Offshore Sourcing FAQs

What are the advantages of offshore sourcing?

An offshore sourcing strategy can help meet many business challenges. Large companies in North America and Europe have been using offshore sourcing for many years. They have learned that cost savings is only part of the equation: they can also improve delivery times while maintaining high quality standards. In short, Asian sourcing keeps companies dynamic and ready to meet competitive challenges.

Why Asian sourcing? Why not source here at home?

If your product can be manufactured here and still meet the demands of the marketplace, you should consider to source domestically. In the case of labor intensive products, sourcing in America may mean that your product cannot provide the necessary profit margins at all levels that are required to receive acceptance. In other words, producing domestically may drive costs too high, eliminating sales opportunities. If all parties in the sales channel cannot make the necessary profits, you do not have a saleable product or may need to change your marketing plan.

Asia provides a broad spectrum of manufacturing opportunities. Asian companies manufacture for the biggest names in consumer products. With modern equipment and manufacturing management practices in place, low cost no longer inherently means low quality. All you need to take advantage of Asian sourcing is to find the right partners and manage them effectively. That's where we come in.

Why do we need a sourcing agent?

Offshore sourcing involves a steep learning curve with great risk. Within your company now, you trust certain individuals to manage certain tasks. You handed out these responsibilities because you wanted to capitalize on specific skill sets, freeing up time for you to do what you do best. You will be making a substantial investment, make it wisely. Let Access International do what we do best: partner with you to achieve all your Asia sourcing needs.

How do you secure manufacturers suitable for offshore sourcing?

Our success as a sourcing agent has been achieved because of a variety of factors: 15 years of sourcing experience, attending trade events worldwide, forming business contacts over 30 years, and living previously in Asia. We also spend 6 weeks in Asia every year forming new strategic alliances with Asian manufacturing sources.

Can't we arrange our own contract manufacturing?

Perhaps, but sourcing your own manufacturing may be false economy. Offshore sourcing presents serious problems for the uninitiated. In addition to language and cultural issues, you must be prepared to handle pricing and program negotiations, goods inspection, trademark application filings, customs ruling requests, freight forwarder selection, banking nuances, and many other technicalities. As agents specializing in Asian sourcing, we field these issues for your company, saving you valuable time and money.

We've heard horror stories about patent infringement, poor workmanship and late deliveries. How does Access International prevent these problems?

Each offshore sourcing problem has a different solution, but we have the experience to prevent them before they occur. Selecting the right vendor is critical in preventing negative activities. Using Access International for Asian sourcing assures that the vendor of choice follows our accepted business ethics. We also have a series of checks and balances in place to minimize the likelihood of problems.

It's our experience that poor vendor performance is primarily caused by choosing the incorrect vendor, followed by poor direction and weak project management. We'll help you sidestep disaster before it occurs.

How do we know we're getting the best price?

You don't. Low price is only one leg of the three-legged stool. The other legs are high product quality and on-time delivery. Frankly, the last two legs of the stool are as important as the first and more difficult to achieve.

If all parties involved don't see the transaction as profitable, it can't succeed. Once an Asian manufacturer is not profiting from your product, problems may occur including price increases, changes in parts, and late deliveries. As your offshore sourcing agent, Access International will ensure that all three sourcing goals remain intact: a high quality product, timely delivery and a purchase price assuring equitable returns for you and your new manufacturing partner.

What type of lead times can we expect?

Initial orders generally ship 6-8 weeks after final sample approval. Re-orders ship approximately 4 weeks from the date of your down payment is received. Transportation time will depend on a variety of factors.

What can we do to assure success?

Your ability to provide fully dimensioned drawings, complete product definition, packaging design, prototypes, target costing, opening order size, and annual forecast quantity are very critical. Any project launch of substance deserves a business plan. We strongly suggest you complete one before you begin. Perhaps most importantly, have your funding in place before you begin. In our experience, most projects which fail, collapse due to a lack of proper funding and/or a failure of the client to pass key tasks to those experienced to perform those tasks.