FAQ

A. Why Trust Globalink Manufacturing Solutions (GMS) with Offshore Manufacturing in China?

Quality, Safety & Security, Cost Savings, Simplicity and Experience 

B. Can you guarantee risk free manufacturing in China?

Anyone can find a Chinese factory to manufacture products. But can you be sure that the product will meet your quality & safety requirements and be delivered on time or be delivered at all? When placing work with GMS, you do not have to be concerned with providing your: intellectual property, money for tooling, sample products etc and resulting in nothing but lost time and money. Globalink Manufacturing Solutions has the experience, the partnerships in place at our manufacturing locations and the long lasting relationships with high quality prequalified suppliers and we guarantee satisfaction.  

C. Can you help us save money?

We can almost always help you save money and increase profitability without sacrificing quality and without increasing your risks. Working with GMS as your offshore contract manufacturing partner will surely provide minimal investment of your staff time.  Finding the perfect Chinese manufacturing solution, specifying the job and overseeing the production will cost you a great deal in terms of human resources, time and costs. With Globalink Manufacturing Solutions, we have the experience and resources to directly manufacture or source and manage the process efficiently and cost effectively, saving you more than just money—saving you time!

D. What type of products do you manufacture for your clients?

We have the ability to internationally manufacture directly, virtually any custom product or source almost any part that we cannot manufacture ourselves through our Prequalified Manufacturing Network. A great deal of our work is focused on what we can manufacture internally at our facilities using the following processes: Injection Molding, Stamping, Deep Drawing, Spinning, Machining, Casting, Sheet Metal Fabrication, Assembly and Packaging. But, again, this does not preclude us from whatever it is that your business is in need of due to our vast pre-qualified supplier base that complements our core in-house manufacturing capabilities.

E. With whom do you typically outsource?

 When we do outsource we work only with high quality Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and East Indian companies. They are the mature, more established companies that have long track records of producing top quality product at reasonable prices. Many of our suppliers do not export directly and therefore, are not bilingual which makes them that much more exclusive. All of the suppliers businesses that we use also comply with our Globalink Manufacturing Solutions ethical values. They pay fair wages, do not exploit their workforce, follow environmental regulations within their countries and do not participate in the piracy of intellectual property.

F. What kind of Clients do you work with?

 We work primarily with small to mid-sized manufacturers, marketing companies, brokers, procurement companies that are primarily located in United States, Canada and Europe, who need to develop an international supply chain in order to improve their competitiveness.  Many of our clients have a limited or non-existent staff in the following disciplines: (Technical, Engineering, Quality, Purchasing, Procurement, Warehouse, and Logistics).  Therefore Globalink Manufacturing Solutions manages some or all of those disciplines for them.   Our clients manufacture a wide array of products in which you can learn more about in our website. We provide assistance with components thru to complete turnkey finished and packaged products.

G.  What services do you provide?

We offer a full range of manufacturing and procurement services to help our clients fulfill their outsourcing goals. Specifically we provide:

• New Product Design, Reverse Engineering and Product Development assistance
• Manufacturing  (Injection Molding, Stamping, Deep Drawing, Spinning, Machining, Casting, Sheet Metal Fabrication, Assembly and Packaging)
• All communication with the factory, including the processing of your purchase orders.
• All on-site Quality Assurance inspections by our inspectors 
• Problem resolution
• Develop proper procedures to insure quality
• Trouble shoot and solve technical issues 
• Project management and progress reporting
• Manage logistics
• Billing in USD (company Checks accepted from US clients, no L/C’s needed) 
• Consultative services to assist in your decision making process whether to enter the global supply stream or not 
• On-site factory inspections 
• Background research of factories, if necessary 
• Systems development
• Product certification assistance, CSA, UL, ETL, CE, TUV,NSF and more.
• Warehousing on both East and West Coast of USA as well as warehousing in China.

