Finding a Factory

One of the largest challenges in working with an overseas machine shop is finding the right one. It takes a good deal of time to develop a relationship unless you are ready to travel long distances. If you can find one you think you can trust, they most likely are only truly interested in very high volume orders and anything less will get your orders pushed out over and over.

Language Difficulties

Working with an overseas company almost always comes with language barriers. It is common for requirements to be misunderstood or “forgotten” and too often mistakes are made due to miscommunications.

Shipping

Shipping can be a nightmare and almost always means your parts are loaded onto an ocean freighter for weeks of transit time. Rust, loss of product to damage and import holds are very commonplace. Inventory issues can arise and if expedited parts are needed Air freight costs can be debilitating. Import duties, tariffs, dock fees, etc all add up to increase costs.

Quality of Work

Shoddy materials and metals that do not meet specifications are often substituted without warning. When poor quality parts are received from overseas it can kick off a nightmare of replacements, overseas travel to track down what happened and the inevitable delay to receive usable parts.

High Minimum Order Quantities

Because overseas factories have lower profit margins, they typically require very high minimum orders. If you’re looking for regular size batch orders, you’ll have trouble getting your needs met in overseas.

Continued Degradation in Quality

One of the biggest complaints we hear from our new customers is the repetitive and continued down grade in parts quality and service received from their overseas suppliers. Even the state of their shipping boxes would continually be received with increasingly cheaper materials leading to parts damage. Only when official complaints were filed was there a change but only for a while before the cycle started again.