How to Choose a Manufacturer

Most sourcing problems are visible before the first order is placed. They show up in the answers to a small number of questions, and in whether the answers arrive in writing.

Start with the plant, not the catalogue

A catalogue tells you what a supplier can show you; the plant tells you what it can repeat. The distinction matters most on the second order.

• Ask where the item is made. If the answer is a plant you cannot see, you are buying from a middle layer. For reference, our own plant is 6,000 m2 in Yunhe, Zhejiang, with a team of 80, producing wooden toys since 2007.
• Ask which operations are in-house. Sanding, painting and assembly determine the finish and the edge quality, so a factory that outsources painting has less control over the part that most often fails a test.
• Ask what they do not make. A factory that answers honestly about its limits is easier to work with than one that quotes everything.

What to check before you place an order

Verify the certification, not the claim

Certification claims are cheap. What matters is the document behind the claim, and whether it describes the item you are buying.

• Reports, not badges. Ask for the test report for the item and material combination you intend to order, from a third-party laboratory.
• The right market. EN71 for the EU; ASTM F963 tested at a CPSC-accepted laboratory for the US, which is what a Children’s Product Certificate is based on.
• Material evidence. The paint and board specification behind the report, plus FSC chain of custody where certified stock is required.
• Social audit documentation such as BSCI, if your own compliance process or a retail customer asks for it.

The market requirements are set out page by page: CE marking, EN71, ASTM F963 and CPSIA.

Treat the sample as the real test

A quotation describes a product. A sample is the product. Everything after the sample is measured against it.

• Order a sample of the actual item, in the finish and packaging you intend to buy, rather than accepting a photograph or a catalogue image.
• Check what the sample tells you about edges, paint coverage, hinge or wheel quality, and whether the packaging would survive transit.
• Ask what the sample fee covers and whether it is credited against the bulk order. Ours is deducted once the order for that item reaches 1,000 pieces.
• Keep the approved sample. It becomes the production reference, which is what makes a reorder verifiable.

Catalogue items are usually dispatched within 48 hours and custom sampling takes about 10 days, so a sample round is not a long delay.

The answers that should make you pause

• A vague lead time that is quoted before the quantity and the specification are known.
• One test report for a whole range, which cannot describe every item and material combination in it.
• No written specification for the wood, the board or the paint, which is the basis of both the compliance file and the reorder.
• A refusal to name the plant, because whatever is produced will be produced there.

What a straightforward supplier should be able to give you

• A quotation that separates the item, the packaging and any tooling, so you can see what you are buying.
• A MOQ stated per item type: 50 pieces per item on in-stock wooden toys, and a per-product figure for customised items.
• Test reports and a manufacturer’s declaration for the item, and the material specification behind them.
• A production lead time of around 30 days after order confirmation, with the terms that affect it explained.

See wooden toy MOQ for how minimums work and wooden toy price guide for what drives the unit price.

Related: Wooden toy MOQ · Wooden toy price guide · Wooden toy manufacturer · OEM wooden toys · Private label wooden toys · Wooden toy manufacturer · Request a quotation