H. What kind of manufacturing savings can I expect?

 When you outsource to China, savings vary widely depending upon the type of product sourced. The greatest savings generally come from products that are labor intensive. In general, you can generally expect to save between 20%-50% over products manufactured in USA, Canada and Europe. Perhaps more if you have attempted to outsource off-shore on your own and failed. Addtionally, all cost should be consider above and beyond just the product cost. When considering all of the non-obvious cost, an even greater savings in time and money will be attained.  

I. How can I be sure that what you manufacture or procure is safe and high quality?

Globalink Manufacturing Solutions is the US office for our factories and only uses prequalified suppliers if needed.  This leaves our factory to focus on managing manufacturing without the distraction of having many clients contacting them.  Our factories are co-managed by us in the USA.  If any quality concerns arise with suppliers, a member of our QA team will visit the factory before and during production. They then return to inspect every shipment before it leaves the suppliers factory or we have the items sent to our factory or inspection. Our Customers have experienced complete satisfaction on >98% of shipments received.

J. How long will it take?

The time required varies widely depending upon the challenge of what it is that we are manufacturing or procuring. Typically quotes can be as fast as 24 hours and as long as a few weeks depending on the complexity of the project.  Obtaining first samples for custom projects can take as little as 6 weeks to many months with significant tooling needing to be manufactured prior. We provide realistic timelines and do not provide timelines that are just what you want to hear and having to ask for forgiveness later when it does not work out. 

K. Why should I use Globalink Manufacturing Solutions instead of outsourcing to China ourselves?

• Contract Manufacturing- Globalink Manufacturing Solutions has interest and partnership with our own manufacturing factories.
• Procurement through our Prequalified Manufacturing Network– Globalink Manufacturing Solutions works primarily with pre-qualified suppliers that we have long history and pre-negotiated rates in order to offer you factory direct pricing through our extensive supplier network in mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam and India. This is key! The majority of Asian factories are new and not well managed. In addition, many excellent factories do not export, advertise, nor have any English speaking staff.   If you do decide to source on your own, your chances of identifying these high quality operations are quite slim. It is a large and confusing country and also risky.  Just Google “Factory Closures in Guangdong” and you can read many articles about how many factories have closed in recent years and have taken down payments from clients prior to closure. 
• Control of production - The Globalink Manufacturing Solutions bilingual staff will be completely responsible for all communications regarding your project. This will greatly reduce the problems created by communication. You will interact with English speaking representatives and technical Project Managers. We will visit the factory as needed, monitor progress of your purchase order and inspect your product before it leaves the factory. Remember when using external suppliers, our inspectors owe their loyalty to you. They work for you, not the supplier. 
• If you do the sourcing yourself from the US, this close interactive relationship with the supplier will not be easily be achieved.  Also, true quality inspections will probably not take place. 

L. How do you differ from other international contract manufacturing companies?

There are many international manufacturing and sourcing companies, but we are the among the best at supplying high quality, problem free products that ship on time. This is our expertise. This is crucial to your planning and marketing. The greatest cost in doing business with offshore factories is often created by the receipt of sub-standard products, late shipping or not receiving anything at all. This creates chaos and your costs sky rocket. Without a diligent and expert engineering and quality assurance team working for you, these problems will assuredly be encountered. No one has a better quality record and quality team than Globalink Manufacturing Solutions.   Our partner has been in business for 38 years, and 18 years in mainland China. Our success and customer satisfaction rates are higher than most any of our competitors.

