Poor prototype my fault?

[prismshian]

I've just CNC prototyped some putters out of steel from China, and the engravings are absolutely horrible, its all over the place and the alignments dont even exist. Its quitebad engineering as far asalignment is concerned.


I only submitted an IGES file as they requested. Is it my fault that I didn't give them drawings with dimensions telling them the exact position of the engravings?


I'm very new to Solidworks and engineering, thanks so much for your help!

 

[c_thompson_68]

Was the engraved text present in the native SolidWorks part files, and was it clearly shown in the IGES export file as an engraved text? If so, I would suggest the fault was with your vendor in China. However, I would have probably sent an eDrawing or PDF with a note indicating the font and point size of the engraved text.

I do not know about the U.K., but I recently read in BusinessWeek that the cost of manufacuring in the United States is only about 5% more than China due to the current recession. Have you considered finding someone closer to home where you can manage the project more effectively?

Chris

SolidWorks Premium 2007 & 2009
Pro/Engineer Wildfire 2.0 & 3.0


Edited by: c_thompson_68

 

[Waidesworld]

Chris, the cost of manufacturing may be close to the Chinese equivalent in certain sectors but you can't make a broad statement like this.

Mark, we deal a lot with Chinese and other far east nations and I ALWAYS ask for a prototype up front. It saves a lot of money in the long run. There is always a lost-in-translation effect and it no fault on either side. We have some clients that we have been working with for over 15 years and we still experience issues every so often.

What I do typically is submit a drawing and ASK if that is all the information that they need. If it isn't (like location of the writing), then they are quick to tell me. Competition is fierce in China so each company doesn't want to lose any contracts with the Occidentalists.

Edited by: Waidesworld

 

[prismshian]

Chris,


The text was present in the solidworks part file, and it was clearly shown in the IGES as engraved text. Some of it was quite small so they had to use etching but that's no excuse to me to be all over the place, I think its so unprofessional to have engravings slanted to a side when it was obviously supposed to be straight. Should I threaten to leave? lol jk. I think I'm giving them another chance this time with clear drawings indicating the importance of engraving postions.


Thanks for your tip regarding US costs now the recession has kicked in, I think I'll check out some US prototypers, I'm quite tired of poor machining, its like a waste of money, unusable.


Waide,


What do you mean by you ALWAYS ask for a prototype up front? Does this mean you want a free prototype of your model first?


I think I'll do that, I'll ASK next time after submitting my drawings if that's all they need to do a perfect job.


There's even one more unprofessional thing she did, the MODIFIED MY MODEL !! I think it was just lazyness, they could have used a 0.2mm cutter but they decided to do the job in one shot, I dont know the truth if its me or them, but I'll give it one more go with SOME SERIOUS DRAWINGS LOL and see if they still mess up. I think i'll have to pay a little more and start prototyping in the states.


Any good leads for quality machining and engraving?

 

[Waidesworld]

Depending on the size of the prototype I will pay for it sometimes. But when you compare anything up to a few hundred to qualify what could end up as thousands in revenue, then it's worth it.

And sometimes I simply pay for the shipping of the parts if they are small enough.

 

[c_thompson_68]

Prismshian,

I think Waidesworld gave you some good advice. Communication is the key, and when working with an overseas manufacturer it is important to talk to someone who can clearly understand your needs and your language.

I was not intending to make a blanket statement about the cost difference between U.S. and overseas manufacturers. However, this article So Much for the cheap 'China Price' (BusinessWeek June 4, 2009) discusses the decreasing cost advantage in more detail:

"In 2005, AlixPartners found that by the time the items had arrived at a
U.S. port, Chinese-made parts were 22% cheaper on average than those
produced in the U.S. By the end of 2008, however, the average price gap
had dropped to 5.5%, which often isn't large enough to merit the hassle
of manufacturing halfway around the world."

So my suggestion is do your research, and get quotes from both overseas & local manufacturers and see which is more competitive (including hidden costs). If the price difference is relatively small, that is it really advantageous to have the component manufactured overseas?

Of course, there are some items that are now only produced overseas (example: tooling to manufacture product was shipped overseas), so in those cases you will have to work with an overseas factory. When a component is only available from an overseas factory, how do you determine which factory to use if several are available in the local area? Do you contact each potential factory individually and how do you verify the quality, reliability and working conditions of the employees?

I am a consultant / contractor who provides design services to my clients (using SolidWorks or Pro-E), and I will refer clients to domestic manufacturers when requested as I have not yet developed a strong relationship with overseas manufacturers. You need to be aware that some design firms (not all, just a few) will only refer clients to their overseas manufacturing partner. Choose your own contract manufacturer wisely.

Chris


Edited by: c_thompson_68