Most ODM horror stories are not about capability. They are about sequence: someone cuts a tool before the specification is frozen, and everything after that is damage control. Here is the sequence we run, and why it is ordered this way.
Weeks 1–2 · Brief and market read
We ask for the shelf, not just the product: your market, your price ladder, your competitors, and what already sells for you. Then we propose a range — usually three to five SKUs — with a target landed cost. Nothing is designed yet. This phase is cheap and it prevents the expensive mistakes.
Weeks 3–5 · Design freeze
Housing, optics, driver selection and packaging are locked together. We prototype in-house. The output is a signed-off 3D and a BOM with a defined cost tolerance, plus a written list of what is not changing.
Weeks 6–8 · Tooling and certification
Tools cut, first shots pulled, samples built and sent. Certification files (CE, RoHS, ErP and, where relevant, CB, ENEC, UKCA, SAA, ETL or FCC) are prepared in parallel rather than after — this is the single biggest time saver in the whole process.
Weeks 9–11 · Pilot run
A pilot production run on the real line, not a lab build. Everything that can go wrong in assembly, ageing and packing shows up here. Sample units go to you for approval against the frozen spec.
Week 12 · Shipment
Production and packing to the approved sample. Ageing is 100% before packing, not sampled.
Where projects actually slip
- Spec changes after design freeze. Every post-freeze change costs roughly a week and re-tooling.
- Certification started late. Treat it as part of the product, not paperwork afterwards.
- Packaging decided last. Decide the artwork at design freeze or it becomes the reason for a delay.
If you have a range in mind for this year, the brief is free and the consultation costs nothing. Tell us what you need to light.
- OEM
- ODM
- development
- insight
