work in different ways according to their local culture and way of doing businesses. Nothing new, but how to find them? Well, before it used to be a more complicated process since Internet wasn't that developed and so within the years many manufacturers developed a cultural ritual of presence, introduction, exchange of information, a small taste of the local culture, compromise, goals, etc.
Well things, in a way, haven't changed that much except perhaps for the applying of nowadays technological tools.
I found this two websites quite useful
1) http://www.made-in-china.com/
Made-in-China is among the most popular manufacturers databases. It continues to develop and grow constantly. There are a lot of companies to contact and the information is quite standard. You get to see where are they located, how to contact them, some pictures of their infrastructure, and a general overview.
Things I didn't like: I opened an account in order to be able to reach in a better way some manufacturers. I immediately started to get advertising from manufacturers in totally different areas of mine, mostly looking to export their products (“Hello! We know that you are a very important importer of bla bla bla...”). It's all about business, totally understandable, but a bit annoying since it is clear in your profile what you do and what type of businesses are you looking for. There are also a lot of small companies/entrepreneurs who are selling pirate copies of popular products, they even offer you to do the logistics for you, however, if you get their messages a couple of times per week you definitely will get tired of them.
Some manufacturers take this site very seriously, so serious that they forget to get their own webpage which is a bit odd since they have the money to invest in such a crucial element of any company.
Things I really like: I like the manufacturers who post a lot of pictures of their infrastructure since I got an idea of what kind of company it was. The ones who wrote a lot of details of their businesses and they even had their own web domain. In a way it looked more real for me, but then again how to know that those pictures were not false nor all those certificates of Gold/Premium/Audited supplier they receive/pay to www.Made-in-China.com
Alibaba is probably the most popular manufacturers site on Internet, you can choose from any country in the world and in any category. The same standard information applies to all the companies all over the world so I think it is quite interesting.
The chat option is more available in this web page so you can interact almost immediately with their sales managers, but e-mails and a contact forms are always available.
The things I didn't like (and I liked) were very similar to the ones in Made-in-China.
Those web pages work ok and you can have a general overview of what is the manufacturing world. You can choose from different countries, locations, products, services, in a very standard way. Since the layout of the web pages is the same for all the companies, you can easily see the products they manufacture.
There are quite many manufacturers so try to work in one region so your logistic costs will remain low. Every business is different so perhaps you might need other type of manufacturers, compare prices, costs, and many other variables. The relationship with a manufacturer is like a marriage, it's going to be for a long time and you'll need to trust them.
In many ways, it's a matter of being able to negotiate since you are going to negotiate everything: prices, MOQ, incoterms, modifications, etc.
If they are willing to cooperate with you, take the chance and see how much can you work together. If it's not possible, you've learned a lot in the meanwhile and of course, keep the contact. You never know when you might need them again.
Have a look to those databases and let me know what you think! Since many people seems to hate or dislike those webpages, if so, it would be nice you can share where to find good manufacturers.
p.s. I have a cold so definitely no sauna for a while.
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