• Subcontracting

IPW's Subcontracting Expertise to Turn Concepts into Marketable Products

Subcontracting is an art. It’s an organization of industrial artists combining their work to reply to one customer’s needs. IPW orchestrates a wide variety of actors who are experts in a large number of domains in order to meet agreed upon schedules. We act as the conductor, the advisor in electronic and mechanical, and connectivity issues, the guarantor of quality, the inspiration with you in innovation, the project team that integrates into your organization to make sure projects get finished and put successful products on the market.

cost effective supply chain
Our approach

How It Works

Initial development

When some projects come to us, they may be just a vague idea in the minds of our potential or current customers. They may also be fully developed with drawings and specs that are already well on the way to being finalized. And then there is everything in between.


In any case, a first well detailed overall specification is agreed upon between us and the client. With this information, IPW can quickly put together an initial cost estimation and we can work as a team with our client to then make the tough decisions and establish a design to cost strategy.

Prototyping

With in-house prototyping and a dedicated engineering team capable of incredibly fast turn-around times, IPW provides this service to our clients in order to help projects move along quickly. This is not at all a profit center for us and is truly seen as a service that is highly appreciated by our clients. This is one of the most important parts of a project because it allows IPW and its customers to quickly agree on the design and move to the final costing phase.

Tooling and the “golden sample”

All project proposals include an exhaustive costed bill of materials and investments necessary to start mass production. Once all these costs and payment terms are agreed upon, IPW starts producing the molds and other industrial tools necessary for production, including those necessary for final product assembly.

A engineering sample, or “golden sample” is shipped to the customer in order to establish the product on which everyone agrees all future production must equal. Both IPW and the clients will have samples of this product and as of this point, unless there are agreed upon engineering changes, all products must be strictly equivalent to that sample.

Packaging, certification etc

Packaging is an important consideration from the very beginning of the design of the product. In some cases there may be aesthetic aspects to take into account and IPW can take advantage of the world-class resources in the Pearl River Delta to provide all types of solutions known to man. But there are other things to consider.

IPW has a long experience in helping customers meet ecological and design needs. These are often not easy questions and often require trade-offs because unitary packaging can be rather expensive.

However, IPW also takes into account the strength of the packaging so that it will survive during the full length of the logistic processes. Finally, we help our customers make sure that logistics costs are minimized through palette optimization and shipping container simulations.

Certifications as well are a subject that are taken into account from the very beginning of the project as they can have an important impact on the design of the products. Whether it be UL, CE or certifications for other countries like South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia, IPW will be able to accompany you in the design and costs necessary to meet any requirements.

Pre-production and production

The pre-production run allows IPW to start with a small quantity in order to fine-tune the process and create any additional tools or jigs necessary for assembly efficiency. Customers often need a small quantity at this phase for marketing reasons and IPW needs produce a quantity that statistically assures the factory is ready for mass production. As such, the quantity to be produced is a function of the quantity to be produced in the first mass production runs. Finally, some product may also be needed for testing and certification needs.

Lighting

SMART AND GREEN and rechargeable lighting

Since 2008, our sister company SMART AND GREEN has been developing wireless, waterproof, rechargeable LED lamps intended to provide smart, designer solutions for lighting your exteriors. IPW was the first to develop this technology for lighting and SMART AND GREEN has been able to develop it by makes products “smart”.

OEM

The IPW DNA is that of a service provider, a company who knows how to use a large experience in solving technical issues and organizing solutions with the huge breadth of suppliers available in China. The advantage is that we know how to adapt the solution to the cost/quality choices that are so fundamental to meeting those targets in final products.

Technologies

Charging

Charging IPW can develop and supply a full range of charging solutions:
  • USB-C implementations that protect the product against any type of charging adapter (people often use poor quality or poorly adapted chargers)
  • Our own double ring system that ensures IP68 (waterproof to 2 meters)
  • Solar systems designed to meet cost and performance requirements
  • Induction systems that are both standard and patented

Connectivity

IPW has experience in a wide range of wireless technologies and access to testing laboratories so that we can implement the exact solution you need.