M. How does a typical job work?

Typically, each project proceeds through the following steps:

• A domestic representative either visits your business or the project is thoroughly discussed by various modern day means of communication to gain a clear understanding of the project.
• Communication of project details are discussed with our staff in China,  specifying the product, its specifications, and your specific concerns  If adequate engineering drawings cannot be provided, We can generate them for you (we have a very unique arrangement to offer this service, please inquire to your project manager)
  Samples, SLA, or Prototypes are shipped to our staff in China for evaluation
• For any components/products that we are unable to produce at our facility, potential supplier factories are identified from our network.
• A quotation is offered to you outlining any charges (mold making, set up time, samples, production unit costs etc.) 
• You provide us with a Purchase Order to start the project
• Tooling is built or transferred to our factory and trials begin 
• First Article Samples are delivered to our USA facility for secondary inspection
• If secondary inspection parts are satisfactory, they are shipped to you for final assessment & approval 
• Feedback, including any revisions, are communicated to our staff in China 
• Re-sampling may take place 
• After final approval, Production is released 
• Depending on the complexity of the project, a Technical GMS USA representative may visit the factory to assist in qualifying the first production operation to insure that first production is properly manufactured prior to shipment. 
• The product is shipped and if sent to USA (we clear the product through customs and can arrange domestic delivery) For Clients outside of the USA, we ship to port only for reasons of VAT reimbursement. 
• Invoices are generated when the goods leave the Chinese port

N. What does ODM and OEM mean and how are they different?

ODM- Original Design Manufacturer 

An Original Design Manufacturer or ODM designs and manufactures custom products or components for sale specifically to a second company that retails the brand name of the second company.

OEM- Original Equipment Manufacturer 

An Original Equipment Manufacturer or OEM, designs and manufacturers its own products or components which are purchased by other companies and retailed under any of the other companies brand names.

O. What type of design services can you provide?

We pride ourselves in our engineering capabilities.  We have Engineers on staff in USA, Taiwan and China. We provide Part and Product Design as well as Reverse Engineering Services for projects that we will manufacture.  For more information view our capabilities page. 

P. Is your manufacturing facility ISO certified? 

Absolutely. Our Xiamen China Manufacturing facility holds certification for ISO 9001:2000 by ANAB Accredited Registrar.  To view the ISO certification click here

In addition, our Xiamen China manufacturing facility is FDA registered.

Q. I have a need for a short run of a product. Can you help?

Yes, we do offer short run services. Each project is evaluated on an individual basis to offer this service.  We do often accept lower quantity runs than most offshore manufacturers.  For example, we have some turnkey products that are made in lots sizes as low as 50 under blanket orders.  Please inquire or Click here to submit your RFQ  

R. How about longer production runs?

A fair percentage of our business is larger volume product runs supporting direct operations of our customers.  Using our continuous production capabilities we can produce products with quantities well in excess of 500k units and components well into the millions annually. 

S. Can you help with tooling?

Absolutely.  Since most all products we manufacture are custom, we have extensive experience assisting our clients with appropriate tooling needs.  Often times we can reduce the cost of manufacturing by developing optimized tooling and specifying the best appropriate processes to manufacture parts. 

T. What size products can you manufacture?

We have manufactured components & products of all different sizes. For example, we manufacture small custom medical device components (smaller than a pencil eraser) as well as larger commercially used custom institutional products.

U. What are your assembly capabilities?

Our assembly operations are highly flexible.  We produce subassemblies, assemblies and full discrete turnkey products for many customers. We have established controlled environments for medical device assembly as well as more general assembly areas that are established specifically for each custom product.  

V. What differentiates GMS? 

For many years GMS has produced quality products for some of the most demanding customers.  We provide services to a wide range of clients that range from smaller privately held companies to larger publically traded Corporations.  Please view our company perspective for more information. We provide Turnkey Technical, Design, Product Development, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Warehousing Assistance.   

W. Who are your customers and can you provide references? 

Our customers are from a myriad of different industries (medical device, institutional equipment, retail products and more) and range from small privately held companies to larger publically traded corporations.  While most of our clients are located within the USA, we do maintain customers in Canada, Europe and Australia.  Although our customer list is broad, we will give you the same level of service, commitment & quality regardless of the size of project.

