Your 7 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Flywheel Sourcing … Answered!
Every day, the team at Flywheel Sourcing fields questions from clients and prospective clients alike regarding our processes, sources, and many other aspects of our work. Here are the most frequently asked questions we get, along with our answers.
1. Where is your team located?
Our U.S. leadership team works from our offices in Minneapolis, and we have boots on the ground in many of our countries of production, including China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Mexico.
To learn more about our team and what makes Flywheel Sourcing an ideal overseas manufacturing partner, take a look at this blog.
2. What services do you offer?
Our primary areas of expertise are:
Product development: Transforming product concepts from idea to reality
Program management: Providing a holistic approach to the process from start to finish
Compliance: Ensuring program quality and compliance with client requirements
We focus on expansion and growth, always working toward the next big thing and getting your products onto more retail shelves. What’s more, we can offer you additional support within our proven network with referrals for sales, design, and other support services to meet your needs.
Learn more about the services we offer here.
3. How long will it take to source an item?
This depends on several variables. The sourcing cycle is different for every client and every product line. For example: products that require steel tooling need to account for that development time, while other types of products (such as cut-and-sew products) may not.
At Flywheel, we pride ourselves on having the resources to move the product development process and sourcing steps along as quickly as possible, including:
Strong resources in identifying the best factory
Engineering resources for design and development
Merchandising in the country of production to keep in constant communication with the factory
These are all key ingredients for getting from concept to delivery at the fastest speed possible.
We understand the importance of delivering products that not only meet but exceed our clients’ expectations. That’s why we work closely with our clients throughout the entire product development process to ensure every aspect of the project is completed to their satisfaction.
Our team of experts have a deep understanding of global supply chain dynamics and are well-versed in the latest industry trends and best practices. We can help your company identify new suppliers and production locations, negotiate favorable terms and pricing, and implement sustainable practices that align with your values and goals with consistent and transparent communication.
4. How do you ensure quality in a product line?
Having “boots on the ground” in many of our countries of production, including China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Mexico is a key asset. They ensure the quality of every product through regular AQL inspections, annual audits, and routine quality assurance.
It’s important to have quality checked by a team that represents your company rather than the interests of the factory only.
Doing due diligence up front to select the right factory is also vital. Once we’ve chosen a factory, we then take a “trust but VERIFY” position. Having frequent visits to the factory — both announced and unannounced — is an essential part of understanding what’s happening, and having a clear inspection protocol our clients agree with and approve of ensures all parties are on the same page.
If there are problems, our goal is to find them early and fast, and fix them without having to change the Cargo Ready Date (CRD).
5. Can you source outside of China?
Yes, we continue to source in China and throughout Asia in countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Cambodia, South Korea, and India. We also now source in Mexico, as we recognize the rising interest in nearshoring and the prominence of Mexico as a credible trade alternative for many companies.
As a leading supply chain management company, Flywheel Sourcing specializes in helping businesses diversify their countries of production and implement sustainability initiatives.
6. Are you competitive in the sustainable market to source eco-friendly products and packaging?
Eco-friendly products and packaging are fast-growing and important facets of new product development. This has been a growing part of our business, and we feel great satisfaction in helping our clients achieve their goals in this area.
We work closely with our clients and with current packaging suppliers to help our clients execute their plans. Once we’re clear on the requirements our client is trying to meet, we help build a plan to support those goals.
7. How do you validate factory costs?
We validate factory costs in multiple ways.
First, cost engineers will review the Bill of Materials (BOM) to build the cost from the bottom up. That provides us with an opportunity to also look at other ways to impact the final product cost with recommendations for different materials, design elements, and so on.
At the same time, we never source from just one factory. Typically, we look at 3-5 factories for each project to find a common price range. Then, as needed, we will challenge or remove outliers where the costing is well out of range and very inconsistent with our learning from the cost engineering process.
In addition, our Target buyer and sourcing background allows us to look at similar products in the market for cost analysis.
We hope this answers some of the biggest questions you have about Flywheel Sourcing. If you have further questions, or would like to discuss how the team at Flywheel can help you meet your goals, reach out. We’re here to help!