Product Development: 6 Steps to Ensure Success with Offshore Manufacturing

All of us have likely heard horror stories about the results of offshore manufacturing. One common theme is discovering too late that the materials used in the final product were of lesser quality and different finish than what was provided in the initial samples.  

Distracted by the low costs and high production speeds that offshore manufacturing promises, many companies believe this is the golden ticket and therefore don’t strategically follow through to manage their outsourcing decision.

While looking at countries, cities, vendors — as well as price negotiation opportunities — is an important part of the process to strategically select a manufacturing partner, taking time to prepare for managing the offshoring to ensure it is executed to the quality plan is an equally important task. 

Without proper preparation, time and money could be wasted on a product that does not pass QA testing and has an unacceptable look and feel. 

Ensure Success with 6 Steps

Each step in transferring a design to offshore manufacturing should create value for the product development process and commercialization plan. Identify the risks and rewards associated with the execution (or non-execution) of these steps and factor them into your plans for offshoring.

Here are 6 ways we ensure success with Product Creation Studio clients when taking a product from development to commercialization:

1.   Communicate design requirements and specifications.

Share design documents that include critical tolerances and dimensions, as well as specified color, material, and finish. Describe and quantify the expectation of a quality product from the beginning of the project. Before sharing your design with any manufacturer (whether offshore or in the U.S.), ensure an NDA is in place and protect your IP.

2.   Make sure the offshore manufacturer creates and follows a manufacturing plan – with a schedule – that you have visibility to.

Review the initial schedule to make sure it includes all activities and important milestones for feedback from the product development team, plus in-country holidays when the offshore team is not available.  Hold weekly meetings to review the current schedule, including items completed and items planned for the next week, and also to review open action items and discuss questions the manufacturer might have. Write and distribute meeting minutes with documented decisions and updated action items.

3.   Identify key points of contact and key decision-makers on both the onshore and offshore teams.

Ideally, limit key points of contact to just a few at each location to avoid confusion – e.g. one PM and one lead engineer at each site.  Make sure these team members attend the weekly meetings. Understand and agree upon who the key decision-makers are to reduce the risk of delays while waiting for a decision to be made. Key decision-makers may be different for financial, technical, and process development decisions.

4.   Try to adapt to cultural and language differences.

Use simple communication techniques such as short, direct sentences without jargon which may not translate well when running through translation software.  Often written communication is easier to translate and understand vs. spoken when communicating in a non-native language. Use visuals such as renderings, graphs, photos, and/or call-outs on drawings or presentations. Consider the use of a chat tool as well as email.  Be available during off-hours due to time zone differences.

5.   Respond quickly to requests and assist in problem-solving.

Consider the manufacturer’s capabilities and be flexible to make design and/or tooling changes if possible to accommodate the manufacturers’ requests. Remember that you are all working together as one team, so be a partner that helps solve problems, not just present problems.

6.   Send product development engineers to the offshore manufacturing plant during pre-production.  

It is extremely helpful when the engineers can see the part fabrication, line setup, and assembly in-person to understand how processes are executed. While there, engineers can review the manufacturer’s first article inspection reports, and review and approve of any corrective actions identified and implemented for parts. It will save time if engineers can also review and approve parts (T1, T2, etc.) to evaluate the color, materials, and finish, while at the manufacturing facility, to avoid the time delay of shipping parts back and forth and to ensure they meet the quality level previously communicated.

It may sound like a cliché, but you must treat offshoring manufacturing as a strategic imperative if you wish to capture all its benefits. When you begin with the desire to create strategic advantage through offshoring, you can commit yourselves to transferring complex processes relatively early. Companies need to remember that the manner in which they start their offshoring initiatives often determines how they will end.

While this is by no means a complete list of the challenges involved, knowing what to expect before evaluating offshoring will help teams communicate clearly throughout the manufacturing cycle and make the product achieve commercialization success.