Projects Showcase

Case Studies

PassageMaker places great emphasis on the security of our client’s designs and branding. Therefore we are grateful to the clients below who have graciously allowed us to disclose their projects on this web site.

The average PassageMaker client is a tier 1 or 2 tier suppliers to major retailers around the world. Many purchase USD 1 million or more in China per year. We also welcome small and even new business as clients if their products demonstrate a high potential for growth and the client can commit to an annual invoice amount of 20,000 USD worth of PassageMaker services. Such services include sourcing feasibility studies, vendor coordination and/or assembly, inspection and packaging.

Services

Initial Sourcing Feasibility Study then Precision Assembly/Inspection and now Joint Venture

• Diagnostic Electronics
  

Black Box Assembly and Inspection

• Sporting Goods
  
• Small Vehicles for Children
  
• Custom Furniture

General Assembly and Inspection

• Craft Kits
  
• Carburetors
  
• Phone Tower
  
• Hardware for Mirror and Picture Frames

Initial Sourcing Feasibility Study and on-going Vendor Coordination

• Furniture
  
• Police and Military Equipment
  
• Extruded Aluminum
  
• Classroom Science Models
  
• Fender

For a list of other projects completed by PassageMaker, visit our Product Classifications

Services Provided: Sourcing Feasibility Study/ Assembly & Inspection/ Joint Venture

What’s Special?

PassageMaker was commissioned by this client to find specialty suppliers of diagnostic devices used in emergency medical situations. A number of suppliers were identified and true pricing points exposed. However research indicated that the most suitable suppliers in China in terms of price and quality had already established partnership agreements with US and EU distributors in direct competition with client.

Realizing significant savings were to be gained by production in China, yet highly cognizant of the risk in doing business with suppliers who were on the road to becoming future competitors, the client turned to PassageMaker to set up a “virtual joint venture” at our assembly center. An agreed amount of floor space, staff (originally 5) and equipment was dedicated solely to the production of the client’s given product.

As quality product made in PassageMaker’s assembly center gained recognition in the marketplace, orders began to grow. In the course of a year, production staff requirements for this project expanded from 5 to 70. At this point it made sense for both parties to form a true equity joint venture and set up an independent production facility. PassageMaker serves as the client’s equity partner, leveraging its existing business infrastructure and proven China track record to facilitate the formation of, and oversee the operations of the factory in China.

Simply put, the client received the benefits of a well run China production facility without the headaches associated with running a factory in China!

Black Box Assembly and Inspection

• Sporting Goods
• Small Vehicles for Children
• Custom Furniture
• Dozens of other products

Due to sensitive nature of projects, images are not made available online.

Craft Kits for Children

• Kite Kits
• Sandal Decorating Kits
• Sidewalk Chalk Art
• Flying Discs
• Various Material and Production Methods
• 18 Sub Suppliers
• Complex Assembly Requirements (multiple colors and sizes)

What’s Special?

In this case, PassageMaker serves as the the quality gate and primary assembly partner, performing the following functions:

• Identify and manage 3^rd party suppliers of specialized components at a national level
• Final assembly, inspection (In-bound QC, in-process QC and final QC) packaging and freight consolidation takes place our facility.
• Warehousing and stock reporting provided on a daily basis.

100% QC is performed on more than 100,000 units which move through our tightly controlled inventory and QC system order cycle. QC issues are dealt with before goods are shipped out of China, saving time and money. As the finished product is not revealed to the local vendors of the components, sub-suppliers are prevented from turning into future competitors. Shipping costs are reduced through freight consolidation.

Carburetors

• Client: US-Based Manufacturer of high-end automobile parts
• End Users: US Auto manufactures and retailers such as Pep Boys, NAPA & Advanced Auto Parts
• Value: 20 different models representing 1.2 million units with an estimated value of $60 million USD to be purchased annually
• Background: Client required a supplier in China to provide standard carburetors to supplement higher-end goods already in production at client’s facility in USA.  For these auto parts, preferential price was essential while quality could not be compromised.

What’s Special?

In just a 2 month period, while keeping client identity confidential, PassageMaker sourcing engineers visited 25 potential suppliers across China and narrowed the field down to the three top candidates based on the client’s exact criteria for design, price, service, quality, lead time and security.   The interested parties were introduced and PassageMaker provides support ranging from negotiation of contracts to on-going purchase order management.

PassageMaker was selected for the project as the client needed an unbiased review of the actual sourcing situation from a trusted partner on the ground in China. US-based researchers, Chinese factory representatives and other intermediaries with hidden agendas and mark ups were ruled out. PassageMaker received a fixed fee from client to conduct the sourcing feasibility study and engage the suppliers. This clearly aligned the two companies’ interests.  All information gathered was provided to the client in a transparent and easy to understand fashion.

Today the carburetors are delivered to PassageMaker’s assembly center where they are inspected and made ready for export to the global market.

TeleTower

• Phone Mounting Device for Office Use
• ABS Plastic w/ Matte Finish
• Twin Cavity Injection Mold
• 180 Ton Injection Mold Machine
• Packaged in UV coated multi-color box

Inserts Include:

Multi-lingual instructions, marketing material, chrome screws and rubber grips.