We will gladly provide references from a variety of organizations, industries, & products.  To request further information, please contact us at info@globalinkmfg.com  or phone us toll free at 800.396.9100 or 239.455.5166

X. Are you able to help me manage my inventory?

We contribute to managing inventory for many of our customers.  We fully understand that today's lean manufacturing processes require suppliers to remain extremely flexible and actively contribute to inventory management.  

Y. Where exactly is Naples, FL?

Naples is located in South West Florida, about 30 minutes south from the Fort Myers airport. 

While the majority of our clients are located within North America, we also have clients within Europe and other areas.  Our delivery methods ensure timely delivery to all our customers in any area of the world.

Z. When comparing quoted costs what do I have to consider? 

(Obvious Costs vs. Ambiguous Non-Obvious Costs of Off-Shore Manufacturing)

Obvious Tangible Costs

The obvious costs of products manufactured abroad generally include only:

1. Upfront cost of sourcing, finding the appropriate manufacturer that you can trust 

2. Product or Component unit cost 

3. Cost of freight, duty etc. 

The inexperienced importer rarely considers the additional costs. It often appears that the imported product(s) are extremely inexpensive and should be readily purchased.

However, there is a long list of additional, often non apparent costs that need to be identified. All costs must be calculated before any decision can be made to seek product internationally. After all of the costs are considered, the product purchased abroad is often more expensive than what was originally thought. Most trading companies, consultants, brokers and international manufacturers would like you to remain unaware of these costs until after you have become a customer of theirs. At GMS, we have nothing to hide and prefer our clients be knowledgeable of this for long term teamwork to exist between us.

Non-Obvious Tangible Costs

• Overhead costs allocated to production in the high wage location. These usually do not disappear. Normally, these are reallocated to the remaining production items, thus increasing those costs. 
• Costs of the additional inventory in transit on the water. Most often international manufacturers will require pre-payment terms in some manner.  This creates much more Work in Process (WIP) cost to the buyer. 
• Cost of safety stock to cover shortfalls. When your supplier is nearby and will provide just-in-time deliveries, inventories can be kept near minimum However, when your supplier is 10,000 miles away, much more safety stock needs to be kept on hand. 
• Costs of expensive expedited shipments. This is almost always done by air, is very expensive and will happen unless much effort in preplanning and scheduling occurs. Especially in the beginning stages of sourcing internationally, production problems and customer demands often force us to dramatically increase freight costs by using air rather than sea transport. 
• Costs of warranty claims if the new facility has a long learning curve. 
• Costs of numerous engineer visits to get the process right and keep it right. This can be minimal or significant, depending on the complexity of your product, the quality and integrity of your supplier. 
• The costs of senior executive visits to straighten out problems of relationships or policies (Note – this may include payments and other considerations to suppliers, officials, etc.). 
• Costs of out of stock items and lost sales due to late shipments. Shipments may be made after “drop dead” dates, thus creating much unneeded stock. 
• Potential costs of your customer’s dissatisfaction with late receipts or substandard product. 
• The cost of your offshore supplier, becoming your competitor and selling your products out the back door. 
• "Currency Risks" – This can occur quickly and without warning. 
• "Country Risks" – If the shipping country experiences political disturbances or if there is a political reaction in the receiving country as trade deficits or unemployment become political issues. 
• "Connectivity Costs" when managing product and information flows in highly complex supply chains across long distances in countries with vastly different business practices and cultural differences. Misunderstandings, communication delays and lost details drive up costs. 

  Many of these costs can be eliminated or dramatically minimized by steadfastly following a few basic guidelines:

• Working with a company who has the in-depth experience to assist you just as GMS
• Proceeding slowly and carefully, especially in the beginning until your comfort level is obtained. With GMS, it will happen much faster.
• Understanding the culture and attitudes that you are dealing just as GMS does.
• Dealing only with high quality manufacturers who do not exploit their workforce just as GMS
• Working through a company that has people on the ground in the foreign country just as GMS
• Working through a company that has the proper relations in place with long term history with those relations and has interests in the facilities where the work is being performed like GMS