Fast-track manufacturing for hardware startups with a ship date to hit
For founders with a working prototype, no manufacturing team and a ship date already promised to backers or investors. We find, vet and manage your factories in China and Vietnam. One team owns everything from drawing review to delivered units, so the date you promised holds. Pushing the factory harder won't make you fast. Knowing in week one whether your date holds will. Founded in Sweden in 2006 Over 1 million products shipped from Asia Backer units delivered by the campaign date.
A finished CAD file isn't a manufacturable product
Your prototype works and the renders look done. But a part you can 3D-print once often can't be moulded, cast or assembled at volume. The render doesn't know about draft angles.
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Week one: a drawing revision
If we catch it at drawing review, you change a CAD file.
- 02
Month four: new steel, new date
If you catch it at first samples, you pay for new tooling and have to write to your backers again.
Built for founders who've already sold the product
You've taken pre-orders or investor money. Now you have to build to a date.
Crowdfunded campaigns with a backer delivery date already set
Investor-backed launches that need a real unit cost before money is committed
Retail and e-commerce launches with a shelf date you can't move
Connected and AI devices: electronics, housings and many suppliers to coordinate
Built by specialists in China. Shipped to you.
1M+ products shippedIn Asia since 2006Offices in Stockholm, Ningbo and Seattle
The go/no-go gates are the fast track
Two gates, both early, both cheaper than a recut mould.
Send your CAD, prototype, bill of materials and promised date. We review the drawings for manufacturability before any factory quotes.
Supplier shortlist, per-unit cost, tooling cost and lead times, with Chinese New Year, Golden Week, freight and certification built in. Go/no-go 1: is the date real?
Tooling is cut and first samples are checked against your spec. Go/no-go 2: you approve the sample before volume starts.
Assembled, checked and packed units reach your warehouse or your customers on the date you planned.
One team from prototype to delivered units
No more juggling suppliers, inspectors and a freight forwarder across time zones. Ship date promised? Start at: Samples → · First batch → · Production → · Improvement →
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Design-for-manufacturing review
Each part is checked against the process that will make it, so your first tooling is the right tooling.
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Real factories, not trading companies
Audits cover staff size, machines, working conditions, worker safety, social responsibility, process control and management structure.
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People on the factory floor
Bilingual delivery managers in Ningbo visit factories in person and turn your spec into what the factory prioritises.
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Assembly, QC and packaging
Assembly line setup, in-process QC and protective packaging, so units arrive the way they left the line.
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Freight and fulfilment
Freight, customs, warehousing, inventory and global fulfilment, so units can ship straight to backers.
148 components. 72 suppliers. 6 countries. Delivered on time.
Your backers see one date. Behind it, dozens of suppliers each have to hit theirs.
No manufacturing team and a factory floor you've never seen? A consumer product company was in the same spot. We built its assembly line in Asia from scratch and ran every supplier, the tooling, assembly and logistics. The founders didn't have to chase factories across time zones. They had one point of contact.
Prototype to 5,000 units shipped: 200+ components, 18 suppliers, with assembly line, QC and logistics managed by us.
Pilates reformers, parts to freight: we sourced frames, machined rails, springs, wheels and upholstery, jig-assembled and QC'd each unit, and shipped worldwide.
Your contract stays close to home, and our team works close to the factories: legal entities in the US and Sweden, people in Ningbo.
Fast-track manufacturing: what founders ask first
Yes. Sourcing Allies signs an NDA on every project before your drawings go to any factory. Contracts run through our legal entities in Sweden, the US and China. Your agreement is with a company you can hold accountable, not only with a factory you've never visited.
Yes, mostly by removing the delays that kill schedules rather than by rushing the factory. Sourcing Allies reviews your design for manufacturability before tooling, gets real quotes and lead times early, and plans backward from your launch date. Product complexity, material availability and holidays still affect lead times. We tell you at the quote stage whether your date is realistic.
Yes. Sourcing Allies has shipped Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects on time and runs this Fast-Track programme for crowdfunded and investor-backed launches. We take a working prototype through drawing review, supplier selection, tooling, samples, production and freight, with one point of contact. Your backer delivery date is planned from day one, not tested at the end.
We find out before you pay for tooling. Sourcing Allies reviews drawings against the process that will make each part, such as plastic injection moulding, die casting, metal stamping or aluminium extrusion, and flags what needs to change. Fixing a drawing in week one costs a revision. Fixing a mould after first samples costs new tooling and weeks on your schedule.
If you don't plan for them, they can take weeks out of your schedule. Factories in China slow down or close around both holidays, and suppliers and logistics need time to restart. Sourcing Allies plans backward from your launch date so that tooling, samples and production runs fall around these holidays, not across them.
Yes, when the product and the date allow it. Sourcing Allies manages manufacturing across a network in China, Vietnam and India, with bilingual delivery managers in Ningbo who visit factories in person. Rush production only works when factory capacity, materials and tooling all line up. We check all three at the quote stage and tell you plainly if a date can't be met.
We visit and audit it. Sourcing Allies factory audits cover staff size, machines, working conditions, worker safety, social responsibility, process control and management structure. You know who is actually making your product before you commit investor money, and you have one accountable partner if something goes wrong.
Yes. The Fast-Track programme is turnkey: component production, assembly line setup, in-process quality control, packaging and freight. Sourcing Allies also offers warehousing, inventory management and global fulfilment, so units can ship straight to backers or customers. We design the packaging with care too, because a well-made product can still arrive damaged if it's shipped like a commodity.
Production is checked against the sample you approved. Sourcing Allies won't move to volume until you sign off on samples at the second go/no-go gate. After that, in-process QC and delivery managers on the factory floor check the run against that sample and your spec. Problems get caught on the line, not in your backers' hands.
Find out in week one if your date is real
Bring your CAD, your prototype and the date you've promised. We'll sign an NDA, review the design and tell you what it takes to hit that date, or what has to change.
A hard answer in week one beats an apology email to your backers in month four.
More for founders: Manufacturing for hardware startups → · Turnkey manufacturing →
A drawing, a sketch or a paragraph is enough to start.