What’s Special?

Set up costs at a 1/4 of the competitor’s rate, and at a 1/3 of the lead-time. This allowed this product to undergo 14 design upgrades between prototype and launch without compromising delivery targets or bankrupting the entrepreneur/ designer. Such affordable flexibility would not have been possible in North America. PassageMaker’s English-speaking support staff and sourcing engineers worked around the clock to turn this customer’s vision into blue prints and blue prints into reality.

Hardware for Mirror and Picture Frames

Family of hardware for hanging mirrors and frames consisting of:

• Steel stampings with zinc and/or chrome plating
• Die cast steel with nickel finish
• Injected plastics
• Screw machining
• Extruded aluminum

Inserts include:

Multi-lingual instructions, screws and wall anchors. Packed both in bulk for OEM use, or individually packaged for retail display using color cards/ blister packs, plastic boxes, carded bags and bar codes.

What’s Special?

This hanging hardware family requires a wide variety of production methods. Quick tool and die changeovers coupled with PassageMaker’s commitment to service, allow for production runs of any size to be priced competitively. Most production runs are in the 100-300,000-unit range and require as little as one month lead-time for production. PassageMaker’s assembly center is the perfect location to kit the various components together and ensure the quality and packaging is to the exact specifications required by client. These products can be seen at Home Depot and Lowes.

Furniture

• Client: US Designer and Distributor of high-end wooden furniture
• End Users: Retail Outlets and Catalogues in North America
• Size: Multiple container loads per month
• Background: Client required factory direct relationship with medium-sized factory interested in given order size and willing to offer custom finishing using proprietary client designs.

What’s Special?

The China furniture market is massive with radical variation in pricing and QC, further complicated by a web of middlemen providing little value.� Before hiring PassageMaker, initial supplier assessment conducted by the client focused on a review of websites which proved not representative of actual production ability. Correspondence Dealing with trading companies proved frustrating as actual production capability was often exaggerated and factory direct channel was obstructed.

Realizing that on-the-ground China research was essential, yet faced with budget and time constraints, the client selected PassageMaker to weed out middlemen and find a legitimate factory with the required production ability.

Police and Military Equipment

• Client: European Procurement Agency
• End Users: European Militaries and Police Forces (Mainly Germany and Belgium)
• Size: Custom orders of a few hundred units to full container loads
• Background: Products range from simple work style gloves to non-UV reflective camouflage. All have very strict quality requirements.

What’s Special?

Many of the products have “new-to-China” material specifications. One item required a special coating for non-UV reflection (so as not to show up easily using night vision googles). As no single supplier existed that was able to provide both the fabric and coating, PassageMaker was assigned the task of coordinating the entire production from raw material thru processing and final QC.  We are proud to be the first and only company in China to have successfully exported this ultra-high end material.

Extruded Aluminum

• Client: American Manufacturer of Bathroom Enclosures
• Size: Multiple 40 ft containers per month
• Background: Required PO coordination and tight QC of supplier to identify and fix problems during containerization before being shipped to USA customer.

What’s Special?

While Chinese extruded aluminum is readily available in the USA, it is of mixed quality and enters the country via a convoluted network of intermediaries complicating QC, lead times and pricing.  Going “factory direct” is crucial for not only cost saving but for QC. As for higher end finishes, there can be sizable variance in quality during the course of even a small batch run.  This means that a cursory inspection at the end of production is not sufficient. And waiting until the product arrives in USA is futile considering the cost of US labor to do 100% inspection, let alone send a container back to China or wait for a replacement. Finding defects before shipping has already saved clients millions of dollars.

PassageMaker QC engineers spend on average 2 days per shipments conducting both in-process QC as well as a final audit at containerization.  Before any shipment is released, a full report including video images is sent directly from the inspection site to the client for approval. Goods may also be delivered to PassageMaker’s assembly center for close inspection before shipping out.

Classroom Science Models

• Client: National Distributor of School Supplies
• End Users: US Elementary, Middle & High Schools
• Background: Previous supplier in Europe offered a beautiful product along with high pricing, long lead times and overall poor service.

What’s Special?

PassageMaker was commissioned $2,000 to analyze the supply chain potential in China in hopes of identifying a suitable supplier.  As a direct result of our research, cost of product delivered to client was reduced by over $100 per unit, for a better product with shorter lead times!

Due to the remote location of supplier and lack of English skills, PassageMaker performed all required QC and entire export processing on behalf of American customer.

Fender

• Motorcycle Fender Extension
• Chrome Plated ABS Plastic
• Twin Cavity Injection Mold
• 250 Ton Injection Mold Machine

Finished Product Includes:

Custom made stainless steel mounting fasteners, and a double-walled master carton with crush zones for extra shipping protection.

What’s Special?

Chrome plating plastic is not an easy task. High quality, professional mold design and press set up is essential as any material flow irregularities are clearly visible when the mirror finish is applied. Finish also requires special handling and custom packaging throughout production and shipping, as even the slightest blemish is considered unacceptable. Passagemaker was successful in finding and managing the best mold markers available in S. China to complete the core components, while final assembly, packaging and inspection took place at the PassageMaker assembly center.