East West Manufacturing Blog

Design for Manufacturing (DFM) is the process of designing parts, components or products for ease of manufacturing with an end goal of making a better product at a lower cost. This is done by simplifying, optimizing and refining the product design. The acronym DFMA (Design for Manufacturing and Assembly) is sometimes used interchangeably with...

If you thought the new product development process was going to be a walk in the park, you might need to take a look at a survey conducted by Gartner in 2019. The survey questioned CEOs about the success of new product introduction, and the numbers were sobering. 

Quality and cost are two of the top criteria most companies look at when seeking a contract manufacturer. The reasons are obvious. If your product doesn’t meet the definition of quality — defined by industry standards or the consumer — your product is doomed to failure. Every product development project — whether a new product or changes to an...

The term “industrial robot” encompasses everything from robots used in manufacturing to sapper robots used in the military to defuse or destroy ordnance. Robots are used in warehouses to pick, pull and deliver items. There are robot shopping carts and baggage check robots. We’re at the base of the industrial robot mountain in terms of...

So you've designed a product. You've gone through the RFQ process, sharing your CAD drawings with engineers who probably made even more tweaks. The part is going to be made of plastic using the injection molding process. But you've never made a plastic injected part before. There are a lot of new words and phrases being tossed around and you...

The product design and development process is a fascinating one, marrying creativity with the disciplines of math, science, engineering and marketing. Transforming an idea into a marketable product doesn’t just happen.

When you’re in the U.S. and your manufacturer is in Asia, Mexico or some other remote location, how do you know you’ll enjoy sustainable high quality production throughout the life of your part or product?

You’ve submitted your design, you’ve seen your prototype and… there’s something not quite right. Maybe a curve is deeper than expected, there’s a ridge or dimple where there shouldn’t be. Perhaps it just doesn’t feel the way you expected it to. But it’s a simple fix, right?

One of the keys to a quality plastic injection molded part is an accurate mold – one that produces consistent pieces time and time again. So how is that accomplished?

If you have been involved in global contract manufacturing (CM) for more than a few months  you will inevitably hear the phrase, “Quote Fatigue.” Quote Fatigue occurs when a prospect submits an RFQ (Request for Quote) to a manufacturer for pricing — then another, then another, then another, without the manufacturer securing any new business.